Concordia University Texas, a private liberal arts university in Austin, Texas, was looking to enhance their recruitment strategy after experiencing years of declining enrollment. Recognizing that they lacked the appropriate support and resources needed for meaningful change, the school sought to turn things around by partnering with Enrollment Marketing by Liaison.

“Liaison piqued our interest because of the dedicated team we would have to walk us through building a strategy for the full admission process, especially as a smaller university that is stretched super thin,” explained Elaina Jackson, Vice President of Enrollment Management, Marketing, and Communication for Concordia Texas.

Jackson – already a user of Liaison’s TargetX CRM solutions – worked closely with Liaison to quickly transform Concordia Texas’ prospect-based outreach through tailored print pieces, stage-specific email campaigns, and a personalized microsite. In just under a year, the creative partnership has helped Concordia Texas to achieve significant admission cycle growth, including a 10% increase in applications and deposits and a projected enrollment boost from 2022 to 2023.

Big Impact

Jackson appreciates the breadth of guidance her team receives from Liaison’s Client Success experts and designated account manager. In addition to providing ongoing insight on enrollment best practices, Liaison jumped into a more expansive role as a higher education marketing coach for Concordia Texas’ growing department.

“Our new Director of Marketing – previously our Director of Communications – had a general understanding of higher education but was new to different enrollment marketing terms such as funnel, net tuition revenue, and inquiry. Liaison approached this with so much kindness and a great willingness to answer questions and coach her through the onboarding process. As the leader of this department, having extra coaches and leaders to help with someone’s transition into a new role is invaluable,” Jackson shared.

During regular strategy meetings, Jackson and Liaison collaborate to revamp Concordia Texas’ admission communications with targeted messaging and to ensure prospective students are nurtured throughout the entire admission cycle.

Leveraging Liaison’s expertise and in-house creative capabilities, Concordia Texas implemented customized acceptance packages, deposit boxes, and even parent-focused collateral into their recruitment process. Jackson noted that the shift to a more personalized communication approach not only has positively impacted prospect engagement but also better reflects Concordia Texas’ overall mission and brand.

Jackson shared, “To do anything new is scary, but to do these things with a partner you can trust makes it so much better. After less than a full 12 months of collaboration and partnership with Liaison, we are light years ahead from where we started. It’s not a coincidence that the growth that we’re seeing is coming from specific areas that we’re actively working to improve alongside Liaison.”

Concordia Texas plans to build on their trusted partnership and rapid recruitment progress with two other Liaison offerings: Othot, a cloud-based predictive and prescriptive analytics software solution and INroll, an all-in-one lead generation-to-enrolled solution.

Outcomes

• 10% increase in applications and deposits
• Projected enrollment growth from 2022 to 2023
• Extended marketing team
• Reduced in-house workload

ABOUT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY TEXAS
Concordia University Texas (CTX) is Austin’s leading Christian University, offering dynamic and dialogue-centered liberal arts undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs in a caring and personalized learning environment. Concordia Texas has been working with Liaison since 2022.