Connecting Enrollment and Web Teams for Student Success
When I worked in enrollment for several private universities, we weren’t always invited to website meetings. And when we were, no one asked what we needed to attract students. There was plenty of tech talk and team requests, but no mention of shared goals. I remember thinking my team had valuable insights for web strategy—if only someone had asked.
Now, working for a web design agency serving higher ed, I see this gap from the other side. In our projects, we ask both teams what ideal collaboration looks like. There’s agreement that the website is a critical enrollment tool but uncertainty about how to align efforts. Each team pursues the same goal—recruiting and retaining right-fit students—through different tools, often without fully understanding each other’s work.
At NewCity, we believe a website should meet the needs of the people it serves. For prospective students, it can spark conversations, invite them in, and guide them through their enrollment journey. So how can web teams meaningfully support enrollment efforts?
By following three core principles:
- Learning the language of enrollment.
- Understanding how enrollment strategy shapes web strategy.
- Sharing the win.
Let’s look at each of these areas:
#1. Learning the language of the enrollment funnel
In NewCity’s 7 Pillars of Higher Education Digital Strategy series, we identify the skills of language and empathy as foundational in the development of a unified digital strategy. We explain that “enrollment, marcom and IT teams come from different professional and educational backgrounds. They have different skill sets, values and work cultures. And maybe the most salient example of their differences are the languages they speak - the highly specialized and often exclusive lingo, catchphrases and acronyms of their respective work areas.
Marketing comes to the table with its metrics of site traffic, media engagement and return on advertising spend (ROAS). Enrollment talks about applicant rates, demographics and retention rates. IT thinks in terms of cybersecurity, data warehousing and help-desk service level agreements (SLAs). Each of these acronyms and metrics is important, but if they’re not decoded, they end up making everyone feel isolated.”
One of the best places to begin learning the enrollment language is by learning about the enrollment funnel. And believe me, there’s a lot to learn. We’re talking about a potential student’s entire journey with an institution, from their Request For Information form to the first day of classes. There are distinct journey stages, timelines, critical push points, and a required understanding of how many students at a given time are expected to be in each phase. By understanding unique funnel stage characteristics, the students that inhabit them, and stakeholder expectations for each phase, web teams can decode enrollment terminology, and develop the empathy required to balance student needs and institutional priorities.
Just a quick look at the enrollment journey stages gives you a hint of how student needs, web strategy and organizational goals overlap:
- Consider and explore.
- Inquire and investigate.
- Apply, seek funding.
- Wait for decision.
- Compare offers and decide.
- Enroll and prep.
Each phase suggests a targeted content strategy, information architecture, conversion strategy and communications plan to support the whole student journey.
#2. Adopting the enrollment funnel for web strategy
Your enrollment funnel is the framework for the student journey, and it has direct implications for your website. This is where you start building on your language and empathy skills. As you understand your unique funnel, you know when things happen and which target audience moves through your institution at which time. The number one job your website can do to support enrollment is to clear the path to the top goals or “red routes” for prospective students at each stage of the funnel.
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Red routes in higher education are like conversion points in the commercial sector: getting students to their application, donors to giving, and faculty to their intranet are just a few. However, those routes can easily get blocked or made confusing as content grows, processes change, or new audiences are introduced. To keep the path clear, enrollment and web teams need clear communication regarding who your enrollment target audiences are and what new priorities are driving your enrollment teams. Red routes on your website are intended to provide uncongested, optimal paths to content and tasks. While this route feels like a static thing, external factors (Has a new major been introduced? Financial aid process changed? Does the strategic plan point to a demand for enrollment growth in the near future?) may demand pathway changes.
As a web team, testing your routes periodically can help ensure your prospective students are getting to their intended destination and completing their top tasks. A great strategy is to work with a digital partner with higher ed experience like NewCity to run usability tests with your prospective audience to ensure they understand the information, are not lost in your website navigation, and can comprehend the content.
If you’re not ready for that level of analysis, a periodic review of your critical enrollment path content can provide valuable insights. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it findable?
- Is it scannable?
- Is the right content prominent in plain language?
- Does it have clear headings and links?
- Are the next steps obvious?
#3. Sharing the win
When enrollment teams make their targeted enrollment goals, we all win. Web teams are critical allies in getting across the finish line, a sentiment echoed by the enrollment leaders we have worked with. Their willingness to partner with web teams came with both valuable insights and direct calls for collaboration - something I found truly inspiring. Here are a few thoughts from our web and enrollment team collaborations on how they could work together to serve prospective students.
Functional vs. inspirational collaboration
A lot of collaborations between enrollment, web and marcom teams center around functional areas - making sure the brand standards are maintained, CMS templates are working and CRM forms are embedded. However, the space for inspirational engagement is often untapped. Ideating around big-picture enrollment questions together can allow you to uncover web-based opportunities at each stage of the enrollment funnel. A shared understanding of how and when those opportunities change through the year allows both teams to creatively manage shared resources to attract right-fit students. Don’t wait until the end of the project to engage enrollment stakeholders - involve them in strategic decisions along the way.
Big picture enrollment questions:
- Prospect phase: Is the institution targeting any new audiences, geographic regions, or academic programs?
- Application phase: Where do incomplete applications tend to get stuck along the application pathway?
- Admit phase: Around what date are you most likely to melt deposits (lose admitted students) and how can your communication flows prevent this from happening?
If this level of collaboration feels aspirational, that’s because it is. Strategic planning, accountability, and time management take real effort and cross-functional leadership. For busy web teams, finding that extra time can be the biggest challenge. That’s why using a website operations platform like Pantheon is so valuable. With modern development tools and enterprise-grade security, it helps teams reclaim time and focus on high-impact enrollment projects instead of managing infrastructure.
Tap into enrollment team insights
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UX research and data don’t always have to come from the outside. Your enrollment team interacts with students and parents daily and holds valuable insights into your website’s user experience. Don’t just consult the Director of Admissions—talk to the staff who guide students through enrollment and answer their questions. They spend hours directing traffic, clarifying content, and translating web information into everyday language. Addressing their challenges and making the website a true partner in their efforts can have an immediate impact on the student journey.
Connecting the dots
There is data everywhere. From page traffic to key conversions, web teams hold valuable insights into prospective student engagement on the website. While the information is available, we often miss the opportunity to analyze it through an enrollment lens. When your web team is informed about your enrollment funnel, they can help enrollment teams see previously overlooked peaks and valleys in their cycle. For an enrollment leader who is wondering if their application funnel has merely slowed or if it has completely dried up, website data may offer perspectives that allow them to respond and adjust their strategy based on market behavior.
Shared soals, shared success
A website designed with the student enrollment journey in mind does more than attract prospective students—it also creates an accessible, engaging, and delightful experience for all.
When web and enrollment teams work together, it creates a powerful enterprise where both can leverage their strengths and professional expertise.
And if you’d indulge me a bit further, this collaboration is not only valuable for your prospective students, it is also an opportunity for both teams to amplify their good work. Winning together begins with language and empathy but is often most meaningful when we share the joy from a bustling campus and the cheers to our colleagues meeting and exceeding their goals.
NewCity is an interactive design agency that builds websites, applications, systems, platforms and online experiences.
