Source: Sparkroom.com
Two-fifths (42.9%) of all higher education inquiries were for health programs in 2016, according to the Sparkroom 2016 Year-End Higher Education Inquiry Generation Review.
This share of volume was up 4.2% in comparison to 2015, but the conversion rate for health programs slipped 7.4% year over year. When ranked by 2016 share of volume, healthcare programs were visibly dominant.
Six health programs held a spot in the top ten program list:
Nursing/Registered Nurse (RN, ASN, BSN, MSN)
Medical/Clinical Assistant
Medical Insurance Coding Specialist/Coder
Medical Office Assistant/Specialist
Health/Health Care Administration/Management
Psychology, General
The top health program, Nursing/Registered Nurse (RN, ASN, BSN, MSN), accounted for one-tenth of all prospective student information requests in 2016. This was 8.5% higher than in 2015.
However, the conversion rate, which indicates the percentage of prospective students that apply to or enroll in a program, slipped for nursing programs. At 7.0% in 2016, it was down 29.9% year over year.
Business Administration and Management, General was the program that generated the most student inquiries in 2016. Nevertheless, this program’s 11.2% share of voice was down 19.7% year over year. Contrary to the top health program, the conversion rate for the business administration program grew considerably. Averaging 9.2% in 2016, the conversion rate was up 28.9% over the prior year’s performance.
Overall, inquiry volume for prospective students seeking more information about higher education programs rose 2.4% in 2016 in comparison to 2015, according to Sparkroom data. The incremental inquiries were for online programs. Online lead volume was ahead 9.4% year over year compared to a 2.1% year-over-year drop in inquiries for campus-based programs.
The Sparkroom 2016 Year-End Higher Education Inquiry Generation Review covers overall trends in the inquiry generation and student acquisition activities of higher education institutions for the period of January-December 2016. Sparkroom Enrollment Marketing Services include demand generation and student recruitment support to manage cross-channel marketing campaigns from strategy to execution to optimization and beyond.
The report can be downloaded at Sparkroom.com/Resources.