For the past few years, Western Connecticut State University has leveraged the TargetX CRM to engage with and track their prospective students. And they had been leveraging the data in their CRM to make data-driven decisions across campus. However, like most universities, they were struggling to see the specific data they needed, and data access and consistency between departments was an issue. Now that they’ve implemented TargetX Insights, they’re able to easily see and share the data they need.
“…What I really wanted was to show how specific data points like SAT scores or event attendance tied to enrollment, and trying to build something that showed all of those data points, things could get wonky. Insights does that work for me.”
Jay Murray, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services at Western Connecticut State University
So why Insights? Well, for a few reasons. The first was that building reports and dashboards can get complicated. “I’ve always built dashboards in the CRM,” said Jay Murray, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services at Western Connecticut State University, “but what I really wanted was to show how specific data points like SAT scores or event attendance tied to enrollment, and trying to build something that showed all of those data points, things could get wonky. Insights does that work for me.”
Another area that was a challenge for WCSU was pulling data consistently and presenting it to their leadership team. “Our president loves to be informed, but with multiple departments pulling reports the context of the data wasn’t consistent,” Murray shared. “Insights gives us all the same reference points and makes it easier for the president and other departments to understand the data.”
And an added benefit of Insights? It pushed WCSU to reevaluate the way they were storing and managing their data. “When we first started implementing Insights our data didn’t look right and that bothered me,” Murray said. “It forced us to clean up our data and track students at a more granular level. Now we have clear and consistent data points across the board.”
“We know we have to drive additional event volume and we know events drive value for us, but we’ve been unable to get a granular view of which events work best for us and why.”
It’s also revamped the way WCSU evaluates their events. “We know we have to drive additional event volume and we know events drive value for us, but we’ve been unable to get a granular view of which events work best for us and why.” Murray says. “Insights gives us the opportunity to see event specifics year-over-year. We always know what the attendance is, but we don’t know what happens after the event in terms of who goes on to apply. This shows us what actions students take after each event, and which events contribute to the highest number of applicants.”
And the best part? “Insights has given us answers to questions we didn’t even know we had,” Murray shared “I am looking forward to rolling it out to my entire team this fall so that they can leverage the data in all aspects of the recruitment process.”
