TargetX Insights Dramatically Accelerates the University of Idaho’s Ability to be Data-Driven

Stoltz had used the TargetX Recruitment Suite with Insights in previous roles, so when he discovered Insights could be used to enhance Slate, he was fully on board. 

“TargetX Insights is a plug-and-play solution that we could quickly lay over our Slate CRM to optimize our efforts towards our goals,” explained Stoltz. Insights provides visually appealing dashboards to easily see information like point-in-time funnel reports, event attendance-to-enrollment metrics, progress to application, enrollment targets, and academic performance data.

Stoltz likens TargetX Insights to a Fitbit or Apple Watch—a sleek, intuitive piece of technology that nudges users towards goal setting, good behaviors, and milestones.

“To me, Insights works like a fitness watch. If I see that my steps are low for the day, it’s going to encourage me to do what it takes to reach my step goal. In Insights, the data dashboards, like progression tracking, do the same thing. It shows me that I am 75% or 80% towards a goal and motivates me to ensure I reach 100,” he says. “As a society, we’ve become accustomed to this kind of data immediacy and the push it gives us to keep going.”

Using Insights, U of I is primed to share up-to-the-minute data in easy to digest ways with colleagues across campus, helping to meet their goal of better communication and transparent data sharing across departments and colleges.

“We’re planning to use Insights to set our big picture goals, set individual recruitment staff goals, and help our colleagues see exactly where we are and where we need to go with full data transparency. This creates accountability but also a spirit of collaboration that we are all in this together,” says Stoltz.

In addition to transparency, Insights also provides reporting immediacy. Stoltz and his team can pull up a data dashboard or report while walking down the hall or when meeting with leadership—on the fly or on their phone. U of I staff will feel more confident sharing data because they know it’s accurate. 

Insights has already shined a light on preexisting data discrepancies and inconsistencies. “As we’ve begun really seeing our data for the first time with Insights, we’re also seeing where our data looks a little funky. For example, we’ve noticed we weren’t tracking events quite right, but we only realized this because now we can visualize our data, see where something isn’t right, and fix our mistakes,” he says. “That really matters when we want to see accurate historical data over time and compare from year to year.”

Now, the marketing and enrollment team’s strategic decisions will be better informed by data they (and their leadership) can trust.

Results: Insights dramatically accelerates U of I’s ability to be data-driven

With TargetX Insights, U of I can get consistent, real-time data about the enrollment metrics they care about most and easily see how recruitment activities are performing in order to optimize, forecast, and manage enrollment goals. 

“We probably could have gotten where we need to be in terms of data analytics and reporting with Slate, but it would have taken us years. We have accelerated the process significantly by coming on board with TargetX Insights,” says Stoltz.