Mobile Communication Challenges in Higher Education: Issues, Peril, Potential

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
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Mobile Communication Challenges in Higher Education: Issues, Perils, Potential©Robert E. Johnson, Ph.D. 2011
J.Boye Philadelphia 2011 - #jboye11
May 3-5, 2011
Philadelphia, PA

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Who is Bob Johnson, Ph.D.?www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com
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Website research… partner w/Gerry McGovern at Customer Carewords, Ltd
“Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter”… 4,100 subscribers
@highedmarketing… 3,600 Twitter followers
“Higher Education Marketing” blog
Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education… chair, 1994 to 2003
Ph.D. UMass Amherst… political science

Part I: An Overview
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6 perils with anything online…
People are impatient

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Key Strategy Issue:
Why should I put scarce resources into mobile marketing?

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Peril & potential in the answer…
Website experience shapes brand perception…

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Major reason people go to any website…
Complete a task

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Top task challenges for recruitment?
Find academic program list
Get net cost information
Register for a campus visit
Inquire about enrollment
Apply online
Check application status
Get to campus

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Mobile App vs. Mobile Website
Mobile App
Different apps for different devices
How will people find your app?
Not easy to update
Higher performance possible/Easier use
Mobile Website
Access from any mobile device
Can find using “search”
Easy to update
Will perform as well as you build it/Not great right now

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The Golden Rule…
5 seconds to connect

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Growing expectation…
A “mobile friendly” website

Not “mobile friendly”…
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Make things easy on mobile is a special challenge…
“The Internet should work like it does on PC screens.”

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Can we meet this challenge?
“As you go to site XYZ it will automatically create a single-column, mobile-friendly view that has navigation scaled to produce videos or slideshows so users won’t have to pinch or scan or scroll or download an app for everything.”
Robert Z. Samuels, director of mobile product development, New York Times

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The NY Times on mobile…

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Part II:Tales from the Research
(1) Pew Internet & American Life Project,
(2) E-Expectations,(3) Jakob Nielsen,
(4) CCI web visitor surveys

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1. Pew Internet & American Life Project
“Mobil Access 2010”
May 2010 Research Report
http://bit.ly/cqxi6D

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New 2010 questions, 18+ years…
Do you use your phone to…
Send a photo or video? 54%
Access a social networking site?23%
Watch a video? 20%
Purchase a product? 11%
Give to a charity? 11%

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“Young adults” 18 to 29…
Heavy use of “mobile” in many areas…
Send/receive text messages… 95%
Take a photo.. 93%
Access Internet… 65%
Send/receive email… 52%
Use social networking site… 48%
Still low in some areas
Purchased a product… 20%

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2. E-Expectations Survey 2010
College bound high school seniors
Noel-Levitz & friends
http://bit.ly/dvQldm

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Mobile-related findings…
24% would drop a college after a poor web experience
Most desired content:
Information on academics… 54%
List of academic programs… 28%
Cost related information… 30%
Surprise?
23% have searched college websites from smartphones◄

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Most desired interactive tasks…
The top 4 favored online tasks:
Online application… 91%
Campus visit request form… 77%
Cost calculator… 68%◄
Online course catalog… 67%◄

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Text vs. email messages…
70% will give an email address to a college
43% as an inquiry
36% as an applicant
78% use text messaging
67% said no contact from colleges
15% said text OK from an admissions rep they were working with◄

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3. Jakob Nielsen
“Mobile User Experience Is Miserable”
July 2009 Alertbox
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html

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Main mobile challenges…
4 major problems
Small screens
Awkward input
Slow downloads
Poor design for mobile
Impact on task completion
80% success on regular websites from a PC
59% success from a mobile phone

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Reason for optimism…
Task success was higher at sites designed for mobile access…
64% task completion at “sites for mobile”
53 % task completion at regular websites
Larger screen = more success
Regular cell phones… 38% success
Regular smartphones… 55% success
Touch screen phones… 75% success◄

4. Customer Centric Index (CCI) web visitor surveys in 2011
“If we had mobile application, what kinds of information would you like to access or tasks would you like to complete…”?
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Private university… 259 responses
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Community college… 717 responses
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Part III: Mobile Marketing in Higher Education

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1. Direct marketing focus…
Inquiries from mobile at Kettering University

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The first image… while it loads

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At the site… who fits at Kettering

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Very simple enrollment inquiry…

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Immediate email response…

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Email links to admissions entry page…http://www.kettering.edu/futurestudents/

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2. Task oriented home page design…
Focus on internal & external users is a special challenge…

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A task-oriented home page…

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No “finger flicking” here…

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Easy to scan academic majors…

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Clean, simple program page…

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3. Text messaging to increase enrollment conversion…
Text messaging each month as the recruitment cycle unfolds

Marketing potential of texting…
Identify most promising early inquiries
Increase conversion of a group with high conversion potential
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Key: Opt-in database…http://www.stmarytx.edu/admission/?go=mobileupdates

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High interest students said “OK”…
% of inquiries opting for text updates…
4% (1,416 of 35,606)
% of applicants opting for text updates…
42% (1,140 of 3,720)
% of deposits opting for text updates…
47% (269 of 578)

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Yield: Inquiry to Applicant
Percent who applied
Inquiries who opted-in for text updates
Overall inquiries
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Yield: Inquiry to Deposit
Percent who deposited
Overall inquiries
Inquiries who opted-in for text updates
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Not yet applied for admission…
“Be early, catch the worm. Submit ur admission application by Jan 15 for priority consideration. Get info at www.stmarytx.edu/admission.”

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Join our online community…
“Cre8 a profile on the St Marys online community at www.BeARattler.com by Feb 1 to be entered to get ur $200 enrollment deposit waived!”

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FAFSA priority deadline…
“This is last weekend 2 finish priority FAFSA. Go 2 www.fafsa.ed.gov to submit b4 Mon Feb 15 to make sure we get results in time. StMary code is 003623”

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Merit scholarship award…
“Bob, UR hard work has paid off! Congrats on getting a merit scholarship! Learn more about financial aid at www.stmarytx.edu/finaid.”

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Register for Orientation…
“Bob, R u ready 4 Orientation? Sign-up is now open. Go to https://gateway.stmarytx.edu. We R lookin 4ward to seeing u on campus!”

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Part IV: Future Mobile Marketing Perils
Legal & Technical

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Continuing provider challenges…
Multiple providers build “walled gardens”…
Apple
Google
Blackberry
Microsoft
Multiple standards for ads, apps, displays
More cost to implement mobile program

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Legal challenges…
Must have consent for SMS messages
Even if someone has already signed for email
Visible “small print” cost disclosures
Verizon agreed to 12 pt. font settlement
Likely: easy to find, understand “stop sending” option

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Technical challenges…
Usability…
Visitor experience will determine success
NY Times is right… “easy as access from a PC” is the goal
We are not there yet
But we are moving in that direction
Nielsen smartphone research is encouraging

Management challenges…
Content…
Content is added to websites, seldom removed
Most web content is irrelevant to most people
Silly to make all “traditional” website content “mobile friendly”… no resources for that
But what content to leave behind?
Will that decision hinder mobile-friendly websites?
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Video challenges…
Might be an important element, but…
Data plane expense might limit use past “early adopters”
Video done for regular websites may not play well on smartphones
Video users will demand rapid play

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Part IV:Sources of Information to Follow

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Mobile Marketing Association…http://mmaglobal.com/policies

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Mobile Marketer… http://www.mobilemarketer.com/

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Mongoose Research…http://www.mongooseresearch.com/

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Jakob Nielsen Usability Report…http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/

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Bob Johnson’s marketing blog…http://www.bobjohnsonblog.com/mobile-marketing/

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Mobile in Higher Ed blog…http://www.dmolsen.com/mobile-in-higher-ed/

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MIT Open Source code for mobile…http://sourceforge.net/projects/mitmobileweb/

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Thank You!Bob Johnson, Ph.D.PresidentBob Johnson Consulting, LLCMarshall, MI 49068 248.766.6425 bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.comCustomer Carewords Website Research www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com

Mobile Communication Challenges in Higher Education: Issues, Peril, Potential

by Bob Johnson on May 02, 2011

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Mobile Communication Challenges in Higher Education: Issues, Peril, Potential Presentation Transcript