Dordt University Implements Solutions that Drive Student Engagement with Salesforce

Dordt University is a faith-based private Christian School located in Sioux Center, Iowa. The university offers more than 40 majors and 11 pre-professional programs of study. With a population of over 1,500 students from more than 35 states and 31 other countries, it was necessary to personalize the student experience. The flexibility of their applicant portal, implemented by Enrollment Rx and built 100% natively on the Salesforce platform, allows for individually tailored experiences that are specific to each student.

The Challenge

Seamless communication with students and prospects through a self-service portal has been key for Dordt. Cody Kaemingk, Dordt’s Salesforce Administrator, said that before Salesforce, their staff was manually entering and tracking data in Excel spreadsheets. Because of this, delegating their time to other tasks became tough.

Before going live with Salesforce, Dordt conducted an analysis of their current system, how they’ve been able to leverage it, and where it was heading. They concluded that a change was needed, and the quality of service that Enrollment Rx had been providing solidified that decision.

Why Salesforce

Kaemingk recognized that the product line from Enrollment Rx allowed Dordt University to use Salesforce right out of the box. Kaemingk added that “While the product line is great, I am continually impressed with the people and support behind the products that take time to troubleshoot, listen to customer input, and deliver the results we are looking for.”

Kaemingk goes on to say that “having this new system empowers our admissions staff to better manage their day. They receive the same notifications that students do if there is a missing document or outstanding information that needs to be added. The new admission counselors at Dordt are always surprised by how easy it is to manage this type of data compared to how it was before.”

Eric Tudor, Associate Director of Strategy and Recruitment adds “Salesforce is helping us process more applications faster while also increasing our funnel conversions. This was most noticeable during our busy travel season where submitted app to admit rates have historically been lowest. However, this year materials continued to come in, even when counselors were not directly involved. This immediacy helped maintain student enthusiasm, drive visitors, and reduce the workload on our team. As an added bonus, Pardot is also helping keep our prospective students involved in the process and drive workflows for our counselors as they prioritize their work.”

Results

Tudor attributes the university’s increase in the number of admitted students to Enrollment Rx and Salesforce. “This year, we’re converting 70.4% of applicants to admits,” he said. “This is up from 63% last year. We’ve also increased the total number of applicants by 11% and number of campus visits by 20%.” Dordt’s previous SIS wasn’t providing them the customization that they needed in order to matriculate students in a timely fashion. Kaemingk said that any updates to their previous system would be costly and time consuming compared to what Salesforce has been providing them.

“Sometimes you have to take the jump in order to grow as a school,” Kaemingk said. “We trusted that this transition to our new system was best for us in the end.”