How PX Powered Education Affiliates to Meet their Enrollment Goals and Achieve Key Marketing Milestones over the Last 7 Years

Introduction

This case study focuses on the strategic partnership between PX and Education Affiliates, which began in 2017. Over the past 7 years, PX has offered tailored customer acquisition solutions and expertise specifically to the needs of EA’s extensive network of 30+ campuses, 20+ unique programs, and 10+ areas of interest. The relationship is founded on a shared commitment to accelerate growth, increase enrollment rates, do things the right way, and achieve significant educational milestones together.

About Education Affiliates

Education Affiliates provides educational programs that deliver real-life career skills in occupations that can lead to employment upon graduation and a lifetime of personal growth. With 30+ campus locations across the country, more students have the opportunity to experience the EA difference. EA was founded on a simple promise — create an opportunity for organizations to hire graduates of our schools who have completed quality post-secondary career training. These graduates would be capable of utilizing those acquired skills in their chosen profession, resulting in a positive impact on themselves, their families, their communities and the business enterprises or professions that they are associated with.

The Challenges

Education is one of the most fiercely competitive industries today, with numerous institutions vying for a similar pool of potential students. In such a crowded market, standing out requires not only innovative customer acquisition strategies but also the integration of cutting-edge technology, effective multi-channel penetration, and clear differentiation. EA was in search of a growth partner who could not only understand their enrollment goals but also provide an unbiased and granular analysis of source performance. They required a platform that was both scalable and flexible—scalable to maintain a sturdy pipeline of prospects across all campus locations, and flexible enough to adeptly meet regularly evolving campus-level goals. This dual capability would ensure that each campus could achieve its specific enrollment targets without over-saturation or media spend wastage.

The Goals

The below metrics are critical for EA to optimize its sales funnel and improve the quality of interactions with prospective students.

Remain within the marketing budget per campus for each of their 30+ campuses
Maintain a Contact rate of 50% and a transfer rate of 30% to confirm that these engagements result in potential students being properly handed off to campus teams.
Consistently maintain an average cost per enrollment <$1300 (across all programs)

The Result

Fulfilled 99.85% of the multi million dollar marketing budget in FY23

Maintained CPE <$1300

4% more enrollments YOY, at the same target CPE and budget

Strongest delivery and performance in main core programs of Medical Assisting and HVAC

51% contact rate, 30% transfer rate

2000+ Partner web pages were reviewed for compliance

The Solution

Diversified source mix and centralized campaign management

Through PX, Education Affiliates taps into 25+ sources to run 55+ campaigns across multiple channels, ensuring a robust sales funnel. These include call-verified campaigns, web lead campaigns, and driving social traffic from third-party publishers, alongside direct web and social digital marketing efforts. Additionally, PX facilitates the integration of EA’s private sources to consolidate their customer acquisition efforts. This centralized system allows dynamic routing of prospects—either to EA’s central team for immediate engagement or to nurturing campaigns, based on real-time needs and performance data.

Personalization on a campus-to-campus basis

Managed Services with PX provides continual optimizations to campaigns tailored to each specific campus’ volume requirements, ensuring maximized outcomes. The team operates as an extension of EA, managing all the moving pieces of campaign execution. This personalized approach includes detailed performance analyses at both the campus and program levels, aiming to optimize enrollment rates and exploit program-specific opportunities more effectively.

Ensuring Compliance with Rigorous Standards

Regular audits and real-time monitoring by the account team ensure adherence to strict standards. In collaboration with Call Criteria, PX conducts thorough monthly reviews of all materials. iDatafy plays an essential role in screening for low-quality leads, with each lead being vetted before delivery to EA. Additionally, PX’s system is equipped with advanced filters and rapid-response alerts to maintain TCPA compliance and safeguard program integrity. Collectively, these efforts have achieved a 99% Call Criteria compliance score with zero TCPA infractions!

“After working with the PX team for the past seven years, I can say we chose the right partner. The account team’s customer service and attention to detail have helped our campaigns consistently drive quality prospects for our career education programs. With PX’s deep industry knowledge and compliance technology, they’ve helped drive cost-efficient growth. And, most importantly, they are good, honest people who are enjoyable to work with.”

–Bob Visco, Vice President Marketing, Education Affiliates