Your Fall Admissions Playbook
As the fall semester unfolds, admissions teams everywhere are balancing recruitment efforts, spring forecasting, and daily operations. Today, we break down what you should be doing to stay ahead, work smarter, and support students more effectively.
Data and Insights
Track what matters and act on it. Use your CRM’s analytics tools to monitor:
- Engagement Metrics: Email open rates, click-through rates, and event attendance numbers can help you refine messaging and outreach, as well as provide insights into campaign ROI.
- Predictive Analytics: Forecast spring enrollment and flag at-risk students based on their behavior and engagement.
- AI-Flagged Themes: Use Slate’s Reader AI to surface common themes in essays and interactions, and give your admissions staff deeper insights into applicants.
- Real-Time Campaign Insights: With Element451’s Bolt Insights, see what’s working across channels and adjust on the fly.
Pro Tip: Bring AI-generated highlights from your CRM to your team huddles to inspire focused discussions.
Automation and AI
Let automation and AI handle the heavy lifting so your team can focus on strategy:
- Reader AI (Slate): Summarize essays, recommendation letters, and transcripts with speed.
- Campaign Agents (Element451): Build email campaigns by simply telling your digital assistant what you need.
- Chatbots: Use AI-powered bots to answer FAQs and reduce staff burden.
- Task Automation: Schedule meetings, generate reports, and review documents automatically.
Slate Pro Tip: Hey, Slate users: make sure to organize your documents! Slate’s Reader AI works best when transcripts, test scores, and recommendations are properly categorized.
Personalized Student Touchpoints
Whether it’s a campus visit or a decision letter, personalization makes a difference:
- Campus Visits: Promote through social and email using AI to tailor invites based on academic interests or extracurriculars.
- Bolt Discovery (Element451): Help students find answers on your website without navigating complex menus.
- Bolt Jobs (Element451): Autonomously contact students via AI agents to accomplish a goal, such as submitting their application or registering for a specific event.
By aligning your tools with your goals, you can create a more efficient, personalized, and data-driven admissions experience. Use the handy checklist below to help keep you on track:
This fall, don’t just work harder—work smarter! October is the perfect time to optimize your systems, support your students, and set the stage for a strong spring, so grab your coffee, open up your CRM, and get started. Need a hand? Reach out any time to talk through your needs and discuss how we can help set you up for success!Read more
2025 College-Bound Student & Parent Surveys: Download the Reports
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|October 1, 2025We know that as a higher education professional, you are intimately familiar with the state of college and university admissions. However, we have a feeling you’ll probably still be surprised by some of the findings from Spark451’s 14th annual College-Bound Student Survey and our latest College-Bound Student Survey: Parent Edition.
This summer, Spark451’s Education Research Division gathered feedback from thousands of students and parents across the U.S. Download the reports to gain access to all of the valuable information for college admissions professionals, including:
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- The Class of 2029’s social media habits
- Which communication tactics resonated most with students and their parents
- How AI and technology were utilized in the college search process
- How regional and campus political and social attitudes influenced admissions decisions
- And much more!
Download the reports now. Then, reach out. We’ll be happy to help you determine if your upcoming admissions marketing and student search plans are fully in line with the latest data from students and their parents.
The Future of Financial Aid Offers
Blog
|September 16, 2025At the start of the fall 2025 recruitment cycle, the enrollment management world was still recovering from the FAFSA fallout of 2024.
Although the form seems to have operated smoothly this past cycle, with submissions returning to pre-pandemic levels, and is promised to return to its October 1 launch date, financial aid offices are still entering the fall 2026 cycle with trepidation. Why?
- Conversations about college affordability are more prominent than ever.
- Families (and, let’s be honest, schools as well) are wondering what changes might be coming to loan access and Pell requirements.
- Students and parents are actively discussing their financial aid offers on public forums like Reddit, asking what is normal and is it worth it, and looking for guidance on how to interpret confusing offer letters.
While all of that is out of our control, there is something we can control — how we communicate financial aid offers. Packages are currently sent in a few ways: a printed mailer, links to online portals, or a combination of the two. As families require more detailed information and clarity, more schools need to take their aid communication a step beyond by digitizing their print offer piece.
Sending financial aid offers to the inbox in addition to the mailbox is:
1. Faster
Imagine pressing send on an email campaign the day all packages have been tested, reviewed, merged, and approved. No more waiting to get the first call to the financial aid office to know they’ve started arriving in mailboxes. Sending digitally gets aid offers to students weeks faster than mailing.
2. Informative
Sending digitally gives you analytics that mail never could. At any given moment, you can know exactly who has downloaded their aid package and who has yet to take this important step.
3. Actionable
Tailor your admissions and financial aid representatives’ time by using segmentation. Based on where you are in the cycle, your goals related to the financial aid offer probably shift. Early on, you might consider personal outreach to those who have yet to download their aid package, in hopes of making sure they know what is available. As the deadline nears, it may be better to focus on those who have already downloaded their package, or those who have accessed it multiple times, as they are likely still considering enrolling at your school.
4. Accessible
As those same staff are reaching out, they have complete access to the same material the student received. Conversations are significantly easier when your staff can reference certain information, pages, etc., when discussing details of an offer. No more referencing tables in SIS systems and hoping to translate them correctly.
Some schools have even chosen to send only digital offers, which can save thousands of dollars in print and postage costs. However, in a world where high school families are inundated with digital outreach, they are showing an increased affinity for mailed information. In fact, Spark451 hosts an annual college-bound survey for high school seniors and parents who just recently concluded their search process, and the results are clear: they want tangible materials now. While there may have been a moment where mail seemed antiquated, printed financial aid offers are likely here to stay.
You’re already creating an aid package for every student — why not get it to them faster while simultaneously enabling your admissions team to have better, more informative, and actionable conversations with students? Why not send it digitally first?
If you’re interested in learning about Spark451’s personalized aid offers that leverage variable data, please reach out to us! Financial aid has always been a lynchpin of yield season, and while it may feel like yield just ended, it’s never too early to start planning for the next one — especially if you hope to have something new and ready to make a splash in the market. Spark451 is here to support you in making sure your team is set up for success!
Your September Secret Weapon? AI.
September is a pivotal month for college admissions professionals, with recruitment season kicking off and critical fall event planning underway. To say things are busy would be an understatement! So, how are you and your team going to juggle it all? With AI, that’s how.
Fall Travel
Give your counselors and road warriors a leg up (and help increase engagement) while on the road with these new tools:
Slate | AI Dashboard
This easy-to-implement tool integrates with person record dashboards to provide quick, digestible updates that counselors can reference while on the go:
- Activity Summaries
“How many emails has a student opened? When was the last time they logged in to the portal? Is their application complete?” All of these questions and more can be answered with the AI Dashboard. - Engagement Scores
Let AI analyze each student’s level of engagement and provide an overall score and summary. Counselors can review these scores in seconds and go into meetings feeling even better prepared. - Recommended Follow-ups
Not only can AI tell you how engaged students are, but it can also provide your team with recommendations on how best to follow up, whether that’s scheduling meetings with key players (coaches or faculty) or sticking with one outreach method over another.
Whatever you or staff want to know about prospective students, AI Dashboard can be built in a way to get you answers.
Element451 | Bolt Discovery & Agents
These two tools are serious game-changers, helping students and your team make the most of their time and (packed) schedules.
- Embed Bolt Discovery on your website and get your counselors ready to tell the world how easily students, families, counselors, and alumni can find what they’re looking for. No more endless scrolling or page searches … simply type in what you’re looking for and Bolt Discovery will hand deliver it (ok, not literally, but you understand).
- Use a Bolt Chatbot Agent on your landing pages and forms to provide students with a low-pressure, safe environment to ask the questions they might otherwise feel too embarrassed to ask. Once set up, be sure to have counselors promote it as a resource for asking additional questions following high school visits or college fairs. It’s an easy way to invite students to interact with your institution, and they’ll love that your team put together AI resources specific to your school and their academic journey.
Pro Tip: Get the most out of your AI bots by keeping your knowledge sources fresh. Remember, if they don’t have access to the latest information, neither will your students!
Campus Visits
Get ready for visitors by including AI in your preparation for open houses, tours, and events!
Slate | AI Portal Components
Use Slate AI to help create new components wherever you see a WYSIWYG editor, including entire custom portals! With a little bit of time and focus, you could create an entirely new campus tour signup page or open house portal. Push the limits and see what types of engaging and colorful ideas AI can create for you.
Element451 | AI Agents
Leave the reminders and follow-ups to AI Agents that can autonomously reach out to students to promote events. Agents can be configured to reach out via any method you choose and with a tone that aligns with your audience. Want them to reach out via email first, and then text later? Can do!
Behind-the-Scenes Work
As the engine behind your recruitment strategy and the key to your bots’ accuracy and usability, it’s critical you keep your CRM humming smoothly.
- Update Reports, Queries, and Segments: Track outreach effectiveness, recruitment metrics, and applicant trends.
- Review Staff Assignments and Automations: Align your strategy with real-time data that keep all stakeholders across your institution happy.
- Clean Up Duplicate Records: Stay organized and avoid confusion. Check out our recent blog post about how to do it!
Final Thoughts
Implementing AI might feel a bit daunting or, dare we say, scary at first (we all watched Terminator and I, Robot, right?), but we’re confident that these tools will help make your and your team’s lives easier. Not only that, but they can help increase engagement and strengthen connections between prospective students and your institution — something we can all get behind.
Need a hand getting started? Just reach out — we’re always available to talk through your needs and help set you up for success!
Spark451 Once Again Named a Google Premier Partner
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|August 19, 2025Spark451, a Jenzabar Company, is proud to announce it has once again been named a Google Premier Partner, a recognition earned by just 3% of Google Partners.
Through this designation, the team at Spark451 will continue to gain access to exclusive benefits and additional support that translate directly to its clients. In addition, this certification:
- Signifies that Spark451 continues to achieve hard-to-reach benchmarks for campaign performance, spending, and revenue growth.
- Underscores the company’s digital advertising expertise — their team of digital marketing professionals hold various certifications in Google tools such as Search, Display, Mobile, and Video.
- Grants Spark451 continued access to important resources, such as an Annual Partners Summit, that enhance the company’s ability to deliver top-notch performance to its clients.
“We are honored to once again receive designation as a Google Premier Partner, a title we have proudly held for the last seven years,” says Ann Levy, Spark451’s Director of Digital Marketing. “Not only is it a testament to our team’s dedication to providing the best service possible, but it expands our digital media resources, giving us increased access to dedicated Google reps for campaign optimization and troubleshooting, and allows us early access to Google’s beta releases of new campaign tactics — both of which directly benefit our own partners.”
Google’s continued recognition reinforces that Spark451 has the resources, skill, and deep well of knowledge required to help colleges get the most out of their digital marketing budgets.
To learn more about how the digital marketing experts at Spark451 can help your institution reach and exceed your media goals, reach out today!
It’s a Higher Ed Heatwave
August is heating up, and before you know it, campus will once again be abuzz with the sounds of new and returning students eager to start the fall semester! Not only that, but admissions teams will soon be hitting the road in droves as the new recruitment cycle officially kicks off.
There’s a lot to do to ensure everything goes off without a hitch, but don’t worry — we’re here with your ultimate August checklist to keep your CRM cool, your data fresh, and your team cruising into the new cycle like pros.
This Bears Repeating…
You’ve heard us talk about this a lot, but it’s still worth saying again. Before you hit the beach, make sure your CRM is ready to ride the wave of the new cycle by completing cycle prep. Find everything you need to do so, including comprehensive action item lists, in our previous posts:
Rules & Automations
Rules, segments, data imports, journeys, user permissions… there are a number of tools that leverage automation and now is an excellent time to review them.
- Staff Assignments: If you’ve had any staff turnover, check staff assignments to ensure no former teammates are still active.
- Security: Double check that user permissions reflect current staff responsibilities.
Pro Tip: Remember to think outside your immediate team when considering turnover. Has a coach or faculty member left that you need to be mindful of?
Queries & Segments
Do you have any queries, segments, reports, or dashboards that reference specific years or terms that you no longer need? Don’t let them become outdated and ruin your summer vibes.
It’s time to make those queries evergreen! Contact us to learn how.
- Slate Users: Do you find yourself building the same exports and filters, query after query? If so, you should build a Query Library.
- Element451 Users: Don’t lose the segmentation work you’ve done! Instead of rebuilding, repurpose existing segments and implement intuitive naming conventions so they’re easily identifiable. Want more tips? Reach out!
Forms
Another area that needs attention is your forms! Make sure they don’t include past terms or mention any offerings that are no longer available. Some big “gotchas” to watch out for include:
- Outdated Fields: Check for old term options and retired programs.
- Email Confirmations and Notifications: Be sure these are relevant and useful.
- Remove, Archive, or Hide Outdated Forms: From both your database and landing pages.
Also, test your conditional logic and be sure to confirm with stakeholders that instructions are clear.
Pro Tip: Use expiration dates to keep things current!
Data Retention
What’s your institution’s retention policy? Even if you don’t have one built yet, now is a good time to explore the power of clearing old information from your database. In addition to helping you stay organized and keeping your system clear of old data, retention policies help ensure you remain in compliance by adhering to student information policies.
⚠️ Retention policies can be scary… what if you delete information by accident?! Need help? Contact us!
Common App
Make sure your system is ready for the annual Common App updates. Unless your team has made changes to their member questions, these annual updates will likely be quite small (shifts to field names and prompts, a new standard question or two), but you’ll still want to be ready!
- Slate Preparation: Get ready for your source format to be automatically updated.
- Element451 Preparation: Common App updates are usually integrated automatically. Still, it’s important to confirm that your institution is ready for the cycle ahead.
Here are some action items:
- Run a test application through the Common App to ensure data flows correctly into your CRM.
- Validate that new or changed fields are captured and stored properly.
- Brief your admissions staff on what’s changed in the Common App and how it may affect application review or communications.
- Monitor for any data sync issues or unexpected behavior in your CRM.
Try not to sweat too much over mistakes! If needed, our team can help you troubleshoot Common App imports.
Duplicate Records
Duplicates are like mosquitoes at a BBQ — annoying and everywhere. Ideally, your team should be on top of managing these all year long, but life happens and they can get out of hand. Use the summer to swat them back in line!
Not sure what the big deal is? Check out our recent post: The Problem With Duplicate Records.
Slate & Engage Summits
Welcome back from Charlotte and Las Vegas! It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you return from a conference, so we suggest starting with the following:
- Look over your notes and commit to memory the new things you learned.
- Prioritize which great ideas should be implemented first.
- Examine your processes and ask yourself: What will make the biggest impact?
Slate Summit
The things you learned at the Summit won’t stay in Vegas! Some of the exciting topics included:
- Slate AI in Batch Acquire: This enables quicker document analysis and insights.
- Dashboard Portals: Place custom portal content on person records.
- AI Interviews: Conversational interviews hosted by customizable avatars.
- Query by Population: Narrow queries by population while selecting a base.
- Deliver Send With Edits: Modify messages in the “Send Message” stage.
All this AI talk might have you wondering: What’s the big push? Well, AI is more than just being online 24/7. AI offers a safe and embarrassment-free space for students to ask questions they might otherwise not. Students are already using AI a ton in their everyday lives, so why not expand that functionality for them to better connect with your institution?
Engage Summit
Element451 released some amazing new AI functionality this year to accomplish just that:
- Goal-Oriented Automation and Proactive Outreach: Assign AI a task and let it initiate contact with students.
- Inbound Calls: AI can receive incoming calls using assigned phone numbers. Voice and knowledge can be configured.
- Outbound Calls: AI can initiate phone calls to students, so think about inviting them to events, sharing program updates, and following up on applications.
Final Thoughts: You’ve Got This!
August might be sizzling, but with this checklist, your CRM game will be cool! Whether you’re poolside or desk-bound, we’re here to help you make this August your smoothest yet.
Need a hand? Just reach out — we’re always happy to help you beat the heat and crush your goals!
Videos That Vibe
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|July 29, 2025To earn a spot on Gen Z’s screen, higher ed marketers need more than great visuals; they need real stories, told in the way Gen Z expects. After all, Gen Z grew up surrounded by digital content, and they’re experts at spotting what feels real and what doesn’t. They care about authenticity, creativity, and content that actually speaks their language, rather than marketing that’s simply trying to sell them something. In higher ed, where the enrollment journey often starts with broad awareness campaigns, there’s a major opportunity to make a meaningful first impression through short-form content that feels personal and engaging. With the help of student ambassadors and interns, we can make content that fits the bill, and hooks a prospective student by allowing them to see themselves in another student’s shoes.
Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat are where Gen Z naturally spend their time — and they expect content there to match their vibe. While each platform has its own personality, one thing holds true across all of them: the content that resonates most is fun, honest, and often student-created.
Video Inspo
If you’re looking for inspiration, take a peek at the following:
A quick day-in-the-life video from a student showing the real ups and downs of campus life can be more powerful than a scripted testimonial.
An on-trend video made to showcase students having genuinely fun times together on campus makes your institution shine bright with authenticity.
A fun, spirited highlight reel of a campus event, filled with real emotion and student voices, brings energy that traditional ads can’t replicate.
A catchy trending audio + a real student moment = instant vibes. This kind of UGC grabs Gen Z’s attention fast…and makes your campus feel like the place to be.
Now the real magic comes when these authentic moments are adapted and shared across multiple platforms. That same day-in-the-life TikTok can easily be repurposed as a YouTube Short or Instagram Reel with just a few adjustments to fit the tone of each channel. This kind of cross-platform approach doesn’t just make content creation more efficient, it helps reinforce your brand message. When prospective students see a familiar tone and story across platforms, it builds recognition and recall. Consistency in visuals, messaging, and voice helps create a strong digital presence that sticks.
From Inspo to Reality
Before you begin, it’s important to understand which platforms students are using. According to a survey of teenagers’ use of social media carried out by Pew Research, YouTube is still the most-used platform among U.S. teens, with 90% saying they use it and 73% using it daily. TikTok isn’t far behind—63% of teens use it, and 58% do so daily, based on Pew’s data.
And then there’s Snapchat, which often gets overlooked but shouldn’t be. Snapchat’s own data shows that nearly half of its daily users aged 16 and up don’t use TikTok every day — yet 60% of Snapchat users over 18 are also daily TikTok users. That tells us Snapchat has a unique and sizable audience we can’t afford to miss.
Now that we know where the students are, it’s time for us to start showing up. But not just showing up — showing up in the right way. Content should feel human, honest, and centered on real student experiences. While there’s absolutely still a place for high-production video, especially further down the funnel, the early stages of engagement should be about connection. Real moments, student voices, and consistent storytelling across platforms are what creates familiarity and sparks interest to “follow” and engage in the early days (i.e., sophomore, junior, even early senior year for some!). When we focus on showing up authentically, we’re providing opportunities for students to picture themselves as part of something real, taking us beyond marketing to building real connections that can lead to enrollment.
Let’s Do This
There’s still time to master this cross-platform, authenticity-driven (or, vibes-driven) search strategy, so don’t just settle for reusing existing ad content from last cycle. Let the team at Spark451 help guide you through the planning, strategy, and execution of what it takes to up your institution’s social channels to drive critical funnel goals for the upcoming year! Reach out today and connect with one of our enrollment marketing and digital media strategists to learn more!
Senior Search Season Is Here. Are You Ready?
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July 22, 2025For many enrollment and marketing teams, the transition into summer doesn’t mean a slowdown, it just means the fires you’re putting out have changed shape. Instead of a race to get deposits, it’s now a race to reduce melt; the energy you put toward admitted student days is needed for summer visits and fall travel prep. Tracking down high school transcripts has flipped to tracking down all. those. new. student. forms.
With teams being pulled in so many different directions, it can feel nearly impossible to pause and plan ahead for the next cycle. But you must! And the earlier you’re able to start analyzing and strategizing, the more time you’ll have to implement thoughtful, well-crafted, and personalized campaigns.
To help you get started, we’ve put together 3 ways you can make sure your next senior search campaign is a success:
1. Don't Forget Your Primary Markets
While it may be tempting to cast a wide net, don’t do so at the expense of your backyard. We recommend leaning into primary markets and letting data guide your list purchases (especially when you’re looking to expand). Use modeling to help build a list focused on the students you know will not only apply, but also show up next August.
✅ Prioritize the students most likely to engage
✅ Avoid wasting resources on low-interest prospects
✅ Set up your team for better conversion rates later in the funnel
Case Study: A small Catholic college in the Northeast* has seen a 22% increase in applications, 7.5% more deposits, and purchased 26% fewer names after partnering with Spark451 to reassert itself in the local market through branding, lead, and application generation campaigns.
2. Up Your Communications Game
Today’s students are much more reticent about sharing personal information, so when they do, they expect more than a generic “Hi, {{Preferred}}!” outreach. They’re looking for content that reflects their interests, matches their stage in the journey, and helps them see whether your school is a good fit. In short, they want to know you’ve been paying attention.
✅ Segment your messages by academics, geography, or student interests
✅ Plan out multiple touchpoints across print, email, and digital
✅ Build in moments that create connection through personalization
Case Study: A rural campus in a large public university system* saw a 26% increase in applications in year one, and a 38% increase in deposits in year two after partnering with Spark451 to flip the script with its communications, embracing and promoting its unique vibe and small size as assets, not hindrances.
3. Think Multi-Channel From the Start
It’s no secret that students consume information across a range of platforms (often simultaneously), so to stay top of mind, your campaign needs to meet them where they are and offer a consistent, compelling experience across channels.
We’ve found that a combination of print, email, and digital works best, promoting stronger engagement and better outcomes. The key? Consistency! Your creative, messaging, and calls to action should all feel cohesive no matter where students encounter them.
✅ Ensure creative and messaging are aligned across the board
✅ Use digital ads and social media to reinforce emails and direct mail
✅ Keep track of all cross-channel performance
Case Study: A private liberal arts college in the South* saw a 22% increase in admits and a 33% increase in deposits after partnering with Spark451 to conduct a comprehensive multi-channel senior search campaign.
Final Thoughts: Reflect and Plan
We understand that one of the biggest challenges you may face is simply finding the time to do this work. When schedules are packed and priorities seem to constantly shift, it’s tempting to rush the process or simply reuse old strategies without much, if any, reflection. But taking time now to review what worked last cycle (and what didn’t!) can save you time and effort down the road.
Before you get started, ask yourself:
- Which lists yielded the strongest engagement?
- Which messaging resonated best?
- Where might we want to try something new?
- Who is going to tackle this work?
Do we have the resources we need or do we need support from a professional partner?
Even if your team is small or its bandwidth stretched thin, taking small steps now can make a big difference moving forward.
Need a hand? At Spark451, we work with colleges and universities across the country to design, build, and execute student search campaigns that get results. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by what’s on your plate, give us a shout. We’re happy to help however we can!
*Partner names withheld for confidentiality purposes.
The Top 5 Web Design Trends Worth Following
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In the world of higher education marketing, your website is more than just a digital brochure — it’s the front door to your institution. Except it’s 2025, and that front door is expected to have a built-in AI virtual assistant that not only provides relevant information when prompted, but personalizes that information and prompts you to learn more. That’s some front door, huh? While unfortunately we aren’t in the business of high-tech door installations (not currently, at least), we are certainly in the business of delivering thoughtful content and design strategies focused on engagement in both the digital and real-world spaces.
All jokes aside, much has changed in the few short years since our last Web Design Trends blog and, admittedly, we’re overdue… but in that time we’ve researched and worked with many new tools, and are excited to finally share all we’ve learned with you.
As you prepare to invite and welcome new students to your institution this fall, it’s imperative to take time to consider how well your website is serving its visitors and you, and use that information to drive performance improvements. Prospective students expect more than just flashy pages, and they certainly don’t have the patience for fluff or marketing lingo — they’re looking to get to the point, and fast. They want speed, personalization, and meaningful interaction, so they can get back to recording their next viral dance routine on TikTok. That’s where our five key web design trends for 2025 come in — along with a couple of extra-credit tips you’ll want to always keep top of mind. Get your coffee ready, and let’s dive in.
Trend 1: AI-Driven Personalization for Prospective Students
Let’s kick things off with the big one, AI. I could’ve saved this for last to really get you invested and scrolling, but I just couldn’t contain myself.
AI-driven personalization lets your site adapt to the user, surfacing relevant academic programs, events, or financial aid info based on their behavior — exactly what today’s prospective students are looking for. This personalization is achieved by utilizing what’s called behavioral tracking. Sounds pretty tech-y, huh? Well, it is — but you can easily set yourself up for success by implementing a few commonly used tools and preparing your site to dynamically serve up content. Let’s start with the basics.
What is Behavioral Tracking?
Behavioral tracking refers to the process of monitoring and analyzing how users interact with your website or digital content. It collects raw data points like:
- Pages viewed
- Time spent on each page
- Clicks on CTAs or forms
- Scroll depth (how far down a page the user scrolls)
- Return visits and session frequency
- Navigation paths (e.g., from homepage to academic programs)
AI systems use this data to make smart, real-time decisions. Without tracking what users are doing, AI has nothing to learn from. In higher ed, this insight helps you understand what prospective students are most interested in — whether it’s financial aid, campus life, or specific academic programs.
In order to collect this data, your site will need:
- Cookies (small data files stored in a user’s browser)
- Pixels embedded in your site
- Analytics platforms that aggregate and visualize user behavior
- Session recordings and heatmaps (optional, for visual insight)
- A clear and visible privacy policy
- CMP (Consent Management Platform) tech for allowing visitors to opt out of tracking (such as OneTrust, TrustArc, and Cookiebot)
How to Put AI to Work
This is when the real magic happens. Use AI-powered tools like HubSpot CMS or Salesforce Interaction Studio to automatically adjust the content the student sees based on their behavior.
Here are a few examples:
- Homepage: Dynamically swap out those eye-catching headlines to something like “Explore Nursing Scholarships” for a user whose data profile indicates an interest in nursing. Push that even further by swapping out generic images with visuals of student nurses in action.
- Program Pages: Promote related minors or certificates (e.g., public health, social work), and feature student testimonials relevant to the visitor’s interests.
- Returning Visitors: Show personalized CTAs like “Schedule a Virtual Tour of Our Health Sciences Building,” remind them where they left off so they can continue exploring, or suggest joining an upcoming health sciences info session.
It’s important to note that available AI tools will vary depending on the capabilities of your institution’s platform (WordPress, Drupal, etc.), but having the aforementioned analytics in place will at least help you track that data so you can utilize analytics dashboards for robust, top-down insights.
Other AI Integrations to Enhance User Experience
A new class of AI tools allow you to embed LLM query engines directly into your site, allowing users to receive direct answers to their questions rather than a series of links (which a search engine would normally deliver). These powerful tools have names like “knowledge or discovery engines” and are a great way to embed AI into your web experience. They can be a good complement to AI chatbots, which allow interaction at an operational level with your organization and not just the site’s content.
Privacy Considerations
In most cases, platforms will assign anonymous user IDs, so you can follow a user’s journey across multiple sessions, and then de-anonymize them once they fill out a form or log in. However, since behavioral tracking involves personal data, you must:
- Comply with FERPA, GDPR, and CCPA regulations
- Display clear cookie banners with opt-in consent
- Anonymize data when possible
- Use secure data storage and ensure third-party tools follow proper compliance
Always communicate how a person’s data will be used and give them a choice to opt-out if they don’t want to share usage data or personal information.
Trend 2: Performance-First Design for Mobile & Beyond
Students aren’t waiting for your photo carousel of campus shots to load — and Google’s Core Web Vitals says neither should you. Mobile-first, performance-focused design improves not only UX but also search rankings. This is standard practice these days, but you would be surprised by how often we see these considerations being ignored. They have a humungous impact on your ranking with Google, and if you’re not taking that seriously then… well, you’re reading this blog, so I imagine you take this stuff seriously. Nice job, reader!
Best practices:
- Compress images. We recommend using WebP (.webp), which is supported by modern browsers. Some platforms have built-in tools or plugins that will convert newly uploaded files to WebP, so fret not!
- Lazy-load noncritical assets. Let ‘em load once the user reaches that section or clicks the play button on the video, not on initial page load. This may need to be hard-coded in the template and/or building blocks of your site, or it could be added via a plugin depending on the platform.
- Prioritize server speed and CDN delivery for global access. Your site could have the most optimized images and all the cutting-edge tech to keep it snappy under the hood, but if the server can’t handle it and all of the site traffic, then you might as well have just sent out a brochure instead. Invest in a good cloud-based server and caching system; you won’t regret it. Cloudflare, AWS (Amazon Web Services), Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean are a few commonly used services.
Trend 3: Interactive Storytelling With Scroll-Triggered Animations
Trends #1 and #2 are more like must-haves, whereas Trend #3 is more of an actual trend. What we’ve seen is that Gen Z responds to experiential content, and storytelling via scroll animation is a powerful way to lead them through your campus life, outcomes, or student journeys without walls of text. If you consider how much they are used to scrolling through bite-sized content, this is kind of a no-brainer. Keep in mind, it takes a well-thought-out strategy and good storytelling to get this right, so investing time and resources is key and can be well worth the effort.
Best practices:
- Keep animations purposeful. Avoid overuse and be strategic in placement.
- Tell one story at a time. Keeping this aligned will deliver more impact.
- Make sure animations don’t interrupt keyboard navigation for accessibility purposes.
A few tools to consider:
- LottieFiles for lightweight, accessible animations.
- Webflow for no-code interaction design. Webflow has totally reinvented itself, and is now a major player in the web design space.
Trend 4: Elevated Design Systems With Modular Components
From admissions to academic departments, university websites tend to grow… fast. A modular, component-based design system ensures brand consistency and makes updates easier across departments and microsites. This has been Spark451’s approach to web design builds from the get-go, so we fancy ourselves the experts. This design system keeps sites flexible, dynamic, and easier to manage and troubleshoot. We also find that our clients have a much easier (and fun) time building out pages on their own with this method.
Best practices:
- Build reusable content blocks that tie into data types, so you can dynamically fill pages with content (e.g., faculty bios, testimonials, program descriptions).
- Document components in a style guide. This will keep things consistent, and ensure you stay that way when involving other stakeholders.
- Train campus content managers to use the system properly. Come up with a template of sorts for specific pages, so that they know what is needed. One bonus of this is that your visitors will know what to expect when they come across similar pages, since the formatting is the same!
Trend 5: Emotion-Driven Color Palettes and Typography
This one’s for my fellow web designers out there. Today’s students are looking for vibe and values. Strategic use of brand colors and expressive typography help convey your school’s personality while reinforcing emotional resonance, especially on landing pages and campaign microsites that get a lot of traffic.
Best practices:
- Avoid overuse of shadows and skeuomorphic elements. (It’s giving 2010s vibes.)
- Stay on brand at all costs! Avoid trends that clash with brand identity. (Cringe.)
- Use typography to emphasize hierarchy and key information: consider font weight, size, style, and color contrast. (That’s low-key typography 101.)
Bonus Nonnegotiables
Nonnegotiable 1: Accessibility
Accessible design isn’t just inclusive — it’s essential for compliance and SEO. Ensure your site meets WCAG 2.1 AA (soon to be WCAG 2.2) standards and works for screen readers, keyboard navigation, and colorblind users. We take this seriously and bake it into all of our website builds, so feel free to reach out to us for guidance on this topic.
Our top tips:
- Use semantic HTML and ARIA labels.
- Don’t rely solely on color to convey information. Those who are colorblind may have a negative experience trying to read text on certain backgrounds.
- Do real testing with screen readers.
- Audit your site regularly with axe DevTools or WAVE, or use platforms like Siteimprove to help you identify red flags.
Nonnegotiable 2: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO isn’t just about keywords — it’s about site structure, performance, and accessibility, all working together. In 2025, optimizing for search means optimizing for users. Don’t think Google doesn’t see your stuffing of random keywords into alt text or adding invisible H1s across your page, because it does, and it will penalize you for it.
Best practices:
- Create descriptive URLs and meta titles.
- Optimize alt text on every image — and don’t use background images for non-decorative content.
- Avoid generic file names for images and videos like “video-1.mp4” and “screenshot-01-01-2025.png.” Come up with a naming convention that is descriptive yet concise. Bonus: This will help you keep assets organized as well!
Tools to consider:
- Yoast SEO (for WordPress sites)
- Google Search Console (for real-time monitoring)
Nonnegotiable 3: Answer Engine Optimization
An emerging and related consideration is “answer engine optimization” (AEO). As users shift from typing keywords into search bars to asking AI assistants like ChatGPT, Google’s SGE, and Perplexity for direct answers and recommendations, your site isn’t just being indexed, it’s being interpreted, summarized, and answered from. And while the rules for AEO and SEO are similar, there’s a tendency to prefer content that delivers authoritative references (e.g., faculty authorship) and natural language Q&A to help deliver “answers” over links.
Lean on Industry Expertise
As higher ed marketers, we’re not just designing websites — we’re shaping prospective students’ first impressions and helping them envision their futures. Whether you’re rolling out a full redesign or just refreshing a campaign landing page, these trends offer smart, future-forward ways to connect more deeply with your target audience.
If your site could use a tune-up or a strategic overhaul, just reach out, and Spark451 can help.
A Different Kind of Summer Bucket List
Summer is here, and with it — summer bucket lists! You know what we’re talking about… all the wonderful things we want to do while the weather is warm and the days long. At the top of that list always seems to be “go on vacation!” but, since we can’t take the whole summer off (disappointing, we know), we’re here to provide a different type of summer bucket list: the get-your-CRM-ready-for-the-cycle-ahead list!
So put on your favorite music, pour a cold drink (iced coffee, anyone?), and get ready to dive in.
Bucket List Item #1: Cycle Prep
You’ve likely already gotten started on this one, but just in case you haven’t, we’re here to remind you: The time to start cycle prep is now! This critical process is key to a successful and smooth transition to the new recruitment cycle, so don’t put it off any longer. Not sure where to start? Check out our previous blog posts for comprehensive lists of action items:
Spark451’s Guide to Slate Cycle Prep
Essential Cycle Prep for All CRMs
Pro Tip: Cycle prep is an excellent time to start implementing past project ideas that never came to fruition as well as building upon those that were possibly started but never finished.
Bucket List Item #2: Collaborating
You know that post-conference feeling? The excitement of returning to the office knowing that any project, big or small, can and will be tackled? For most of us, that feeling is a bit too temporary… reality sets in and questions start arising: How exactly am I going to build out those dream features? Do I have the time for this? Where do I even start?
The answer? Teamwork! There’s no need to go at these projects alone, so this summer, see if you can gather at least three people to help you. The expertise, input, and hidden talents you’ll uncover will undoubtedly bring your projects to new heights.
Pro Tip: Turn the business cards you’ve collected into actionable next steps by connecting online with the people you’ve met. Whether it’s building connections, sharing ideas, or partnering with Spark451, don’t let new faces fade away!
Bucket List Item #3: Training
Between the turnover of your student workers and new staff hires, training should never be put on the back burner. Investing in your team’s technical abilities has long-term benefits and learning new skills helps them and you.
If you’re wondering where to find your next Slate, Element451, or Salesforce subject matter expert, look no further than IT staff and eager student workers. Sometimes the next great thought leader in your office is already there!
Bucket List Item #4: Events
Summer is prime event time, with new student orientation, arrival day, and increased campus visits taking center stage. Stay organized and on top of all those moving parts by using your CRM (so long, Excel spreadsheets! ) to track attendee details and staff availability, and to create timely communications that keep every audience engaged and informed.
Pro Tip: Hoping to get a bigger budget for future events? Nothing says “this is worth it!” more than a report showing how these events impact yield. Be sure to take full advantage of your CRM’s reporting capabilities and track, track, track!
Final Thoughts
With your focus now shifting to next year’s class, don’t forget about your incoming students and families. They have questions that need answers, and giving them some extra support in the coming weeks will pay off in the long term.
Need help building an anti-melt campaign? We have some tricks up our sleeves we’d be happy to share with you! Reach out anytime to discuss your needs and explore how our flexible SparkAssist service can help you get the most out of your CRM!