The journey matters
When Bethenny Frankel and LSU Shreveport overlap [at least in my head]
Sure, some folks might go after me for calling prospective students customers, but i’ll get over that, and so will they. When is the last time you secret shopped your own org - went through the customer journey to validate your assumptions? Bethenny Frankel just went off on the Chanel Chicago boutique - she says she got turned away one weekday (no appointment) when she was super casually dressed/not made up. The next day she went back in full glam, was let right in, and having proven her Pretty Woman point, walked right back out. While the handbag subreddit (don’t judge me) is debating the veracity of her story, I’ve had enough experiences of my own that I do not. [I never return the next day in a Chanel suit and heels though.]
I admit it - i love customer journey and needs analysis and use cases. I frankly can’t believe everyone doesn’t. But regardless of what your business is, I would venture a guess you haven’t recently gone through the journey as your customer does. And that’s a huge mistake.
I’ve been looking at online EdD programs, both out of interest and out of research/curiosity. Shocking perhaps no one, there are vast differences in quality of my experience. It feels unsporting to go after a university for negativity, so instead i”ll go positive. Lousiana State University Shreveport - sleeper hit! Not only did I get a call within 30 seconds of submitting my request for information, but when I hit decline [as one does these days] I got a text message with the option to text back for info. Special shout out to AJ the admissions counselor - asked me what my motivation for the degree was and came back with a great, relevant, fun comment. I got my follow up email within a couple of hours, and feel quite knowledgable about this program. There is the additional positive that if anyone in the US can pronounce my last name, it’s usually someone in Louisiana. (1 day later I got an email from LSUS asking how to contact me and about what. If they customize this experience and get it right I’m going to be wildly impressed.)
So where do organizations go wrong? I’m not sure that they [we] know what our customers want or what’s important. I worked with a higher ed partner that was building an application product from scratch, rather than going with an established Slate or other product. It became wildly clear that no one had consulted someone with relevant experience when we got to the demo. The student facing front end was fine and logical. The back end where admissions folks would log in was a nightmare - there was no way to filter apps [by GPA for example], no way to send apps between admissions professionals, no way to *star* an app to draw attention to it. Every time you logged in the apps were in chronological order and there was no way to mark any as read/do not show. Technically it worked, but this was the most minimum least viable product I have ever seen. I had to tell the entire product team that if this was demo’d as it was, no university on earth would buy it. [I wasn’t hugely popular that day.]
All schools should have a customer journey map for their students, from the 1st spark of interest through their [hopeful] graduation and then into alumni status. I would be willing to bet very few have this, but those who do - they’re way ahead of the curve. To fully understand the journey, you’re going to need the collaboration of every area that touches students. [Good thing you’re already set up for success.] You may be surprised by how many, or how few, touchpoints there really are. At one top 10 ranked university, they told me that they didn’t know what automated emails went out to prospects, and they had no way of controlling those. Major miss - that school is known for their dragons.
Creating that map can be overwhelming. One team I was on did it with a giant piece of craft paper - that was actually pretty fun. We drew in the map from the point when a person might say ‘hmmm maybe grad school” and everything that could come along the way. (If you need map help, let me know - happy to share.) The thing is, everything should be done with intention and understanding. Do you know how long it takes to provision a new student account [email and LMS access] once the new student has decided to commit and pay their deposit? If you don’t, everyone is in for a rude awakening - from the new student who expects Amazon level speed to the advisor who gets the panicked call from the student to the help desk who gets the ticket from the advisor to the Deputy CIO who wonders why there are so many tickets that will exceed the 24 hour SLA. [entirely possible I was the Deputy CIO and that I’m also very fond of an SLA.]
So what’s the harm if you put this off, or can’t convince IT to work with you [again, bring snacks] or just “don’t have time?” Maybe non. Maybe everyone will put up with inconvenience or broken links or waiting. But what if they don’t? What are you losing that you don’t even know about?
