Elvin James, associate dean of outreach for Wake Technical Community College (WTCC), shares how shifting from a paper-based system to a digital-first student-centered CRM transformed their enrollment processes, boosting efficiency and empowering them with data.

RIT Certified's Most Loved Features

• Conversations module
• Event hosting + management
• Packs pre-built campaign library
• Marketing automation

What challenges were you trying to solve prior to using the Element451 platform?

A few years back, most of our enrollment processes were paper-based. So, due to COVID, of course, we had to make the quick transition over to some type of online platform. That's where Element451 came in to help us utilize and streamline those processes to help our students get to the next level of enrolling, whether they were high school students or your traditional college students. So, the platform has been a world of wonders for us, helping us reach our students and rallying around them, too.

How are you using Element451 to engage with students better?

The most used feature for my particular area is definitely the customizable forms. Being able to create your own application, your own enrollment form, and being able to customize that to fit your institution. It has definitely benefited us within the past two years, and it definitely shows in the data; it has helped increase our enrollment by significant percentages across the board.

With Element451, we've been able to utilize customizable forms, host events, and send out communication emails and text messages to inform prospects and current students of when it's time to register or it's time to enroll for the upcoming semester. So a combination of all of those different things, the forms, the event invites, email communication, communication in general, and all of those things combined have been a big benefit.

When you talk about being able to or having to wait 24 to 72 hours to process particular forms as they go through the process, we've cut that lead time down to anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours. We've sped up that process like no other because of the solution, so we're very thankful at Wake Tech.

What would you say to a colleague interested in Element451?

Element451 is a one-stop shop. It's what you are definitely looking for when you talk about strategic enrollment management and looking to help students, no matter what background they come from or what their goals are. It's definitely an all-in-one solution, no matter where they are in the process. Everyone who is in Higher Ed can definitely benefit from Element451, no matter what area you're looking at it from.

To see how Element451 can streamline every aspect of your enrollment management and student communication, book a demo today.