Notre Dame de Namur University grew spring enrollments 82% with Element451’s AI agent platform

A small team, a broken CRM, and a lot on the line

When Tanya Tran joined Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) as Dean of Enrollment Management, she inherited more than ambitious enrollment goals. She inherited a CRM setup that simply didn’t work.

Applications had mysteriously dropped off. Marketing couldn’t pull reliable reports. Basic questions like “How many calls did we make this week?” or “Which campaigns are working?” were almost impossible to answer. The institution was still under contract with Salesforce, but the way it had been configured made it slow, opaque, and frustrating for the teams who needed it most.

“It wasn’t about squeezing out one more year on the contract,” Tanya shared. “We just couldn’t track what we needed. We needed something else.”

Having implemented Slate and LeadSquared at previous institutions, Tanya knew two things:

1. NDNU needed a higher-ed-specific platform that could actually support admissions work, and
2. She didn’t have the luxury of a multi-year, resource-intensive implementation.
   

That’s when a colleague, Charon Hoppes, pointed her to Element451.

Choosing an AI platform built for higher ed

NDNU wasn’t looking for “another tool.” They were looking for a way to rebuild their funnel around real data, automation, and outcomes.

Several factors tipped the scales toward Element451:

• Higher-ed focus. Unlike generic CRMs, Element451 is built around admissions, enrollment, and student engagement workflows, not retrofitted for them.
• Unified engagement + CRM. The team could manage forms, events, email, text, and tasks in the same place where their student records live.
• AI-powered campaigns and agents. From nurture journeys to fraud detection and chatbot interactions, NDNU saw a path to scale without adding headcount.

Element451 is fully vetted by the College Buys Foundation, enabling AICCU member institutions to access discounted pricing and an expedited procurement pathway.

They signed with Element451 in December 2023—a full year before their Salesforce contract expired—because waiting wasn’t an option. The status quo was already costing them opportunities.

Implementation that didn't require a floor of engineers

Tanya brought in Data and Admissions Operations Specialist, Maddie Reffel, to lead the implementation. Maddie had worked in admissions and had seen other CRMs up close, but she wasn’t a developer.

Element451’s modular rollout, guided configuration, and knowledge base meant she didn’t have to be.

Key ingredients in NDNU’s implementation story:

• Clear, step-by-step build. Working module by module, Maddie could see immediate progress instead of staring at a blank, highly technical system.
• Hands-on support. The Element451 team (including implementation specialists and support staff like Chase and Victoria) were in frequent contact as questions came up.
• Peer community. NDNU tapped into the Element451 community to see how other schools were structuring workflows, adopting AI, and measuring impact.

For Tanya, the difference compared to previous CRM projects was obvious almost immediately:

Within months, NDNU had automated core admissions workflows, brought events and information sessions into the platform, and started capturing the full picture of how their team was engaging with prospects.

Cleaning up the funnel: fewer fake applications, more real students

One of the most dramatic changes NDNU saw was in its application funnel.

In the old system, they couldn’t reliably distinguish between genuine applications and the noise created by bots, duplicates, and fraudulent submissions—especially from international sources. Volume looked high, but the team was wasting precious time on records that would never convert.

With Element451, that changed.

• Bots, duplicates, and likely fraud are filtered and flagged.
• Staff time is redirected to applicants who are actually interested and likely to enroll.
  

As a result:

• The number of applications dropped by 400–500 per term, because the junk stopped getting through.
• At the same time, enrollments increased by 82% between Fall 2024 and Summer 2025.
  

Instead of chasing inflated application numbers, NDNU’s team now works a smaller, cleaner pool of applicants—and enrolls more of them.

Tanya is candid that fraud detection still needs nuance: occasionally a legitimate student gets flagged. But she’d rather review a short list of suspect cases than sift through a mountain of bad data.

Making work visible: 2,235 tasks, 97% completion

Before Element451, NDNU couldn’t see the work happening inside the admissions office in any consistent way. Call notes lived in one place, emails in another, and some outreach never got logged at all.

Ten months into their Element451 rollout, that picture looks very different.

In a single month, NDNU tracked:

• 2,235 automated student outreach tasks created
• 97% of tasks completed
• 89% completed on time
  

Because tasks, calls, emails, and texts are all visible in one place, Tanya can now:

• See which team members are completing outreach on schedule
• Identify where students stall in the process
• Coach staff toward best practices using real data

Re-engaging "stale" leads with AI-guided campaigns

Like many institutions, NDNU had years of old inquiries and prospects sitting in their database. With limited staff and a broken CRM, there was no practical way to re-engage those students.

Element451 changed the math.

Using the platform’s campaign tools and AI guidance on best-practice cadences, NDNU built nurture series specifically for older leads. The results:

• 26% open rate on email nurture campaigns to stale leads
• 18% click rate on text campaigns to those same audiences

For context, Tanya’s benchmark for success with such cold lists was simply “getting anything at all.” Seeing that level of engagement from dormant contacts confirmed that the content, timing, and targeting were finally working together.

Next on the roadmap: real-time notifications to counselors when a student opens or clicks, so staff can follow up while interest is high.

Higher-yield events and clearer engagement data

NDNU also brought its information sessions into Element451 using the Events module, and the impact is already visible.

• 147 students registered for information sessions over a recent period
• 75% of registrants showed up

Because registrations, attendance, and follow-up communications all live in one system, NDNU can now see:

• Which events drive applications and enrollments
• Which follow-up sequences produce the strongest responses
• How events fit into the broader funnel, from inquiry to enrolled

They’ve also enabled Element451’s chatbot, generating 30–40 chat interactions in just a couple of months—a number they expect to climb once their website redesign is complete.

Beyond admissions: building an outcomes-driven campus

NDNU’s use of Element451 began with admissions, but the impact is already reaching across campus.

• Financial aid staff now use tasks inside Element451 to coordinate with admissions, speeding up responses for students who want to talk through aid options.
• Academic advising and student success are beginning to engage, with NDNU exploring how to manage interviews and advising touchpoints in the same platform.
• Marketing is in the loop on forms and web updates, ensuring prospective students have a smoother journey from first click to application.

At the same time, NDNU is experimenting with AI beyond the CRM—piloting on-demand information sessions with AI versions of their counselors and exploring new ways to let students get answers on their own schedule.

Through it all, Element451 has become the system of action that keeps outreach, tasks, and decisions moving.

The bottom line

Ten months after going live with Element451, Notre Dame de Namur University has:

• Reclaimed control of its enrollment funnel
• Dramatically improved enrollment outcomes, despite a drop in application volume
• Made staff work visible, measurable, and coachable
• Proven that a small, resource-constrained institution can harness AI to work smarter—not harder

Tanya sums it up simply: NDNU is still early in its journey with Element451. But with clean data, clear workflows, and real-time visibility, the university finally has what it needs to build an admissions and enrollment strategy around outcomes—not guesswork.