The UK higher education sector is navigating a perfect storm: financial strain, external political pressures, and intense global competition. With over 40% of UK universities currently in financial deficit (statistics backed by our soon to be released report ‘Tackling the UK Higher Education Crisis: How a Unified Data Strategy Drives Success Across the Student Lifecycle’ that surveyed 100 higher education leaders), the pressure to increase revenues and boost enrolments without swelling costs is intense.
Innovation is clearly necessary. However, many institutions are pouring precious resources into attracting new applicants only to find that their internal systems fail to convert that demand into enrollment, effectively wasting effort.
Is your university’s legacy system holding you back? Here are 5 critical signs, backed by our recent survey of 100 higher education leaders, that your institution desperately needs a CRM transformation.
1. Your Leads are Going Cold – And Hurting Your Finances
If you’re investing heavily in marketing and outreach but failing to follow up with prospective students, you are fundamentally wasting resources. Our data shows a strong correlation between financial difficulties and an inability to effectively follow up on applicant leads.
Here’s the stark reality: Only 27% of universities follow up with every applicant lead. At some institutions (8% of those surveyed), up to half of leads go un-contacted.
If your current system lacks the unified data and efficiency needed to track and respond to every prospective student, you are likely missing out on conversions. Critically, those institutions that do contact every lead are significantly more likely to have a positive financial outlook.
2. Your Admissions Process is Losing Students to Competitors
In a competitive market, speed is paramount. Slow application processing times mean candidates receive offers from other universities first, leading to lost students.
Over a third of universities surveyed have lost out on students due to slow processing times. Furthermore, over one in five are unable to move qualified leads through the sales funnel because of fragmented systems.
How long does it take your institution to issue an offer? For 90% of respondents, it takes between one week and one month. When prospective students expect timely, relevant information, systems that delay communication (or result in misaligned or disjointed messaging) adversely affect the overall student experience right from the admission stage.
3. You Can’t Spot Your High-Intent Applicants
Imagine a flood of applications arriving during peak season. Can your team immediately identify the most promising candidates who need a rapid response? For many, the answer is no.
The most commonly cited issue causing delays in making an offer is an inability to prioritise high-intent applicants. This stems from a larger data deficit: only 4% of respondents have real-time attribution data, and under a third can gather actionable data within a day.
If you lack real-time visibility, you can’t strategically pivot resources when demand spikes.
4. Your Staff Still Depend on Spreadsheets (or Worse)
The majority of universities do not yet have a fully automated admissions platform. When systems are fragmented and data is siloed (a factor for 20% of delays), staff revert to manual methods.
37% of leaders report that a reliance on manual processes is a significant cause of delays. While "the world’s most common CRM is spreadsheets," many institutions are even less organised, with staff using “post-it notes in lieu of a centralised platform,” resulting in no tracking or performance management.
This reliance on outdated, manual processes prevents the institution from achieving the essential strategic goal: a unified view of the prospective student.
5. You’ve Already Suffered a Failed CRM Implementation
Perhaps the most frustrating sign is having tried and failed before. An alarming 61% of respondents have experienced at least one failed CRM implementation, with most of those who failed doing so two or three times.
What drove these failures? The top reason: lack of user adoption - users didn't have a way to suggest improvements and so reverted to manual processes. Other major factors included poor integration with existing systems and high requirements for customisation.
This cycle of failure wastes budget, time, and morale. Successful CRM adoption requires more than just technology; it requires a culture shift and systems that are intuitive and agile. Users must be able to suggest improvements that are systematically captured and implemented, or the system will quickly go out of sync.
Ready for a transformation that actually works?
If these five signs resonate, it’s time to move beyond fragmented systems and embrace an agile platform that guarantees user adoption and delivers real-time data.
BabelQuest is a multi-award winning and multi-accredited - including G-Cloud 14 CCS - Elite HubSpot Partner dedicated to supporting Higher Education institutes in breaking down data silos and implementing CRM systems that teams love using. We understand the clear need for effective CRM solutions to tackle the admissions crisis.
We are proud sponsors of the Higher Education Partnership Network (HEPN), an event supporting collaboration and innovation for senior leaders tackling the challenges facing the UK higher education sector.
Time to Reverse Your Enrolment Loss
Discuss your transformation TODAY - Book a Strategic Consultation to discuss your digital transformation roadmap with our higher education specialists.
Meet us face-to-face at HEPN - Secure a guaranteed in-person demo with an accredited HubSpot expert during the HEPN event (secured your HEPN ticket here) - we look forward to meeting you face-to-face!
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