2020. Weird time, amirite?
In between wiping down groceries, watching “Tiger King,” and baking sourdough, students who were paying hefty tuition for traditional universities were starting to question the value of their experience. Why pay a premium price for tech fails, professors unable to adapt to online learning, and their bright college years spent bathed in the glare of a screen?
The conversation raged, but most online universities glossed over it with “we’re all in this together” pandemic platitudes.
American Public University, with 20+ years of experience teaching online and more than 105,800 degrees conferred since 1995, was perfectly positioned to intercept the conversation and offer hope.
We developed a rich message map of personas, obstacles, and APU differentiators, built on these three main ideas:
APU has decades of experience making online learning work.
You may not have considered an online university before, but if all schools are online, why not save money, bank credits with us, and re-enroll at your institution of choice later?
There’s no time like the present to invest in yourself.
We delivered a suite of funny, frank creative inextricable from our interception strategy. APU could now credibly enter and change these conversations.
Social interceptions and copy versioned for paid drove to a landing page that broke down the conversational flash points and encouraged visitors to reach out for more information. A simple infographic outlining the benefits of APU was created for admissions staff to share with prospective students.
SOCIAL
fun fact: I was also the illustrator on this project. The little black dog peeking out of the Zoom box is my girl June.
Landing Page
INFOGRAPHIC
So how did it do?
69% increase in engagement rate
367% increase in clicks month over month from APU Twitter/X
Interceptions comprised 73% of clicks and 96% of user profile clicks from APU Twitter/X
43% reduction in cost per lead
80% increase in impressions, driven by views and engagements on the interceptions
Increased awareness and interest in APU as a solution to pandemic-era education.