education lead gen: the $1.25b plague

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The $1.25 billion plague: Educa7on Lead Gen Why They’re Evil and What We Can Do

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Lead gen sites pose as informational resources, but give unlimited exposure to colleges that are usually paying for placement, largely for-profits. These sites drive unknowing students to the wrong schools.

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Page 1: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

The  $1.25  billion  plague:    Educa7on  Lead  Gen  

Why  They’re  Evil  and  What  We  Can  Do  

Page 2: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

The  Problem  •  Lead  gen  sites  pose  as  informa7onal  resources,  but  give  unlimited  exposure  (with  liKle  adver7sing  disclosure)  to  colleges  that  are  usually  paying  for  placement,  largely  for-­‐profits.  

•  These  sites  drive  unknowing  students  to  the  wrong  schools.  

•  Their  methods  are  sneaky  and  predatory,  and  the  market  size  is  tremendous.  An  es7mated  $1.25B  is  spent  annually  on  educa7on  lead  gen.  

Page 3: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

The  Problem  •  For-­‐profit  colleges  have  terrible  outcomes  

–  6-­‐year  gradua7on  rate  of  22%,  compared  to  60%  at  non-­‐profit  ins7tu7ons.      

–  Spend  23%  of  revenue  on  finding  and  enrolling  new  students,  compared  to  the  non-­‐profits’  1%.    

– Average  student  borrows  $39,950.  

Page 4: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Who  Does  This  Hurt?  •  Lead  gen  sites  hurt  the  students  who  most  need  guidance:  –  First  genera7on  college  students  

– Veterans  •  The  student  who  might  start  by  searching  for  “best  online  university”  is  most  at  risk.    

Page 5: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Pay-­‐to-­‐Play  Sites  

•  Universi7es  pay  to  be  included  in  the  website’s  database.  •  Users  search  for  colleges  and  are  led  to  believe  these  pay-­‐

to-­‐play  universi7es  are  their  only  or  best  op7ons.  •  How  It  Works:  Users  input  their  desired  degree  and  

concentra7on  and  the  portal  yields  a  limited  number  of  op7ons.  Instead  of  “best  fit”  search  results,  users  are  prompted  to  fill  out  a  lead  gen  form  that  collects  personally  iden7fying  informa7on.    

•  These  websites  offer  liKle  or  no  informa7on  about  the  actual  program  and  have  no  data  facets  that  would  enable  matching.    

Websites  that  pose  as  degree  search  portals  to  match  users  to  the  right  degree  program  

Page 6: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Two  Types  of  Pay-­‐to-­‐Play  •  Type  1:  only  schools  that  pay  show  up  in  search  results  

•  Type  2:  paying  &  non-­‐paying  sites  both  show  up  in  search  results,  but  the  site  ranks  paying  schools  higher  and  points  students  to  them.  

Page 7: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Examples  of  Pay-­‐to-­‐Play  (Type  1)  •  Military.com’s  School  

Finder  –  Poses  as  an  innocuous,  student-­‐centered  search  portal  

•  eLearners  –  Does  include  a  disclosure  to  users  about  how  their  info  will  be  shared,  which  many  lead  gen  portals  do  not  

   

Page 8: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Examples  of  Pay-­‐to-­‐Play  (Type  2)  •  AllNursingSchools.com  

–  shows  the  paying  universi7es  as  the  learner’s  top  three  matches  instead  of  lis7ng  them  as  sponsored  search  results.  

 

Page 9: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Why  Pay-­‐to-­‐Play  Sites  Are  Bad  

•  These  sites  don’t  help  the  user  make  beKer  decisions  or  deliver  on  the  “matching”  they  claim  to  offer.    

•  Users  are  led  to  believe  that  the  six  results  are  the  only  universi7es  that  offer  their  intended  major  -­‐  but  those  universi7es  are  paying  customers.  

Page 10: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Content  Marke7ng  

•  Lead  gen  websites  expend  a  lot  of  effort  to  drive  traffic  to  their  websites.  Content  marke7ng  has  become  a  popular  tool  to  drive  learners  down  the  conversion  funnel  into  filling  out  a  lead  form.    

•  A  student  will  start  conduc7ng  a  search  and  be  drawn  to  baity,  ohen  low-­‐quality,  content.  

•  Unbeknownst  to  the  student,  he  or  she  is  falling  into  a  pay-­‐to-­‐play  scheme  rather  than  gejng  real  info  about  colleges.  

Page 11: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Examples  of  Content  Marke7ng  

•  Infographics  •  Syndicated  content  from  agencies  like  Vantage  Media  appear  as  actual  news,  but  are  really  ads  for  for-­‐profit  colleges.    

Page 12: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Examples  of  Content  Marke7ng  •  Yahoo!  Educa7on  posts  syndicated  content  and  includes  content  marke7ng  on  the  main  slider  on  its  homepage.  

Page 13: Education Lead Gen: The $1.25B Plague

Why  Content  Marke7ng  Sites  Are  Bad  

•  Some  of  these  sites  will  direct  a  student  to  fill  out  a  lead  form  before  even  showing  the  user  his  or  her  top  op7ons.    

•  All  these  websites  do  is  create  informa7on  to  get  people  to  come  to  their  website.