Research Study on For-Profit College Leads Released

Amidst the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) recent crackdown on for-profit college's marketing practices, EduDirectResponse.com released a four month study on the demographics and mindset of internet users who fill out for-profit college forms. The official report, released on August 11th, analyzes data on 1000 prospective for-profit college students. The point of the study was to observe and analyze the actions of users who gave their contact information to be notified of for-profit education programs via email, physical mail and phone calls.

The emphasis during this study was to get users to the lead generation path with 100% honest and straightforward internet advertisements shown only to people with a genuine interest in getting a degree from a for-profit college. With the GAO issuing several reports stating that the marketing practices at for-profit colleges are deceptive, Edu Direct Response wanted to manage the expectations of prospective students in an honest and truthful manner throughout the whole process to see the data that comes of it. For example, leads were asked various questions to measure their comfort levels with different contact rates and methods from the schools themselves.

The thought behind using completely transparent and honest advertisements is to place emphasis on the fact that if education leads that are contacted by for-profit colleges know what they are getting themselves into, then there is no need for for-profit colleges to use the deceptive practices that the GAO is accusing them of. At the end of the day, everyone from lead providers to the college call centers must take responsibility for maintaining honesty and Edu Direct Response's study was a first step in demonstrating that such advertising practices are possible.

The official report can be found here - http://www.edudirectresponse.com/research-study-on-for-profit-college-leads-released and highlights all demographic, interest and comfort level data of what users are willing to share and what they are not. The report is worth reading and highlights interesting areas that can help colleges accommodate questions prospective students may have thereby creating a win / win experience for all parties.