Marketing and communications are most effective when the right message reaches the right person at the right time — not through one-size-fits-all mass messaging. This is where segmentation comes in. By analyzing data and uncovering patterns, a campus can identify unique needs and craft messaging that resonates with key audiences. Collecting and leveraging data from these audiences allows a campus to move beyond anecdotal assumptions and create meaningful connections through marketing. But how do you determine what truly matters to them?

At RW Jones, we strongly advocate for developing personas to guide segmentation-driven marketing efforts. We push back, however, against the traditional approach that relies heavily on manually categorizing people based on demographics to understand who they are and what they want. To explain why, it’s essential to understand the difference between correlation and causation. My favorite example of this concept comes from a t-shirt I regret not buying. Imagine a graph showing a positive relationship between ice cream sales and shark attacks. At first glance, someone might conclude that buying more ice cream somehow causes shark attacks. In reality, there’s a correlation between the two because both rise during the summer months, but one does not cause the other. The t-shirt summed it up: “Correlation does not imply causation.”

This concept applies directly to decisions made based on demographic data. Although college decisions may be correlated with income, race and gender, for example, this does not mean broad generalizations can be made about what a prospective student wants based on those data points.

A better approach is to ask students how they make decisions and create personas based on their behavior. While it becomes more complicated to identify them in a database without relying on demographics, it provides exceptional insights into how an audience is truly making decisions.

RW Jones recently conducted a research study to address this challenge. Removing demographics as the driving force behind defining personas and focusing on motivations instead, we found clear personas for undergraduate prospective students. Here are the most important aspects of developing and leveraging behavior-based personas in a segmentation strategy for higher education:

1. Gather and Analyze Behavioral Data

Behavior-based personas are rooted in actual audience actions. To develop them, you need a strong foundation of data from the audience themselves. By leveraging a survey of the target audience, you can customize questions that uncover an individual’s motivations when making a decision.

For the RWJ study, the survey included questions about demographics (for analysis, not defining personas), types of institutions and motivations for pursuing higher education. It also explored topics such as campus visits, factors influencing applications, concerns about college, plans for paying tuition, institutional expectations and career aspirations after graduation. Our researchers used latent profile analysis to identify trends and groupings of behaviors. Latent profile analysis uses data to identify meaningful subgroups (or personas) within a larger population. These personas can be based on any type of data, such as prospective students’ motivations for seeking higher education, students’ experiences in college or career outcomes of recent college graduates. 

2. Define Distinct Personas Based on Behaviors

Once the groupings are identified, analyzing additional motivations or behaviors that distinguish the personas is essential. In this case, their shared motivations reveal critical decision-making criteria for choosing a college. In the RWJ study, which focused on 15- to 17-year-olds from across the country, the personas ranged from career-driven students to those seeking a specific college experience, with variations in between.

The most striking insight from the analysis was, for the most part, demographics did not determine which persona a student best fit into. Factors such as race, gender and income were not significant drivers in defining a student’s motivations or decision-making process. This underscores the importance of avoiding assumptions based solely on demographics. Although there were correlations between some demographics and persona membership, it is crucial to remember that correlation does not imply causation, and decisions should not be based on surface-level data.

3. Personalize Your Marketing and Communications Based on Personas

When personas are clearly defined, the power of a segmentation strategy becomes evident. Behavior-based personas enable hyper-targeted messaging that speaks directly to audience needs:

Tailor Content: For example, the career-focused student will want to understand factors such as time to degree, access to networking and career connections and alumni successes.

Adapt Tone: The career-focused applicant might prefer professional, ROI-focused messaging, while the experience-focused applicant might respond to more casual, engaging and visually dynamic content.

Optimize Channels: When you understand an applicant’s persona, personalize their journey to matriculation as much as possible to enable them to connect with your institution.

By focusing on behaviors rather than assumptions, higher education institutions can create more impactful and meaningful connections with their audiences, ultimately driving enrollment, retention and long-term engagement.

To learn more about the RW Jones study, the personas we identified and how behavior-informed approaches can impact your marketing and communications efforts, register to join us for a webinar on February 25.