What XR Can Do for You
Whether you are a large Midwestern sports-dominated University like ISU, or a small research institution in the Northeast like Binghamton, you’ll find that any type of school, anywhere, can benefit massively from XR technology in its recruitment campaigns. No matter who you are, XR is right for your school.
Companies selling every sort of product — everything from shoes to a world-class educational experience — have proven that utilizing XR to show off your product’s appearance and unique features will increase consumer engagement and make your organization stand out that much more. Educational institutions are a prime example — XR tools from virtual football stadiums to augmented reality campus visits have been widely successful across the nation, with tangible and positive recruitment results.
The Evidence In-A-Nutshell
- Iowa State University’s investment in a one-of-a-kind VR football stadium experience drives higher sign-on rates and positive responses for their recruited athletes every year.
- Savannah College of Art and Design’s multifaceted XR enhancement initiative — cardboard VR headsets mailed to every admitted student, AR-enhanced course catalogue, personalized AR acceptance video — led to a 26% increase in admission applications.
- Binghamton University (SUNY) partnered with Campus 360 to create an immersive, interactive, and personal campus experience that reached and impressed students like never before.
- Shopify’s AR visualization campaign proved that XR is powerful for consumers in every industry, with a 94% higher conversion rate.
XR is Revolutionizing Recruitment for Universities
Iowa State University
Imagine stepping onto the field for the first time to the roar of the stands, the blinding stadium lights, the rush of exhilaration and school spirit — the kind of memorable and defining moment of an athlete’s life that can only be experienced in person, right? Except with today’s high-level VR technology, this can all be recreated with stunning realisticness — and that’s just what ISU did. In a bid to recruit the best football players, ISU built a massive VR room for their Jack Trice Football stadium, allowing potential recruits to experience the rush of running onto the field with the team while a crowd of thousands cheer, the marching band blasts out school spirit, and the fans sing Sweet Caroline. Forget static mailers and 2D still photos — you can only communicate that kind of electrifying experience through VR.
This awesome long-term project led to more positive responses and higher sign-on rates from the 40-50 recruits that get to experience the VR environment every year. This is the unique power of XR!
Savannah College of Art and Design
Rather than focusing on recruited athletes, Savannah College took XR tools to the major leagues — all 3,000 of their admitted students.
As colleges are increasingly bending over backwards to get students to commit, Savannah decided on an innovative approach. To increase their competitive advantage, they sent Google VR cardboard sets to all 3,000 admitted students, letting them virtually tour all four of Savannah’s campuses, including those in Hong Kong and France.
What’s more, they added AR videos and animations to their course catalogue and sent personalized AR acceptance videos which congratulated each student according to their own name, location, and program of interest. That’s personalization on steroids — and it worked.
Students loved it! These initiatives set the school apart, increased engagement, and — now here’s the part you really care about — led to a 26% increase in admissions applications.
Simply put: XR initiatives increase schools’ popularity, public image, and desirability in the eyes of prospective students, with tangible conversion impact.
Binghamton University
Binghamton University went another route, enlisting the help of Campus 360 to implement an interactive and immersive VR campus tour experience for students to enjoy from their own homes.
Prospective students are now able to experience both live virtual tours of Binghamton’s campus with real tour guides, or go on self-guided tours. Augmented reality campus visit tools also guide students on tours when they visit campus in-person and even let them virtually and safely see inside otherwise no-access buildings while complying with COVID-19 precautions. All those small seminar classrooms, top-of-the-line lab equipment, and freshman dorm rooms that you’ve been dying to show off — prospective and admitted students can experience it all.
Image: Binghamton Tour (Youtube)
These features have immensely improved Binghamton University’s ability to reach and impress prospective students. Don’t just take it from us. As Binghamton administrator Doug put it, “Not everyone has the opportunity to come and visit. This gives them access at a moment’s notice to see any part of our campus at any given time … Our [virtual] tour allows access and campus tour feel to as many students as possible.”
XR is a Key Marketing Tool Across Industries
Shopify
Beyond universities, commercial successes with XR reinforce that XR is powerful, for anyone and everyone. Shopify, the all-too-popular Canadian e-commerce company whose business skyrocketed during COVID, offers more hard evidence of XR’s positive ROI for product marketing.
Shopify found that the products with 3D and AR visualization features had a 94% greater conversion rate than products without those features, meaning that XR visualization technology contributed to marketing efforts being 94% more effective than their traditional counterparts.
Image: Shopify AR Technology (Shopify)
What This Means For You
At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding: XR has proven that it can and will boost awareness for you, as well as get students interested in and excited to attend your school! To keep up with the next revolution in marketing, XR enhancements are just what every school needs to not only reach students where they are, but also attract and convert them to your school — instead of all your competitors.
In the following articles in this series, we’ll continue explaining the benefits and data behind XR for school recruitment, as well as next steps you can take to leverage the power of AR for your school.
As ever, stay on alert for our next article and have a wonderful week! Hopefully you aren’t stuck too long looking at a dull, non-immersive 2D screen.
Sources
ARtillery Intelligence. “AR Advertising Deep Dive, Part I: The Landscape.” AR Advertising Deep Dive. June 2020.
Bengfort, Jacquelyn, College Recruiting Goes Virtual with Immersive Technology, EdTech Magazine, 10/25/2017.
Miller, Vanessa, Iowa State uses world-class virtual reality for football recruiting, The Gazette, 10/23/2015.
Ravipati, Sri, Scaling Up Admissions and Recruiting with AR, Campus Technology, 04/04/2017.
Snap Consumer AR Global Report 2021, Deloitte Digital, 2021.