The ultimate guide to CDPs for education
Learn everything there is to know about CDPs in education, including global trends, key insights, use cases, how leading education companies are leveraging personalization, and a framework for evaluating CDP vendors.
Why are education companies adopting CDPs?
Education is no longer one-size-fits-all. Students and families demand programs that are tailored specifically to their goals. With 80% of revenue coming from just 20% of customers,1 customer loyalty is everything. Data is your only advantage to stand out in a sea of virtually endless options. If you’re not leveraging data to deliver more personalized experiences, students and families will simply choose another institution.
Industry leaders in education differentiate themselves with personalization
Duolingo leverages AI decisioning to send millions of personalized push notifications to increase product usage
Khan Academy launched a new AI feature to tailor tutoring sessions to the learner interests and preferences
Coursera implemented AI-powered virtual coach to help answer questions and provide personalized feedback to learners increasing quiz pass rates by 9.5%
education use cases
Acquisition campaigns
Drive new student enrollments by using demographic and interest data to target prospective students and lookalike audiences with program-specific promotions, increasing registrations.
Suppression campaigns
Reduce wasted ad spend by suppressing currently enrolled students from acquisition campaigns using CRM and enrollment data, reallocating budget toward prospective or lapsed students.
Retargeting campaigns
Re-engage users who started but didn’t complete applications by serving reminders and limited-time incentives, increasing application completion rates.
Scholarship promotions
Attract cost-conscious students by advertising partial or full scholarships, increasing inquiries and applications.
Conversion APIs
Share online and offline conversion data with ad platforms, enabling algorithms to better identify and target users with a higher likelihood of converting to improve campaign performance.
Education media networks
Monetize segmentation data by offering anonymized student interest and engagement insights to universities and online course providers for targeted advertising.
Upsell & cross-sell campaigns
Recommend advanced certifications or degree programs to students finishing a course, increasing lifetime enrollments.
Reactivation campaigns
Target lapsed students with discounts or enrollment incentives to boost retention.
Graduation celebration campaigns
Offer exclusive alumni benefits to maintain lifelong engagement.
Localized promotions
Advertise campus-specific programs or workshops to drive regional attendance.
Renewal reminders
Encourage students to renew expiring certifications with early renewal discounts.
Seasonal campaigns
Promote back-to-school enrollment, boot camps, or summer courses to increase seasonal sign-ups.
Dynamic home page content
Display personalized recommendations for degree programs, certifications, or workshops based on browsing behavior to increase engagement and application rates.
Dynamic search results
Tailor search results to highlight popular programs, in-demand certifications, or local workshops, improving search-to-application conversions.
Next best action
Guide prospective students toward key steps like completing applications, attending webinars, or scheduling campus visits to improve conversion rates and engagement.
Interactive career tools
Offer career path simulators, salary projections, or resume-building tools within the app to increase engagement and retention.
Course progress tracking
Display progress toward course or certification completion with visual trackers and personalized encouragement to improve course completion rates.
Personalized learning dashboard
Highlight courses in progress, upcoming assignments, or recently completed modules to improve student engagement and retention.
Gamified milestones
Reward students with badges, certificates, or points for hitting learning milestones to drive engagement through gamification.
Parental tracking features
Provide real-time progress updates and insights into a child’s assignments and performance to strengthen parental engagement and satisfaction.
Financial aid recommendations
Display customized financial aid options, grants, and scholarship opportunities based on a student's profile, academic achievements, and financial background to improve accessibility and application rates.
What education companies should consider when evaluating a CDP
90%5 of marketers say their traditional CDP does not do what they need, so why do they keep buying them?
| Category | Traditional CDP | Composable CDP |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Operates as a separate entity, removed from your company’s data | Integrates directly within your company’s data infrastructure |
| Security & data storage | Data is stored and maintained in the CDP’s data infrastructure | Data is stored and maintained in your existing data infrastructure |
| Data access | Supports user and event data | Supports both online and offline data |
| Data modeling | Uses predefined models that may not fully capture enrollment trends or student engagement patterns | Supports tailored models to handle course enrollment, retention rates, and learning progress data |
| Audience management | Supports broad segmentation but struggles with identifying student personas or learning preferences | Enables granular segmentation using data on course completion rates, program preferences, and student demographics |
| Customer journey customization | Provides standard templates for campaigns like application reminders or program promotions | Powers fully adaptable journeys for events like student onboarding, course progression, and alumni engagement |
| Identity resolution | Relies on out-of-the-box algorithms that may not unify profiles across learning management systems and enrollment platforms | Supports custom algorithms to unify profiles across LMS systems, student portals, and campus databases |
| Pricing | Bundled pricing: dependent on monthly tracked users (MTUs) & feature add-ons | Unbundled: individually priced features with no MTU billing |
| Average implementation time | 6-12 months | 1-4 months |
- ArchitectureIntegrates directly within your company’s data infrastructure
- Security & data storageData is stored and maintained in your existing data infrastructure
- Data accessSupports both online and offline data
- Data modelingSupports tailored models to handle course enrollment, retention rates, and learning progress data
- Audience managementEnables granular segmentation using data on course completion rates, program preferences, and student demographics
- Customer journey customizationPowers fully adaptable journeys for events like student onboarding, course progression, and alumni engagement
- Identity resolutionSupports custom algorithms to unify profiles across LMS systems, student portals, and campus databases
- PricingUnbundled: individually priced features with no MTU billing
- Average implementation time1-4 months
- ArchitectureOperates as a separate entity, removed from your company’s data
- Security & data storageData is stored and maintained in the CDP’s data infrastructure
- Data accessSupports user and event data
- Data modelingUses predefined models that may not fully capture enrollment trends or student engagement patterns
- Audience managementSupports broad segmentation but struggles with identifying student personas or learning preferences
- Customer journey customizationProvides standard templates for campaigns like application reminders or program promotions
- Identity resolutionRelies on out-of-the-box algorithms that may not unify profiles across learning management systems and enrollment platforms
- PricingBundled pricing: dependent on monthly tracked users (MTUs) & feature add-ons
- Average implementation time6-12 months
Why Hightouch for education?
Your CDP vendor should mold to your data — not the other way around. Hightouch is purpose-built to handle the complexity of education.
Leverage any data point in your warehouse – not just users, accounts, and events.
Build and activate audiences directly from your warehouse.
Integrate with your existing data infrastructure on your warehouse.
Leverage any data point in your warehouse – not just users, accounts, and events.
A complete CDP for education
Members
Overlap
Prospective students who didn’t apply
2,988 members
1,974 members
Incomplete college applications 2,988
Admissions webinar attendees 1,974
Member overlap 378 or 12.65%
Customer Data Platform resources
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What is a Composable CDP?
Learn why Composable CDPs are seeing such rapid adoption, how they work, and why they're replacing traditional CDPs.
Free CDP RFP template: streamline your vendor evaluation
Building a tailored CDP RFP is key to choosing the right platform for your business. Use our free template and evaluation framework to focus on the most important features and values for your goals.
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