Celebrating one million tours taken

To celebrate this major achievement for our Campus Visit Experience clients and inspire others, we’re sharing 10 innovative approaches to tours using our platform.

By: Kyle Freelander

Exciting news! Our Campus Visit Experience clients have (cumulatively) reached 1 million tours taken. That’s an impressive milestone — especially when you consider 85 percent of students consider a campus visit to be of considerable importance to their college search process, and 41 percent said the look and feel of campus factored into their decision to enroll. 

What better way to celebrate than to highlight some of our tour partners’ awesome accomplishments and innovations? 

Below, you’ll find 10 ways our clients have improved their respective tours (listed in no particular order). With these approaches, which you can adapt and implement at your institution, our partners have achieved big results — like increased tour access and participation, boosted inquiry and application rates, ensured relevancy, and more.

1. Offer curated tours based on topics of interest

Do prospective students know all your institution offers? At Converse University, they offer curated tours based on popular topics of interest. From Student Life to Campus Living to Dining at Converse and beyond, visitors can easily explore what it’s like to live, learn, and have fun there.

2. Personalize tours based on academic interests

Want to ensure relevant tours for everyone, everywhere, every time? True personalization is key. At Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, they enable visitors to personalize their visits based on academic programs, interests, and job prospects post-graduation. Talk about a meaningful way to illustrate your institution’s impact!

3. Walk or drive — the choice is yours! 

Fact: Any tour powered by StudentBridge’s Campus Visit Experience can be completed virtually or on campus as a self-guided visit. The University of South Carolina has taken this a step further by offering curated walking and driving self-guided tours. What this means: Visitors can choose to explore on foot or in their cars, helping ensure everyone has an impactful and positive experience no matter how they choose to explore.

4. Make self-guided tours part of your events

Events are great engagement opportunities. At Arizona State University, they make the most of their events with curated experiences, like English and Spanish tours for their ASU Open Door events. These tours give students and their families a fun, accessible, and memorable way to explore campus.

Read the full case study to learn more about how Arizona State University uses the Campus Visit Experience to increase tour access, enable personalized experiences, and highlight what makes each of its campuses truly unique.

5. Broaden your reach by offering tours in additional languages

Offering tours in additional languages is a great way to engage more visitors. Especially families or those whose first language is not English. At Colorado State University, for example, they offer their General Campus Tour in English, Spanish, and French alongside a variety of other curated and personalized tour experiences. In their first 250 days using the Campus Visit Experience, CSU’s Tour Español became the institution’s second most popular curated tour with over 1,200 tours taken. 

Want to learn more about how Colorado State University has used the Campus Visit Experience to improve its tours (along with their results)? Check out the full case study.

6. Welcome transfer students to campus

Different visitors have different needs — like first-year students and transfer students. That’s why North Dakota State University has separate curated tours for each! In addition to a tour for first-year students, they invite transfer students to explore campus anytime with a tour that highlights where upper-division students spend most of their time. The tour features classrooms, upper-division housing, and more to welcome transfer students to campus.

7. Level up your tours with UGC

At California College of the Arts, user-generated content (UGC) from students, alumni, and faculty plays a central role in their tours. From “A Day in the Life” videos to what faculty members love about teaching there, the included UGC helps provide an authentic view of what it’s really like to attend CCA. 

Want to learn more about why institutions need to include UGC in their tours, along with advice for getting started? Download our free white paper.

8. Gather meaningful UGC with ease

User-generated content is a big deal at Arkansas State University-Mountain Home. Makes sense when you consider how UGC provides a fresh, authentic view of an institution that resonates with prospective students. The institution runs multiple campaigns to collect meaningful UGC from students, including one for off-campus content highlighting life in the Ozarks. 

9. Design an iconic memory lane

Ahead of Alumni Weekend, West Virginia University created a self-guided WVU Photo Tour to highlight picturesque locations on campus and help current students, families, and alumni capture the perfect photo memories.

10. Go big with tours and mobile campaigns

With a recent launch of the Campus Visit Experience, Maryville University is hitting the ground running with personalized tours, multiple curated visits, and plenty of user-generated content (UGC) throughout. Their newest curated tour is designed for international students and features testimonials from international students and faculty/staff. 

Plus, they are sending creative campaigns around their in-person and virtual tours, such as having admissions counselors share quick campus updates and inviting students to tour based on their student status (like campaigns specifically for international students).

Ready to level up your institution’s tours?

StudentBridge can help. Learn more and schedule a free, no-obligation conversation with our team.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kyle Freelander (she/her/hers) is a passionate writer, former educator, and lifelong learner. She has taught English literature and writing courses in higher education, writing workshops in K-12 schools, and English and ESOL courses as a private tutor for students pre-K and up. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a BA in English (minor in Linguistics) from the University of Mary Washington. She currently serves as the Head of Content at StudentBridge.