Study shows most MBA school websites don't resonate with potential students

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tonight's showdown between TCU and Georgia marks the end of the college football season, but an increasingly fierce multi-billion battle for b-school graduate students rages on at universities across the country. With applications to graduate business school degree programs down in 2022, growth for those few who are winning increases are coming from other schools. So, how are websites, often university's first potential-student touchpoint, doing at resonating with those students?

"Not too well," reports Michael Drago, Vice President of Strategy at Blue Owl AI. "A just-completed study of the websites of nearly 200 universities shows that few programs establish a brand position, define who their program is built for, and target the types of prospects that tend to thrive in their program." The study evaluated nine critical elements associated with effective marketing, persuasion, and website presentation. The analysis assigned a 1-100 scale and the average site scored a student-numbing 48.

"An on-going study at Blue Owl AI focused on Insights to drive marketing strategies that win the right number and mix of candidates shows that potential students go to websites early in their decision process. This study shows those websites are just not built to resonate with student needs, attitudes, and motivations. The only way for schools to raise their game is to get these deeper insights and to leverage them to execute better."

So, which school is crowned grad-school website national champion?

"The semi-finals came down to Stanford vs Virginia and Michigan vs UCLA. In the championship, Stanford nipped Michigan by a field goal with five seconds left," quips Drago.

But, unlike in athletics, where vast differences in school budgets, resources, and pedigree create an uneven battlefield, every school can up their recruiting game.

"In short," concludes Drago, "armed with the insights from these on-going studies, university graduate program decision makers can create programs and messages that resonate more strongly with potential students. Blue Owl AI provides an on-campus seminar as part of its MBA Advance program and provides access to the Blue Owl AI software portal 24/7/365. Filling those final seats means millions of dollars to most programs."

Blue Owl AI conducts sophisticated research and market analysis. Together with strategic higher education and management consulting partners, they developed a program known as MBA Advance to provide strategic support and guidance for the marketing of programs and recruitment of candidates to accredited graduate-level business programs. 

For additional information contact [email protected].

SOURCE Blue Owl AI