CASE STUDY
Bradford Christian Academy
From enrollment decline to an 80% increase in campus tours
In summer 2024, Bradford Christian Academy faced a significant enrollment challenge.
After years of steady growth, including the addition of a new high school campus, retention had declined. Just weeks before the start of the school year, Bradford Christian Academy (BCA) was 25 students short of its budgeted enrollment target. The leadership responded quickly, engaging Tassel to implement an accelerated and strategic enrollment marketing initiative.
CAMPAIGN RESULTS
80%
increase in tours year-over-year
26.5%
inquiry-to-tour rate (+11.5% increase)
15%
increase in applications
Establishing a Clear Goal
With urgency mounting, Tassel and BCA needed a focused objective that could create immediate impact. The first step was a close look at the data. Using Tassel’s Healthy Enrollment Dashboard, together they identified a critical gap: while inquiries were coming in, families weren’t scheduling tours.
“We weren’t just looking to increase inquiries,” explained Jacob Harris, Enrollment Marketing Strategist at Tassel. “We needed to increase the right kind of engagement. For BCA, that meant getting more families on campus.”
From there, the teams aligned around the goal to increase inquiry-to-tour conversion rates.
“We knew if we could move that conversion number, even by 15 to 20 percent, it would change the enrollment trajectory,” said Jacob.
Seven Fast-Moving Strategies
Once the goal was clear, Tassel and Bradford Christian Academy implemented a focused plan to eliminate barriers and increase family engagement. In September 2024, they launched seven immediate action steps designed to convert inquiries to campus visits:
- Launched a targeted Paid Social campaign to raise visibility and drive tours.
- Built custom landing pages with embedded tour scheduling to streamline next steps for families.
- Integrated Calendly into the Visit page to simplify the tour booking.
- Automated follow-ups to nurture families after they scheduled a visit.
- Refreshed the Prospective Family Guide with updated content and design.
- Redesigned the Visit page to clearly communicate the value of a campus visit.
- Refined the lead nurturing sequence to encourage tours.
The implementation of these steps was a collaborative effort. While BCA’s head of school set the strategic vision, Amy Maranville, Director of Admissions, guided the BCA team in delivering an engaging in-person experience.
“Our job was to remove friction, equip their team, and support the prospective family’s journey,” said Jacob.
CUSTOM LANDING PAGE
PAID SOCIAL ADS
INTEGRATED CALENDLY
Results That Shifted the Conversation
The impact of the strategy was both immediate and measurable:
- 80% increase in campus tours year-over-year (from 55 to 99)
- 15% increase in applications
- 12% lift in inquiry-to-tour conversion rate
- 86% increase in Visit page engagement in the first six months
“Once the changes were in place, their team began feeling the impact right away,” said Jacob. “The strategy was doing its job.”
Evolving the Strategy with Long-Term Growth in Mind
With early wins in place, Tassel introduced longer-term strategies designed to sustain enrollment health and scale future growth. These included:
- The launch of Tassel AI Convert™ to generate more qualified organic inquiries and support deeper personalization for families visiting the website.
Read more about BCA’s results with Tassel AI Convert™ in our Initial Wins Case Study —> - A customized Right-Fit Family™ Rubric to clarify which families best align to BCA’s mission and culture.
- Age-and-Stage® messaging for Lower and Upper School audiences to more clearly articulate the school’s value propositions and meet families where they are.
“It’s important for schools who are facing enrollment challenges to step back and ask, ‘What’s slowing families down? What’s confusing? And how can we fix it?’” said Jacob. “That’s what we helped BCA do, and that’s why they’re seeing results.”