The everyday problem
DA
Director of Admissions
"We get 3,000 inquiries a year for 400 seats. Right now every inquiry is a sticky note, and half our prospective families never hear back before they enroll somewhere else."
Without a system tracking every inquiry from first contact to enrollment, follow-up depends on someone remembering a sticky note. Missing documents go unnoticed until the deadline, and there's no way to tell which recruiting channel is actually working.
What good looks like
No inquiry goes unanswered. Admissions always knows exactly which applications are missing a document. Marketing spend gets justified with real enrollment numbers.What you're building
| Record type | Kind | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | Standard (built-in) | The inquiry, tagged with its source campaign — open house, fair, or paid ad |
| Contact / Account | Standard (built-in) | The Student and the Family/Guardian |
| Opportunity | Standard (built-in) | Tracks Application → Enrolled |
| Application | Custom (you build it) | Flags whether transcripts and recommendation letters have arrived |
Business outcome
- No inquiry goes unanswered — nurture emails start the moment a family shows interest
- Admissions always knows exactly which applications are missing a document
- Marketing spend gets justified with real enrolled-student attribution, not guesswork
Step-by-step build
Do these six pieces in order. Total time: roughly 35–45 minutes the first time through.
1 Capture the inquiry
Set up the "Info Request" formSetup → Object Manager → Lead → Sharing tab → Web-to-Lead section. Map your website form's fields, including a "Campaign Source" field, to Lead.
Add the Campaign Source fieldNew Field on Lead → Label "Campaign Source", Type PICKLIST (dropdown): Open House, Fair, Paid Ad.
2 Nurture automatically
Build the email templateMarketing Studio → Templates → New Template. Write the email with a merge field like
{{firstName}}.Create the campaignCampaigns → New Campaign. Channel: Email. Recipient object: Lead. Filter: match the Campaign Source that just came in.
3 Convert on full application
Convert the LeadCreates the Student Contact and Family/Guardian Account — see the Lead-to-Cash Trail for the full walkthrough.
Create the OpportunityTrack Application → Enrolled as its stages.
4 Track required documents
Create the Application objectSetup → Object Manager → New Object. Label: "Application", Plural Label: "Applications".
Add its fieldsNew Field → "Student", Type LOOKUP, related object Contact. New Field → "Transcript Received", Type CHECKBOX. New Field → "Recommendation Letter Received", Type CHECKBOX.
Build the "Missing Documents" List ViewOpen Application's list page → New List View. Filter: Transcript Received = False OR Recommendation Letter Received = False.
5 Gate financial aid
Create the approval processSetup → Approval Processes → New Process. Object: Application (or Opportunity, if aid amount lives there).
Set the entry conditione.g.
aid_requested__c = true — every aid request routes through this process.Add the approval stepStep 1: Financial Aid Committee. No acceptance letter goes out until it approves.
6 Prove what's working
Create the reportReports → New Report. Object: Opportunity. Fields: Student Name, Stage, Campaign Source.
Filter and groupFilter: Stage = Enrolled OR Application. Group by: Campaign Source.
Save itName it "Enrolled vs. Applied by Source Campaign" and save.
Day-to-day: admissions staff
New inquiry arrivesA Lead appears automatically, already tagged with its source, and the nurture email sequence starts on its own.
Check missing documents every morningOpen the "Missing Documents" List View and follow up with the families still listed there.
Convert on full applicationOnce both documents are in, convert the Lead and move the Opportunity to the next stage.
Day-to-day: financial aid committee
Review pending requestsCheck the Approval Inbox for aid requests waiting on a decision.
Day-to-day: director of admissions
Check channel performanceOpen the "Enrolled vs. Applied by Source Campaign" report to see which recruiting channels actually convert.
What to try next
Look at the Marketing Studio and Reports trails to go deeper on the pieces used here.