Best Practices for Driving Prospective Students to Your NursingCAS Application

The Importance of a Compelling Call to Action

Roughly 15% of traffic to NursingCAS.org are referrals, meaning that prospective students find NursingCAS through school Websites. In order to maximize the effectiveness of these referrals and push prospective applicants to your school’s listing on the NursingCAS application, it is important to have an effective Call-to-Action (CTA). A CTA is a button or link that encourages a prospect to take action. It can be as simple as a “click here” hyperlink within a paragraph, but we encourage you to use other strategies to make a user more likely to engage, such as making your CTA a button. Below is a CTA button you can download and post on your own school’s Website. Learn more about CTA best practices.

Download a NursingCAS CTA

NursingCAS has created a CTA that your school is welcome, and encouraged, to use. It is available to download as a .png, or .jpg.

Inform Applicants on How to Apply to your School via NursingCAS:

1. Provide succinct, clear instructions on your Website stating you process applications through NursingCAS.
2. Hyperlink directly to the NursingCAS application from your school’s Website.
3. Place a CTA button on your school’s Website and link to this blog post on what NursingCAS is so applicants have a better understanding of the service. Note: be sure to hyperlink to www.nursingcas.org from the CTA button image on your Website.

Example Instructions to Post on your School’s Website

<Insert School Name> is processing applications to its nursing program through NursingCAS, the centralized application service for nursing. Visit www.nursingcas.org to start an application or log into your existing account. Visit the Add Program page to select our nursing program and complete the steps to fill out and submit your application. If you need help with NursingCAS, visit the applicant help center or contact applicant support with questions.

A Call-to-Action should be:

• Easy to find – Don’t make potential applicants hunt to find a way to the application. They’re much more likely to give up and go somewhere else if this is the case.
• “Above the fold” – This means that your CTA should be toward the top of the page. Studies show that visitors are much more likely to see and click on CTAs that are toward the top of the page.
• Visually striking – Use colors that “pop” or aren’t seen elsewhere on the page, but still fit in to your overall design scheme. Make text larger or bold.
• Brief – Shorter is better. Use phrases like “Apply Today” or “Apply Now”.

Spread the Word via Social Media

Social media is an increasingly important tool for recruitment and also for reminding applicants about important dates such as deadlines. Mention NursingCAS on Twitter and Facebook  to help point prospects toward your application. The University of Glasgow is a leader in social media innovation for colleges. Check out their Social Media Blog for ideas and insights for how to grow your reach.

Send Reminder Emails through WebAdMIT

WebAdMIT allows you to send batch emails when working with searches, lists, or the clipboard. For example, you can elect to send a deadline reminder email to all in progress applicants to remind them to complete their applications. Instructions for how to send emails through WebAdMIT are included in the WebAdMIT Help Center