Digital Advertising Benchmarks
When it comes to generating new leads at the top of the funnel, most schools incorporate digital advertising as part of their overall enrollment marketing strategy. And while there are many different types of digital advertising options available today, the majority of graduate schools are targeting prospective graduate students via two main channels: paid social media ads (predominantly on Facebook and LinkedIn) and paid search and display ads (predominantly on Google search and the Google Display Network).
Where do schools struggle with digital advertising?
Indeed, in response to the global pandemic, more schools jumped into digital advertising to make up for other lost opportunities to build their inquiry pools and generate new prospect leads. But there are 5 common challenges with digital advertising that most schools face when it comes to making smart decisions with how best to spend their digital advertising budgets:
Lack of Attribution Reporting
Most schools don’t know how many applicants and enrolled students were influenced or sourced from their digital ads. Without more advanced tracking, enrollment marketers really struggle with how to optimize future ad campaigns.
Addicted to Over-Spending
Many schools over-rely on digital advertising to provide the bulk of their leads, without knowing which ad campaigns are actually working and which ones are wasting their budgets. And they end up afraid to stop spending out of a fear that their lead funnel will disappear.
Copying Competitors Doesn’t Always Work Well
Many schools are driven to placing digital ads because they see ads their competitors are running. They want to be present in certain advertising spaces, but have no real idea how it works, what audiences to target, what keywords to buy, etc. This leads to copycat ads that don’t perform well, but make some schools feel good because they see their ads “out there” in the digital marketplace.
Most Vendors Report Only Vanity Metrics
Many schools receive digital ad reports that only really report on impressions, clicks, traffic, and general “conversions” (without 1:1 attribution) - i.e, mostly “vanity metrics” - and don’t know true bottom-funnel ROI of their investment in digital ads.
Disconnect Between Enrollment Management and University Mar/Com Depts
Many enrollment managers are not aligned with the institution’s marketing/communications dept when it comes to digital advertising, and have little-to-no input on the direction, themes, tone, or audience targeting for their schools/programs. This disconnect often leads to wasted time and spending on digital ad campaigns.
This report provides the critical benchmark data needed to address these challenges, which both enrollment management and university marketing/communications teams can use to make smarter decisions for their digital advertising strategy.
Keep in mind that “digital advertising” today can include a wide variety of platforms, networks, and media formats, and this report is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of the entire available market for this tactic. Instead, we’re only reporting on the specific digital advertising sub-tactics where we had enough data to cross-analyze and where most graduate schools are spending a majority of their digital ad efforts since the start of the global pandemic.
What We’re Tracking
Paid Social Media Ads
- Facebook ads promoting content, events, program information, inquiries and applications
- LinkedIn ads promoting content, events, program info, and applications
Paid Search & Display Ads
- Google Search ads for various keywords, both general and program-specific terms, including content resources, events, program information, and inquiries
- Google Display ads for both general and program-specific offers, including content resources, events, program information, inquiries, scheduled calls, and applications
Paid Social Media Ad Benchmarks
The following tables summarize the data findings from analyzing over 450 paid social media advertising campaigns across Facebook and LinkedIn. The data represents over $105,000 in paid social media promotions, over 16,800,000 impressions, over 96,000 clicks, and over 2,300 new contacts generated.
Paid Social Ad Benchmarks: Breakdown by School Size
| Paid Social Ad Benchmarks | Small Schools (1-5 Programs) | Medium Schools (8-24 Programs) | Large Schools (35-150+ Programs) | |
| Average # Ad Campaigns per School | 31 | 27 | 34.7 | 35 |
| Average Spend per Ad Campaign | $8,442.38 | $6,192.29 | $11,236.44 | $7,935.49 |
| Average Spend per Ad | $272.33 | $229.34 | $323.82 | $220.43 |
| Average # Impressions | 1,223,331 | 761,333 | 1,801,106 | 1,106,999 |
| Average # Clicks per School | 6,978.3 | 3,639 | 11,431 | 5,307 |
| Average Click-Through-Rate (CTR) | 0.53% | 0.50% | 0.59% | 0.49% |
| Average Cost-per-Click (CPC) | $1.58 | $1.77 | $1.38 | $1.49 |
| Average # New Contacts per School | 204.1 | 120.3 | 277.2 | 278 |
| Average Cost per Acquisition (CPA) | $71.26 | $95.13 | $54.01 | $39.45 |
Summary Analysis: It is no surprise that the smaller schools with fewer programs have to spend more-per-click and more-per-contact because they are mostly targeting very specific audiences for specific programs. However, mid-sized schools promoting multiple programs are getting a very good bang for their buck with the lowest cost-per-click and a very respectable $54 cost-per-contact.
Paid Facebook Ads by Offer Type
| Facebook Ad Benchmarks | Events | Gated Content | RMI/Inquiry | Apply | Boosted Posts (Ungated) | |
| Average Ad Spend per Ad | $256.63 | $223.76 | $390.91 | $224.63 | $278.33 | $49.55 |
| Average Impressions per Ad | 40,766 | 39,379 | 58,820 | 51,980 | 35,092 | 7,664 |
| Average Clicks per Ad | 221.2 | 264.8 | 291.9 | 197.9 | 211.2 | 57.7 |
| Average Click-Through Rate (CTR) | 0.54% | 0.67% | 0.50% | 0.38% | 0.60% | 0.75% |
| Average Cost-per-Click (CPC) | $1.16 | $0.85 | $1.34 | $1.14 | $1.32 | $0.86 |
| Average New Contacts per Ad | 6.8 | 3.1 | 13.1 | 6.1 | 0.44 | N/A |
| Average Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) | $37.88 | $72.72 | $29.95 | $36.67 | $636.18 | N/A |
Summary Analysis: Facebook ads to gated content offers (eBooks, guides, etc.) are the best value when it comes to price and lead generation, but RMI offers are not far behind, and events clearly get the cheapest clicks. The important thing to note here is that Apply offers are not great for lead generation, and the data points to a very low likelihood of new prospects acting on “Apply Now” offers in Facebook.
Deep Dive Discovery
Facebook ads with conversion offers have a 54% chance of generating at least 1 new contact. Here’s how that breaks down across different ad offers...
Comparison of Facebook Ads by Ad Type
| Facebook Ad Benchmarks | TRAFFIC ADS (convert outside of Facebook) | LEAD ADS (convert inside of Facebook) | BOOSTED POSTS (link to article/video) | |
| Average Ad Spend per Ad | $256.63 | $332.08 | $429.98 | $45.93 |
| Average Impressions per Ad | 40,766 | 65,872 | 31,468 | 7,249 |
| Average Clicks per Ad | 221.2 | 358.1 | 140.8 | 59.7 |
| Average Click-Through Rate (CTR) | 0.54% | 0.54% | 0.45% | 0.82% |
| Average Cost-per-Click (CPC) | $1.16 | $0.93 | $3.05 | $0.77 |
| Average New Contacts per Ad | 6.8 | 5.0 | 24.5 | N/A |
| Average Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) | $37.88 | $66.15 | $17.55 | N/A |
Summary Analysis: While Traffic ads are great for getting the most amount of traffic to your website, Lead ads, by far, are best for quick lead generation with 5x more new contacts generated compared to Traffic ads. And Boosted Posts are best used as a cheap way to generate traffic to thought leadership content, such as blog articles, podcasts, and videos. There are benefits to all 3 types of Facebook ads, and you need the right mix to optimize your results!
LinkedIn Ads by Offer Type
| Linked Ad Benchmarks | Events | Gated Content | RMI/Inquiry | |
| Average Ad Spend per Ad | $545.40 | $157.69 | $627.91 | $825.76 |
| Average Impressions per Ad | 12,223 | 3,755 | 10,008 | 13,663 |
| Average Clicks per Ad | 286.4 | 32.7 | 383.7 | 405 |
| Average Click-Through-Rate (CTR) | 2.34% | 0.9% | 3.8% | 3.0% |
| Average Cost-per-Click (CPC) | $1.90 | $4.82 | $1.64 | $2.04 |
| Average New Contacts per Ad | 2.5 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
| Average Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) | $220.26 | $92.76 | $202.55 | $250.23 |
Summary Analysis: LinkedIn is certainly more expensive than Facebook, on average, when you’re looking at both cost-per-click and new lead generation. However, LinkedIn is more of a quality vs. quantity lead generation platform, and it’s important to understand these benchmarks separately from other paid social media channels.
Metrics That Matter for Paid Social Media Advertising:
Gated premium content gets premium results wins with paid social promotions.
Across the board, paid social media ads to gated premium content pieces - eBooks, guides, resources, etc. - get the most leads and total engagement from prospective students. If you’re looking for quick wins on paid social, start here!
Event promotions need extra $$$ for success.
The average event traffic ad on Facebook was $300.63. The average event lead ad on Facebook was $381.67. But what’s really interesting is that event promos on Facebook that were $300 or more were 15x better in new contact generation than ads that were less than $300 per campaign.
Getting leads from Traffic Ads directly correlates to Ad Spend levels.
- Average Ad Spend of $228 = 1 New Contact
- Average Ad Spend of $437 = 2-9 New Contacts
- Average Ad Spend of $644 = 10-50 New Contacts
- Average Ad Spend of $2,788 = 55-160 New Contacts
Give LinkedIn ads longer run time.
LinkedIn Ads that ran 30 days or more generated 50% more leads than ads that ran for 23 days or less.
Smart Marketing: How to Use This Data for Paid Social Strategy
If your paid social ad budget is less than $5k…
- Prioritize Facebook ads over LinkedIn
- Plan out 15-20 different ad campaigns, with an average spend of $150-$250 per ad
- Spread your efforts out to test Lead ads, Traffic ads, and Boosted Posts in order to identify which ones work best for your goals (but lean heavily on Leads ads to gated content and/or events first!)
For medium/large schools with at least $10k designated for paid social ads…
- Don’t spend a lot on push-to-apply type ads
- Plan out 25-30 different ad campaigns, with an average spend of $250-$500 per ad
- Optimize your RMI/Inquiry form landing pages with gated content offers to get more conversions from paid social prospects
Paid Search & Display Ad Benchmarks
The following tables summarize the data findings from 64 paid search ad groups and 260 paid display ad groups. The search/display ad campaigns tracked include a variety of ad offers, including gated content, events, RMI/inquiries, and program-specific website pages.
Google Ad Benchmarks: Breakdown by School Size
| Google Search/Display Ad Benchmarks | Small Schools (1-5 programs) | Medium/Large Schools (8-50+ programs) | |
| Average # Ad Groups per School | 30.5 | 14.6 | 46.4 |
| Average Spend per Ad Campaign | $6,690.07 | $2,456.89 | $10,923.24 |
| Average Spend per Ad | $219.35 | $168.28 | $235.41 |
| Average Total Impressions per School | 4,083,571 | 1,403,807 | 6,763,335 |
| Average Total Clicks per School | 76,618 | 17,453 | 135,783 |
| Average Click-Through-Rate (CTR) | 1.88% | 1.24% | 2.01% |
| Average Cost-per-Click (CPC) | $0.09 | $0.14 | $0.08 |
| Average Total New Contacts per School | 498.7 | 27.6 | 969.8 |
| Average Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) | $13.55 | $89.02 | $11.26 |
Summary Analysis: There is a higher “pay-to-play” price for schools to jump into paid search and display ads, but for smaller schools, they need to expect a higher cost-to-acquire real leads compared to the larger schools. It should also be noted that medium and large schools are able to get higher numbers of clicks and new leads because they are promoting more broad/general content that covers a wide range of career paths and professions.
Comparison of Paid Search Ads by Offer Type
| Paid Search Ad Benchmarks | Events | Program Pages | RMI | Gated Premium Content | |
| Average Spend per Ad | $224.47 | $192.72 | $142.55 | $433.31 | $162.13 |
| Average Impressions per Ad | 3,241 | 4,536 | 2,418 | 1,441 | 3,948 |
| Average Clicks per Ad | 103.2 | 148.2 | 152.1 | 73.4 | 85.9 |
| Average Click-Through-Rate (CTR) | 3.2% | 3.3% | 6.3% | 5.1% | 1.9% |
| Average Cost-per-Click (CPC) | $2.17 | $1.30 | $0.94 | $5.90 | $2.16 |
| Average New Contacts per Ad | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Average Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) | $179.58 | $202.93 | $285.10 | $263.75 | $102.40 |
Summary Analysis: For paid search ads, the most efficient type of ad offer is gated premium content (eBooks) as they provide the lowest cost-per-lead (over half the cost of other offers). Next best are RMI forms with the 2nd-highest click-through rates and better new contact generation rate than the benchmark averages. Program pages may get a lot of clicks, but they are generally poor at converting new prospects.
Comparison of Paid Display Ads by Offer Type
| Paid Display Ad Benchmarks | Apply | Events | Program Pages | RMI | Gated Premium Content | |
| Average Spend per Ad | $216.84 | $220.04 | $184.43 | $399.04 | $218.07 | $185.60 |
| Average Impressions per Ad | 162,999 | 96,803 | 142,112 | 382,223 | 149,570 | 157,953 |
| Average Clicks per Ad | 3,127 | 1,781 | 2,122 | 8,586 | 3,556 | 3,091 |
| Average Click-Through-Rate (CTR) | 1.92% | 1.63% | 1.14% | 2.74% | 2.07% | 2.42% |
| Average Cost-per-Click (CPC) | $0.07 | $1.16 | $0.33 | $0.13 | $0.21 | $0.26 |
| Average New Contacts per Ad | 18.9 | 0.36 | 1 | 2 | 4.2 | 35.1 |
| Average Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) | $11.54 | $611.22 | $184.43 | $199.52 | $52.17 | $5.29 |
Summary Analysis: Display ads are most effective in promoting gated premium content (eBooks, guides, resources, etc.), with a CPA that is 50% less than the overall display ad benchmarks, and 10x better than the next best display ad offer type (RMI). With an average of 35 new prospect leads for display ads promoting gated premium content offers, gated premium content is the cheapest way to generate new lead conversions from paid display advertising.
Metrics That Matter for Paid Search and Display Ads:
Promote program-specific resources with Paid Display.
More than paid social ads and paid search ads, when it comes to program-specific premium content resources (that are gated), paid display ads are the most effective, and have the lowest cost-per-click and cost-per-lead.
Join the $100+ Club!
For both paid search and paid display ads, 48% of ad groups had an ad spend of $100 or more, and that really makes a difference because $100+ ads generate 17x more clicks and 7x more contacts than ads that spent less than $100 per ad group.
Avoid push-to-apply ads in Paid Search and Display.
Similar to paid social ads, ads with “apply now” type CTAs had the worst overall performance and the highest cost-per-lead at over $600 a pop! When it comes to all types of digital ads, apply-related offers just aren’t an effective way to spend your ad budget.
30 Ad Groups per school is the average.
The average graduate school is launching 30 different ad groups across Google search and display ads throughout the year, and many of those ad groups include variable-ads for A/B testing of ad copy, creative, etc. If you want to play in this space, you need to be ready to test a variety of ad variations for at least 3-4 months.
Smart Marketing: How to Use This Data for Paid Search/Display Ad Strategy
For smaller departments with only a few graduate programs and smaller ad budgets...
- Don’t invest in search ads and instead start by testing out display ads to content, events, and RMI offers
- Plan out 5-10 ad campaigns targeting different audiences and testing different offers
- Err on spending more $$ per ad group vs. spreading your dollars too thin across too many different types of ads
For medium/larger schools or central grad admissions teams with several graduate programs…
- Invest a minimum of $10k across a variety of paid search and display ads
- Plan out 20-30 different ad campaigns targeting different audiences and testing different offers
- Build a remarketing list based on site visitors who hit key pages