Personalisation at scale: Progressive profiling for graduate enrolment at Purdue’s Daniels School of Business
Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive case study of the Mitch Daniels School of Business at Purdue University and its implementation of progressive profiling to advance graduate enrolment marketing. Facing rising expectations for personalised communication and heightened competition, the Daniels School adopted a phased, student-centred approach to data collection and engagement. Through cross-functional collaboration and strategic integration with the customer relationship management platform and marketing automation systems, the initiative delivered measurable improvements in engagement, data quality and operational efficiency. This paper synthesises institutional experience with the current literature, details practical challenges and distills lessons learned, providing a replicable framework for higher education marketing professionals seeking to enhance personalisation and trust in student recruitment. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Kelsey Smith is the Salesforce Marketing Cloud Administrator at Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business. In this role, she leads the strategy, development and optimisation of e-mail marketing and automation initiatives that support graduate programme enrolment and school-wide communications. She specialises in e-mail accessibility, progressive profiling, and personalised communication journeys, with a focus on creating data-driven, student-centred experiences. Kelsey is an active contributor to the higher education marketing community, presenting on topics such as progressive profiling, e-mail strategy, and digital personalisation at conferences including CASE District V, EduWeb Summit, and Digital Collegium.
James Cox is the Salesforce Administrator for the Marketing and Communications team at the Mitch Daniels School of Business. James ensures that the university’s Salesforce CRM platform runs seamlessly, optimising its capabilities to support its vision for marketing and prospective student engagement.’ Outside the world of Salesforce, James enjoys woodworking, improv comedy, and engaging with other Salesforce professionals, embodying Purdue's values of inclusion, innovation and growth both in and out of the office.
