For universities

Your recruitment budget deserves better returns.

Universities spend heavily chasing students through channels that don't know who's actively looking. Unimatch does.

Get in touch →See the data
The numbers

What you're already spending.

These aren't our numbers — they're current sector benchmarks. Every marketing director in the room will recognise them.

Cost per lead, by channel

Higher-education sector averages, 2025–26.

Meta (paid social)
$27.66
Google Search
$90.02
Avg. cost per inquiry
$140.00
Source: Search Influence, 2026 Higher Education Marketing Benchmarks (citing WordStream, 2025).
$2,849
average cost to convert one inquiry into an enrolled student (median: $1,173) — and Unimatch starts students further down that funnel already matched to fit.
Source: Search Influence, 2026 Higher Education Marketing Benchmarks.
Where the budget actually goes

Email, SEO, and general ads were built for a search engine that no longer exists.

Most institutional marketing budgets are still split across email nurture sequences, SEO content, and broad-audience paid ads — channels that assumed a student would click through a list of blue links to find you. That assumption is breaking in real time.

-47%
relative drop in click-through rate on results where an AI Overview appears, versus a traditional results page.
-58%
drop in organic click-through for the #1 ranked result once an AI Overview is present above it.
-61%
decline in organic click-through rate observed across pages ranking in AI Overview source sets.
93%
of searches in AI Mode end without a single click to any website at all.
Sources: Pew Research Center, 2025 (AI Overviews and search click-through behavior) · Ahrefs, 2025 (position-1 organic CTR study) · Seer Interactive, 2025 (organic CTR analysis) · Semrush, 2025 (AI Mode zero-click study).

The channels institutions have relied on for a decade — SEO content, email nurture, broad paid search — were built on the assumption that a student clicks through to your site to be persuaded. Increasingly, they don't click at all. Unimatch doesn't compete for that click. It puts your institution directly in front of a student who is already matched to what you offer, inside the product they're using to make the decision.

The funnel problem

Drop-off happens before you even know they exist.

Most higher-ed marketing budgets are spent on awareness and consideration — the stages where the decision is actually made, and where untargeted channels waste the most.

Unimatch owns the top of your funnel — the awareness and consideration stages, matched by fit instead of broadcast.

Awareness
Student learns universities exist for their field
100%
Consideration
Most drop-off happens here
35%
Shortlisting
Realistic options
18%
Application
10%
Enrollment
3%

Pink border = where Unimatch operates. Illustrative funnel shape based on NACAC / Ruffalo Noel Levitz sector reporting.

What you get

A channel that hasn't existed before.

Verified presence

Every university is in the database, whether or not there's a commercial relationship.

Priority placement

Paid partners appear prominently when a student's profile genuinely matches what they offer.

Active researchers only

Every user is actively in the university decision — not passive browsing.

Profile integrity

Verified information. No hallucinations, no outdated deadlines.

Ready to talk?

We're in early partnership conversations. The earlier you're in, the more you help shape how your institution is represented on the platform.

Contact our partnerships team →