Case Study: McNally Smith boosts student recruitment and saves money with Act-On Software

McNally Smith College of Music Uses Act-On to Drive Recruitment and Save Money

McNally Smith College of Music, a for‑profit school offering degrees in performance, production, songwriting and music business, faced mounting enrollment challenges when John Krogh became VP of Marketing in 2013. Rising tuition sensitivity, doubts about the value of college degrees, a projected decline in regional high‑school graduates, and a long student decision cycle (up to two years) forced the college to find a way to better nurture leads, personalize outreach, segment messaging, and speed inquiry responses.

The college chose Act‑On for its feature set, ease of implementation and API integrations, launching the platform in under two weeks. Act‑On enabled multi‑touch nurture campaigns, behavior‑triggered automation and robust reporting (serving as a CRM substitute), which made it the school’s top acquisition channel, cut inquiry response times from 4–5 days to under 24 hours, freed up over $60,000 in ad spend for higher‑performing programs, produced ~45% open/click rates, and drove a 23% year‑over‑year increase in lead flow and improved registrations.

McNally Smith

John Krough

Vice President of Marketing