Case Study: Willamette University boosts graduate recruitment with Chorus by ZoomInfo

Willamette University builds 10,000–20,000-student prospect pools in minutes with Chorus by ZoomInfo

Willamette University, a private liberal arts institution, faced a significant challenge in recruiting graduate and professional students. Unlike traditional undergraduates, these adult learners are busy professionals who do not actively seek out programs through typical inquiry forms. The university's AVP for Institutional Marketing, JR Tarabocchia, found that their traditional methods resulted in incomplete prospect lists and a lack of visibility into the right audience. To solve this, they turned to the vendor Chorus by ZoomInfo and its Go-to-Market Intelligence Platform.

Using ZoomInfo, Willamette built detailed prospect pools by analyzing the profiles of previously enrolled students and then finding matching professionals in minutes instead of the days or weeks it used to take. The solution allowed for highly segmented outreach based on industry, job title, and career stage, which led to significantly higher email open and click-through rates. Most importantly, ZoomInfo became a tracked origin source for enrolled students, proving the platform was effectively identifying and connecting with qualified candidates who were a strong fit for their programs and who may not have entered the funnel otherwise.

Willamette University