Case Studies Showing HubSpot’s Strength in Selling Education Online
Have you ever poured your heart into creating an online course or educational program, only to find that turning leads into actual students feels like trying to catch sand slipping through your fingers? If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In a marketplace teeming with digital learning options, effectively selling education online can be downright overwhelming. Students might click on your landing page, fill out an inquiry form, and then—poof—they vanish without a trace. But here’s the good news: success stories do exist, and many of them share a common thread—HubSpot.
In fact, selling education online doesn’t have to be complicated when you have the right strategies and tools in place. Countless educators, course creators, and institutions have already discovered a system that works. They leveraged HubSpot’s CRM, marketing automation, analytics, and more to transform “maybe” leads into enthusiastic, paying students.
If you’ve been struggling with lead generation, engagement, or even just setting up workflows that don’t make you want to rip your hair out, then stick around. In this article, you’ll discover three real-world case studies—sourced from HubSpot.com—that reveal how this comprehensive platform can simplify, optimize, and supercharge your approach to selling education online.
1. Case Study: The Online Certification Accelerator: Bisk
The Challenge
Bisk is a well-known name in the realm of online program management, collaborating with universities to deliver digital certificate and degree programs. Even with an established brand, Bisk faced a problem that sounds familiar: how to effectively break through the clutter of online advertising, capture potential students’ attention, and guide them through enrolment without losing them along the way. Essentially, they needed a cohesive system that integrated marketing and sales to drive selling education online forward.
The HubSpot Solution
Bisk adopted HubSpot’s Marketing Hub and CRM to build a unified view of each prospective student. By automating email drip campaigns, they were able to keep new leads engaged with personalized messaging about upcoming webinars, course launches, and university partner highlights. Meanwhile, lead scoring helped their admissions team prioritize the most interested prospects.
The real star of the show was HubSpot’s analytics. Bisk used this data to identify where leads dropped off, which emails had the highest open rates, and what type of content resonated most—whether it was e-books, blog posts, or short video teasers. Then, they doubled down on those winning strategies and refined the weaker ones.
The Results
The numbers don’t lie. After implementing HubSpot, Bisk reported a significant rise in enrollment inquiries and a noticeable decrease in the time it took to convert prospects to students. Their process for selling education online went from a patchwork of disconnected tools to one integrated system that saved them both time and resources.
2. Case Study: The University Going Global: Southern New Hampshire University
The Challenge
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is known for its innovative online degree programs, but even a large institution sometimes needs a streamlined way to manage thousands of inquiries. Scaling internationally meant more competition, more inquiries, and more moving pieces—especially when it came to following up with prospective students around the world. The real question was: How do you engage leads across different time zones, manage various course interests, and ensure that each inquiry gets the personal attention it deserves?
The HubSpot Solution
SNHU integrated HubSpot’s Sales Hub and Marketing Hub to create a dynamic enrolment pipeline. An automated lead nurturing sequence was designed to send personalized content based on each student’s area of interest—be it business, nursing, or IT. If a prospective nursing student clicked an email about scholarships, for instance, HubSpot tagged that behaviour and delivered relevant follow-up content, like tips for balancing clinical with online classes.
SNHU’s admissions team then used HubSpot’s tasks and reminders to follow up on leads at just the right time. Instead of frantically juggling spreadsheets, they had a seamless workflow that tracked every conversation in the CRM. This meant the university could tailor each follow-up call to the individual needs and concerns of the student, dramatically improving their experience.
The Results
SNHU saw an uptick in international enrolments because they were able to effectively communicate around the clock. Additionally, the analytics they gathered from HubSpot helped them fine-tune their marketing spend, funnelling more resources into high-performing channels. The biggest win? A more personal experience for thousands of prospective students, which translated into trust, loyalty, and enrolments.
3. Case Study: The Niche Course Creator: Administering Success With Thinkful
The Challenge
Thinkful, an online education platform focused on coding boot camps and digital marketing courses, started out strong. Their biggest hurdle came after initial growth plateaued, and they realized they had to do more than just place ads and hope for the best. With multiple courses running at once, they struggled to keep track of leads, automate their marketing, and manage follow-ups. They needed a system that could handle lead capture, nurturing, and the final push to enrol without any hiccups.
The HubSpot Solution
Thinkful turned to HubSpot’s CMS Hub for a robust, user-friendly website experience and Marketing Hub for lead nurturing. They crafted highly targeted landing pages for each of their courses, ensuring that someone interested in a data science bootcamp wouldn’t be bombarded with content about web development. Once leads submitted their email address, they were placed in a carefully segmented email sequence that introduced them to course content, success stories, and financing options.
HubSpot’s workflows also came into play when Thinkful wanted to send out reminders for informational webinars. Instead of manually drafting emails every time a webinar was scheduled, they set up automated reminders and follow-up sequences to keep prospective students engaged. Meanwhile, the admissions team could easily see which leads had opened emails, clicked on specific offers, or asked questions—allowing for meaningful, timely conversations.
The Results
By tying their entire marketing and enrolment workflow together, Thinkful significantly boosted their course registration rates. Even better, they saved countless hours otherwise spent on manual follow-ups, freeing up their team to focus on student success and curriculum development. Their journey in selling education online became a cohesive story rather than a scattered mix of tasks and hopes.
Common Threads in These Education Success Stories
When you look at these three case studies together, a pattern emerges. Each organization:
1. Unified Sales and Marketing Data: Rather than juggling spreadsheets, they stored everything in HubSpot’s CRM.
2. Automated Their Lead Nurturing: Personalized drip campaigns ensured prospects received the right content at the right time.
3. Used Analytics to Refine Strategies: Detailed insights into email opens, click-through rates, and landing page performance made it easy to optimize, pivot, and grow.
4. Scaled Without Chaos: As inquiries grew, they continued to offer personalized outreach—no prospective student was left behind.
This is the beauty of an all-in-one platform like HubSpot. You can manage every step of selling education online—from the initial website visit to enrollment day—under one digital roof.
If there’s one thing these case studies prove, it’s that selling education online doesn’t have to be chaotic or impersonal. Whether you’re a small course creator offering niche expertise or a large university looking to expand your global reach, HubSpot has the tools to streamline your entire journey. Imagine a single dashboard where you can see every lead, every email, and every enrollment—no more guessing, no more fragmentation, just a clear path to educational impact.
Ready to see it for yourself? Let’s talk about how HubSpot can be your secret weapon in the online education landscape. Book a demo with Ale today to get a personalized look at how HubSpot’s suite of solutions can fit seamlessly into your vision for selling education online.
Article Written by
Megan Frydel
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