TargetX

TargetX (recently acquired by Liaison International) is a highly respected Higher Education CRM built natively on the Salesforce platform. Similar to the trajectory of Slate, TargetX originally built its massive reputation in the Admissions and Recruitment space, helping colleges manage complex marketing campaigns to prospective students. It has since expanded its footprint to encompass the entire student lifecycle with its "Retention Suite," providing academic advising and student success teams with the immense power of the Salesforce architecture, but pre-configured specifically for the unique workflows of a university. Because it is built on Salesforce, TargetX inherits world-class scalability, security, and a massive ecosystem of integrations. However, where a raw Salesforce deployment requires a university to spend hundreds of hours custom-building data objects for "Courses," "Terms," and "Majors," TargetX provides all of this higher education-specific architecture out of the box. The Retention Suite provides advisors with a centralized console where they can view a student's risk profile, track advising appointments, and log detailed interaction notes that are permanently attached to the student's CRM record. TargetX excels in its student engagement and communication tools. It features a powerful "Student Portal" that serves as a one-stop-shop for enrolled students. Within the portal, students can view their current schedule, see any pending "To-Do" items (like submitting a required form or meeting with their advisor), and schedule appointments directly with campus staff. Furthermore, TargetX leverages its admissions marketing DNA to provide advisors with incredibly robust email and SMS broadcasting tools, allowing universities to execute highly personalized, automated communication campaigns designed to "nudge" students toward completing critical retention milestones.