The training sector is going through a difficult time: searches are decreasing, the cost per click is increasing and the traditional funnel is active: advertisement, Guide and calls: he interrupted the conversion. But experts agree that this critical point is not the end, but a turning point, and that the way out is to strengthen digital reputation, rely on artificial intelligence and understand that recruitment is no longer about interrupting, but about accompanying. This was the roadmap of the tenth Emagister Professional Conference, held in Madrid and Barcelona on 19 and 20 November and which brought together – between in-person and virtual participants – around 1,500 participants and almost 600 training centres. Companies such as Hamilton, co-author with Emagister of the FSO rankings for online higher education and professional training, and representatives from Google, Meta, TikTok and EducaEdu, among others, also participated.
The change in habits is sensational and directly influences any strategy: “Students initially interact with brands on social platforms, but then prefer to continue on WhatsApp”, explains Vanesa Iglesias, Head of Industry, Ecommerce and Training at Meta. The conversation moves: the student no longer answers unknown phones, he contrasts opinions rather than programs and decides from his cell phone, at his own pace.
In this scenario, the conclusion is that it is not enough to spend more, but to spend better. The recipe points to an attraction model based on useful content, strategic presence on networks and intelligent automation to find efficiency in an increasingly expensive and skeptical market. This is why the conference, far from dwelling on the problem, placed emphasis on that compass: the one that indicates where the sector must move so as not to lose sight of who makes decisions today.
A saturated market and a model that no longer works
The photograph of the sector leaves no room for doubt: recruiting students has never been so expensive. In Professional Training the cost per click has increased by 97%; in the opposition 52%; and in masters and distance learning degrees they are close to 40%. These are data that explain why the traditional model no longer works as before. Added to this is a decrease in searches and a 4% decline in distance VET enrollments, with 88,000 students between October 2024 and October 2025 and a conversion of 22.9%. While this percentage remains stable, the demand is no longer there.
What has changed is the student’s behavior: “There is an undeniable reality, namely the saturation of the market and the increase in costs, which do not stop. The linear recruitment model, based on paid ads and cold calls, has been broken”, explains Josep Mestres, product manager by Emagister. The new generations do not answer the phone, they identify unknown numbers as spam and they make decisions based more on opinions, community and conversations than on commercial messages. And not just them: parents too, present on platforms like TikTok and decisive in over 60% of educational decisions.
This exhaustion has led Emagister to talk about the end of “fishing”, because insisting on more announcements or calls no longer guarantees anything. “We are facing a strategic paradigm shift: the old one outgoing “It’s inefficient and unsustainable,” warns Mestres. What is proposed now, however, is “net fishing”: instead of casting a single hook waiting for someone to bite, it is a question of generating a broad, useful and coherent presence in all the channels where the student is already looking for information, so that it reaches him himself. Recruitment does not disappear, but changes shape: digital reputation, spaces where the student wants to speak and processes adapted to this new reality. This shift – from impact to attraction – becomes the basis of the new model and raises inevitable questions: where is the student informed now? How does he validate his decision? Who really influences his process?
The student decides digitally
To understand why a student today chooses one center and not another, you don’t need to look at the school website, but at your mobile phone: the search begins on TikTok (which brings together almost 24 million users a month in Spain), on Instagram or on YouTube, in the comments and advice that circulate from user to user, many of whom have a real intention to continue their education: “70% of users would be willing to study a degree, a master’s degree or a course in the next few years”, explains Emilio. Ballesteros, head of customer solutions at TikTok. A percentage that even rises to 80% in continuous training courses.
This interest is not limited to students. One in two parents who use TikTok report going to app to discover educational products and over 60% declare they have purchasing decision-making power. This is an important detail: information seekers and economic decision makers are in the same digital spaces, and this completely changes the playing field.
From there another decisive factor emerges, that of reputation. online, that immediate filter that the student consults before even knowing if the program is suitable for what he needs. “The reputation online “It stopped being a mere image factor and became the central driver of growth and enrollment,” explains Ferrer. The process is simple: the brand appears, the user types in their name and, if they don’t find solid opinions, they move on to another option without leaving a trace.
Research is no longer a straight line, but a journey made of videos, comments and comparisons. TikTok also works as a search engine where users directly ask for degrees, campuses or prices. And when centers enter that environment with native formats, the results are evident. The campaign presented for IE University highlighted an increase of over 50% in IE.edu searches and a growth of over 300% in conversion of leads. In the case of MasterD, adapting the creatives to the platform’s language allowed the cost to be halved Guide and improve returns by 33%.
The conclusion for those present was clear: the decision is made before any center carries out the first call. Therefore, those who are not present in that first phase – the networks, the comments, the confirmations of other users – simply do not exist for a growing part of students. And it is in this context that artificial intelligence begins to play a decisive role.
AI enters the scene
Artificial intelligence appeared at the conference not as an abstract future, but as the thing that is already underpinning recruitment at many institutions. According to the data presented, 82.5% of centers integrate artificial intelligence into their master’s and postgraduate courses, and the next step will be to incorporate it into the direct relationship with the student through agents capable of assisting them instantly, better qualifying each query and freeing up time for the human team. “AI is forcing the market to professionalize and become efficient. It allows us to adapt to the collapse of the traditional recruiting model and focuses human teams on closing registration, which is when sustainability really decides,” says Ferrer.
This search for efficiency also affects creativity. User fatigue due to repetitive messages forces us to diversify formats, voices and styles. At the conference it was remembered that repeating the same ad more than four times can cause a 60% drop in conversions, while varying the creativity can reduce the incremental cost per conversion by up to 29%: “Diversified creativity is fundamental, because it reaches more people and generates more sales,” says Castelló.
For TikTok, where naturalness surpasses perfection, that diversity is almost a condition of access. Ballesteros then cites examples of universities adapting their videos to the vertical format, recording in their own spaces or using tools such as TikTok Symphony to scale content with the help of artificial intelligence. And the final message, far from pessimism, goes in the same direction: if the student searches alone, compares in a few seconds and waits for a useful answer, acquisition no longer depends on interrupting, but on accompanying. Because, as Ferrer summarizes, the challenge now is to attract in order to advise: the difference is no longer made by those who have the greatest impact, but by those who accompany best.
