A Closer Look: What Reddit Reveals About Non-Linear Student Journeys

When we added Reddit to a client’s marketing mix this spring, I expected it to play a modest role, mainly boosting awareness and extending our reach. I’m used to evaluating performance inside Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads, where everything is laid out in neat columns and you can see exactly how many people clicked a link or submitted a form on the client’s website.

After launching Reddit, it became clear that if the channel was influencing performance for our client’s program, but the ad platform alone wasn’t going to show the full picture. Unlike Google and Meta, Reddit users are less likely to convert right away, often engaging earlier in the decision-making process and returning later when they’re ready to take action.

That raised an important question: how do we accurately understand the impact of a channel when results don’t show up right away? To answer that, I jumped into this particular client’s Pivot360 dashboard and explored the Google Analytics data we’re pulling in alongside paid media performance, looking more closely at how prospective students were engaging with the website over time.

Early Signs: A Rise in Traffic

The first clue was a rise in overall web traffic. Sessions on the program pages were up 20% month-over-month, which immediately felt meaningful. And we hadn’t introduced any other new platforms during this period. When I dug into the source data, Reddit stood out. Sessions coming from our Reddit advertising (paid, referral, and organic combined) were up 162%, and even organic/referral traffic from Reddit alone saw a 7% lift.

This wasn’t just ad-driven traffic—people were finding the program through organic posts at a higher rate, then returning to the site through different paths. Reddit was clearly creating additional touchpoints that were all adding up to a rise in web traffic.

A Meaningful Shift: Increased Registrations

After seeing the rise in traffic, I wanted to understand whether that momentum translated further down the funnel, so I looked at program registration button clicks.

Here’s what I found:

• Overall registration button clicks increased 14%

• Reddit-attributed registration clicks increased 38%

This reinforced something important: while Reddit shines as an awareness play, it also contributes to direct conversion action. And even when it didn’t lead to direct conversions, it very likely influenced the overall lift in registrations. After all, more touchpoints = more opportunities for people to take an interest in a brand and navigate to the website later on.

Seeing the Full Ecosystem Shift

Once I stepped back, a bigger picture became clear. Across all channels:

• Impressions and clicks outpaced budget

• Program page web sessions increased 23% year-over-year

Reddit contributed directly to 45 new registrations over about a half-year timespan, and very likely contributed to a lift in conversions coming from other channels, like Google Search and Google Ads.

Reddit’s ad platform didn’t work alone, but it wasn’t meant to. Its real impact showed up in how it energized the ecosystem—people clicking Meta retargeting ads, returning via Google, or typing in the URL directly after encountering the program on Reddit. It helped build interest in ways that aren’t visible just from looking in the Reddit ads platform.

What This Means for Attribution (and Why It Matters)

This kind of performance highlights an important reality about attribution: not all impact shows up neatly inside a single ad platform. Channels like Reddit often influence longer, more considered decision-making journeys where a prospective student sees a message, reflects on it, and takes action later through a different touchpoint.

For higher ed institutions, this matters because relying solely on last-click or in-platform reporting can undervalue channels that are quietly doing meaningful work earlier in the funnel. When attribution is viewed holistically, patterns emerge that better reflect how real people make enrollment decisions.

It also underscores the importance of analyzing performance from multiple perspectives. When performance is analyzed across platforms—connecting ad exposure, on-site behavior, and downstream conversions—institutions gain clearer insight into how channels support one another, not just how they perform in isolation. That broader view leads to smarter budget decisions, more balanced channel mixes, and a stronger understanding of what’s truly driving results.

What’s Next?

Based on the results of this experience, here’s how I’d recommend optimizing for Reddit:

• Refresh Reddit creative to keep content new and interesting

• Test 1–2 new audiences, especially Lookalikes

• Lean on Reddit during key registration windows

• Continue examining channels together rather than separately

• Value both direct and indirect influence, especially for awareness platforms

Reddit advertising doesn't replace Meta or Google, but it strengthens both by improving visibility and building interest.

The Bigger Takeaway

What started as a simple performance check became a reminder of why curiosity matters in this work. Digging deeper into Google Analytics allowed us to connect performance dots in ways individual platform dashboards alone can’t, and which is exactly why tools like Pivot360 are so valuable.

Ultimately, this is a reminder that real insight comes from curiosity: digging deeper into the data, questioning surface-level performance, and seeking to understand how prospective students actually move from awareness to enrollment.