Keele University has one of the largest campuses in the UK, spanning over 600 acres in rural Staffordshire. It consistently ranks well in national and international university rankings and has a strong reputation for its health sciences, natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and medicine courses.
The campus has developed, ‘Keele Village’, with commercial buildings and research facilities forming a thriving business community in which the university plays a significant role.
Keele University: Project Overview
International students form a large part of the student population, with fees generating significant income for the University. Subsequently, the University put a lot of effort into marketing to overseas students.
The internal belief was that the rural campus setting was a barrier to some overseas students, and the close connections to nearby towns and cities should be highlighted in the marketing.
Understanding that the open-day encounter plays a defining role in the decision-making process of potential applicants, the University wanted to gain direct insights from students.
Our Approach
Before committing to a new marketing strategy, Keele enlisted the help of insight6 to gain first-hand insight from the international students at Keele and understand what it was about the University that appealed to them.
The University holds three open days per year for both prospective students and applicants to view the Campus and receive all the relevant information for their stage of application. insight6 were tasked with mystery shopping each open day to review the process and overall experience.
CX Solutions
The insight6 instantinsight feedback platform was used to gather feedback from students in multiple ways. Initially, overseas students underwent a targeted questionnaire, delving into their motivations for selecting Keele University, including their specific expectations from a campus environment. instantinsight was also used to collect feedback from open-day visitors at the end of their visit. By posing questions encompassing the overall experience and detailed inquiries regarding the quality and delivery of information, a nuanced understanding of visitor perspectives was acquired.
Each open day also received a professional CX Review conducted by an insight6 mystery shopper. A key objective was to understand how different academic areas presented themselves and how this fitted in with the overall look and feel of the University.
It was observed that navigating the campus posed challenges, and the guided tours lacked tailoring, failing to differentiate between first-time visitors and those with offers. Consequently, in collaboration with insight6, Keele University embarked on crafting a Customer Journey Map. This strategic tool aimed to comprehend the distinct requirements, touchpoints, and communication needs of various 'customer' segments.
Project Outcomes
The insight gained from the overseas student feedback enabled the University to better understand their target student and tailor the marketing to appeal to them. The mystery shopping reviews have been instrumental in the design and implementation of two new open-day customer journeys - one for students at the initial stages of their university research and one for applicants who had received an offer of a place at Keele.
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