DELIVERING CAMPAIGN IMPROVEMENTS IN A HIGHLY … · Using analytics to map and understand the user journeys of web visitors to tell BCU: • How journeys differ by source channel

D E L I V E R I N G C A M P A I G N I M P R O V E M E N T S I N

A H I G H L Y C O M P E T I T I V E M A R K E T P L A C E

BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY

Case study

April 2018

H E L L O

E D L A Y T

Marketing Strategist

SMRS

D A V I D D A V I S

Head of Campaigns and Digital

Birmingham City University

DELIVERING

IMPROVEMENTS

C H A L L E N G E S

1. Increased competitor marketing within our core catchment area

2. Lack of historical marketing data

3. Increased targets

4. A greater focus on ROI and financial rigor

5. Disjointed briefing process

O B J E C T I V E S

INTEGRATION

EFFICIENCY &

INSTITUTIONAL

BENEFIT

CALCULATE

&

MODEL

DIVERSIFICATION

&

RISK REDUCTION

The solution wasn’t simple.

A single innovation, or new tactic wouldn’t

deliver the required outcomes.

BCU required a strategic journey of

improvement.

A U D I E N C E D A T A T O D R I V E P E R F O R M A N C E

Using the data we already held to drive performance:

• Improving recruitment and retention

• Efficient allocation of marketing and communications resource

• Delivering a better acquisition journey

D A T A M A T U R I T Y M O D E L

REACTIVEUNDISCIPLINED PROACTIVE GOVERNED

THINK LOCALLY ACT LOCALLY

THINK INSTITUTIONALY

ACT LOCALLY

THINK INSTITUTIONALYACT COLLECTIVELY

THINK INSTITUTIONALY

ACT INSTITUTIONALY

•Datausageisreactive

•Limiteddatastrategy

•Nodatapoliciesdocumented

•Nodataexpectations

•Basicdatapointsarebeingrecorded

•Realtimemanagementreportingofengagements,comms &offers&accepts

•Simpleerrorsinprocessareidentifiedandreported

Actionpoints:

Datapointsformallyapproved&tracked

Everystudentlogged

Corestudentcommunicationtracked

Actionpoints:

Allstudentcommunicationtracked

ImplementbasicKPIs

LinkingallmeasurementstoKPIs

Governanceandpoliciesintroduced

•Controlpointsareclearforeverylevelofrecruitment

•Expectationsassociatedwithprocessadherencecanbearticulatedusingdataqualityrules

•Businessimpactanalysisofstudentdata

Actionpoints:

Reportingstructuresdefined

AllKPIsagreed

Marketingandcomms strategiesidentified

Dataenrichment,transferandoverlaying

Studentscoringandevaluationtracked

•ResultsofimpactanalysisfactoredintoRecruitmentandRetentionstrategies

•Dataqualityexpectationstiedtoperformancetargets

•Controlsfordatavalidationintegratedintobusinessprocesses

Actionpoints:

Performanceguidelinescreated&communicated

Fulldashboardscreated

Responsiveandinformedstrategyupdatedasnecessary

Institutionisdatafirst

R O A D M A P O F S T R A T E G I C P R O J E C T S

• Audience segmentation

• Creative development

• Campaign impact research

• Attribution

• Digital user journeys

• Campaign enhancements

• Search engine optimisation

• Conversion rate optimisation

A U D I E N C E

S E G M E N T A T I O N

Through statistical analysis and modeling of applicant

and student data, we developed propensity-based

audience segments to tell BCU:

• Who is more likely to enrol?

• Who requires more support to convert?

• What is the market opportunity for each

segment?

W H A T T H I S M E A N T F O R B C U

1. Refined targeting for university and faculty level prospecting activity

• Specific geographies

• Demographic profiles

• Identification of new markets to diversify recruitment

2. Potential to lead-score future applicants

ArriveTaxiTrainWalkTrain

A T T R I B U T E Y O U R C O M M U T E

How did you get to work?

Last Click

First Click

Linear

Walk

100%

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A T T R I B U T E Y O U R C O M M U T E

How did you get to work?

Last Click

First Click

Linear

Walk

ArriveTaxiTrainWalkTrainWalk

100%

100%

ArriveTaxiTrainWalkTrain

A T T R I B U T E Y O U R C O M M U T E

How did you get to work?

Last Click

First Click

Linear

Walk

ArriveTaxiTrainWalkTrainWalk

ArriveTaxiTrainWalkTrainWalk

20%

40%40%

100%

100%

S T A N D A R D R E P O R T I N G

DISPLAY PPC SOCIAL CONVERSION

Attributed channel

W H A T T H I S M E A N T F O R B C U

1. Working with intelligent data

2. Driving creation of channel strategy

3. Influencing creative output for each channel

O N S I T E U S E R J O U R N E Y A N A L Y S I S

Using analytics to map and understand the user journeys of web visitors to tell BCU:

• How journeys differ by source channel and landing page

• Understand current advertising performance and quality of traffic

• Identify optimisations, efficiencies and pain points to improve the journey

• Strategic direction for future investments (campaign, SEO, CRO)

W H A T T H I S M E A N T F O R B C U

1. Informed the development of hypothesis for CRO

2. Informed future content developments

3. Refined campaign channel/tactic dependent on objective/stage of the campaign

C A M P A I G N I M P A C T

R E S E A R C H

• New undergraduate campaign

• Ongoing measurement of recall, message

preference and impact on decision-making

C R E A T I V E

It felt like the perfect message with which to tell the world about

what it’s like to study at BCU. Because whatever students are ‘at

heart’ – creative, social, optimistic, arty, nerdy, focused and so on

– they’ll find kindred spirits in the heart of a thriving city.

W E G O T R I G H T T O T H E H E A R T O F T H I N G S

The theme we settled on was ‘At heart’.

This felt right because:

• Birmingham is a thriving, diverse city at the

heart of the country

• BCU is in the heart of the city

• The positivity, optimism and excitement that

is transforming Birmingham is shared by, and

contributed to, by BCU.

18%14%14%10%9%6%7%10%12%6%8%3%5%3%3%

44%37%

30%29%

23%25%19%22%23%

19%19%

14%10%11%10%

36%43%

51%50%

54%55%61%50%46%

58%45%62%69%

54%48%

2%5%5%

9%9%9%10%

13%15%11%

18%16%12%

20%22%

1%2%2%2%4%4%4%5%4%6%

10%5%4%

12%16%

…is social

…offers a great student experience

...is welcoming

…is professional

…has an international outlook

…is dynamic

…is innovative

…provides great career opportunities

…offers quality courses

…is ambitious

…is competitive

…is pioneering

…is environmentally conscious

…is traditional

…is a leader in research

W H A T T H I S M E A N T F O R B C U

1. Added a human voice to the data

2. Insight surrounding ‘non digital’ media

3. Benchmarks against competitors

A N E W A P P R O A C H …

• Enhanced complexity and personalisation

of audience campaigns

• Video and audio programmatic to

maximise targeting insight

• More granular CTA’s based on on-site

behavioural insight

• Using data and content to enhance

targeting and presence in key education

channels

R E S U L T S

50%of open day

registration driven

by digital media

(up from 25%)

50%decrease in cost per

open day

registration

90%of paid digital traffic

converted vs 39%

of organic

92%increase in paid for

traffic to the

website

42%increase in average

session duration

32%increase in pages-

per-session

51%Increase in traffic

driven from CRM

emails

S U M M A R Y

Strategic view with clear objectives

Set clear objectives up front and approach them with a strategic view

to identify opportunities

Commitment and partnership

It takes commitment and participation from a number of internal and

external stakeholders to ensure expertise and specialisms are

maximised

Multi-solution

Don’t expect a single initiative to solve all of your problems or meet all

of your objectives. Create a roadmap of strategic projects to keep

pushing you forward

INSIGHT

DISCOVERY

ACTIVATION

REVIEW

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