Queen Mary University London

How we helped Queen Mary University London make the right first impressions last.

In 2017, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) felt it had a fairly clear picture of who its students were, what they wanted and how the University was performing.

But to improve its activities and communications, the University needed detailed, concrete evidence.

The Challenge

Queen Mary University were keen to find out:

• What made its students different?

• What did they value?

• How could it better appeal to them?

• And, crucially, what was QMUL doing (right and wrong) in comparison with competing universities?

Our approach

QMUL used three of our HE Success Suite tracking products – Undergraduate Success, Marcomms Success and PGT Success. Covering applicants for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, this gave QMUL a comprehensive view of its prospective students, their behaviours and attitudes, and how they compared with others around the country.

The University’s market intelligence team used the products as a source of evidence to inform strategic decisions, and shared insights widely with different departments.

Segmentation information from the dashboards helped QMUL understand the attitudinal profiles of its student population. For example, the University had a relatively large proportion of ‘mature-minded’ students, who tended to be less receptive to certain marketing messages, especially those focused on the social aspects of student life.

Our data also helped QMUL assess the impact of its open days. QMUL’s own surveys showed that visitors were fairly satisfied, but benchmarking revealed that other universities were getting better feedback.

The outcome

By providing clear, comprehensive data on how QMUL’s students compared with others, our HE Success Suite helped the University to design and direct its campaigns to meet the needs of its unique student profile, to learn from competitors how to make open days more impactful, and to make a case for more investment in its open days.

This case study was originally conducted by YouthSight, acquired by Savanta in May 2021.

https://www.youthsight.com/queen-mary-university-case-study-youthsight

There used to be a lot of guessing, without hard evidence. The YouthSight tools have helped to confirm what we suspected and make sense of the implications.

Market Intelligence Manager, Queen Mary University of London