Verticals
Case Studies - Education
University of Surrey
Ensuring a high level of applicants has become vital in the changing competitive environment of fee based education. dsi colourworks, a dsicmm group company, worked in 2006 with the University of Surrey (UniS) to try and maximize the number of applicants for university places for the 2006-2007 academic year. The focus was to provide uniquely tailored and targeted information to enquirers to create impact and differentiate them from other competing universities. The outcome was a fully personalized prospectus with the following features:
Personalized Pack – Rather than a generic pack with attached letter, the prospectus became a self-contained personalized communication in perfect bound easy to handle format (even down to the fine detail of personalizing the spine)
Personalized and Dynamic Content – Based on the nature of the enquiry, content would be dynamically pulled-in, e.g. courses enquired about, fee structure, request for information on accommodation etc. The book was automatically paginated and a dynamic index added to help the prospective students navigate the prospectus. Finally, personalized communication from relevant individuals within UniS was included where appropriate within the prospectus.
Recognizing Student Profile – Based on a student’s profile, additional content was added. For example, for foreign students the section on UniS being an “International University” was up weighted and brought to the front of the prospectus and also copy included in the appropriate foreign language (helping to re-assure the final decision maker who may be the parent of the student and not necessarily be fluent in English).
Environmentally and Financially Beneficial – As the new pack had tailored content the actual number of pages printed decreased. This provided obvious benefits of reduced postal costs, along with reducing the impact on the environment compared to shipping hefty generic prospectuses. As this was a print on demand items, there were no wastage or storage costs involved, providing UniS with a cash flow benefit. Finally, when compared to the old method of producing and mailing generic prospectuses, the new personalized prospectus cost less per item to produce, fulfil and deliver.
UniS announced a staggering uplift in applications of over 40% compared to the previous year. Whilst dsi colourworks and the UniS marketing department cannot claim this all being down to the personalized prospectus, we would like to think that it has made a major contribution!
The outcome – A better communication, at a lower cost whilst helping deliver increased student applications.