First UK modern University in QS World Rankings, UCLan, implements Achiever student CRM

The brief

University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is a World Class modern teaching and research University. In 2010 it became the first UK modern university to appear in the QS World University Rankings. However, it still needed to improve its engagement with its prospective students. Its existing software system was limiting its ability to do this. Therefore, UCLan started to look for new student CRM software to achieve this.

To improve its recruitment and engagement program, UCLan wanted to record, track and analyse interactions with prospective students across all touch-points. With its existing software, users were always having to extract and manipulate data to ensure they were not duplicating communications.  And it was difficult to get a full view of the student journey.

Pete Lumb, CRM Officer, said, “We needed to move away from a list-based solution, where the same contact could exist multiple times in multiple lists and therefore potentially receive multiple emails. To drive enquiries, conversions and targeted marketing, we needed a fully-relational database. We wanted to be able to store all interactions  against a single contact record for a truly holistic view of the individual and cohort journey. The new student CRM software had to deliver one central point where a history of each prospective student can be viewed”.

The solution

In 2010 UCLan produced and published a tender. Interactive Software Limited recognised that its Achiever CRM for Universities software was an excellent fit, both in terms of UCLan’s current needs and its future requirements. It could give UCLan with the tools it needed to effectively deliver its targeted, personalised and multi-channel campaigns.

As a result of a successful tendering process, Interactive Software Limited was successfully awarded the contract and quickly began work. Achiever CRM for Universities software allowed a single contact record to exist once but belong to multiple segmentations, e.g. “enquirer”, “attended an event”, “requested a prospectus”. And all interactions would be stored in one place against the original record for a complete historical view. As a result, this would create one central hub for data and marketing.

Bulk email campaigns are a big part of UCLan’s student recruitment and communications strategy. The new Achiever student CRM software had to deliver large volumes of automated and targeted emails. In addition, it also had to include granular post-campaign reporting for continual refinement.

Some schools at UCLan held local databases of contacts, using these to send communications and marketing campaigns. Achiever student CRM software merges all of these local databases into one system, delivering a single “true” source of data.

Interactive Software Limited configured UCLan’s Achiever CRM for Universities software so that its interface felt familiar to the users. This included simple navigation, pre-configured Higher Education (HE) workflows, automation and triggers – all helping to maximise efficiency.

Main benefits

With Achiever CRM for Universities, UCLan’s marketing capability now includes the digital management and delivery of open days. This covers sending email invitations, taking bookings online and checking-in attendees using QR codes and mobile technology.

Pete Lumb, CRM Officer, said, “We now have the ability to run personalised, multi-channel and multi-tiered campaigns, both online and offline. We have live campaign tracking and joined-up reporting, with full drill down functionality and the ability to analyse across the full EAE cycle, giving us deep insights into the performance of our student recruitment campaigns.”

In addition, UCLan’s new Achiever CRM for Universities solution integrates with its student record system, Banner.  This brings in applicant data together with all communication channels including SMS text alerts. UCLan also uses Akkroo Forms to capture off-line data at international recruitment fairs.

Finally, Interactive Software Limited used its tried and trusted Achiever Plus methodology to deliver the project, which follows proven PRINCE2 processes to ensure rapid implementation, minimal little disruption and immediate recruitment benefits.