Multi award-winning University of Huddersfield implements Achiever student recruitment CRM within 6 weeks

The brief

The University of Huddersfield was named ‘Times Higher Education University of the Year for 2013′. It was previously successful at the same awards in 2012 where it won the ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’.  In July 2015, the University of Huddersfield started to look for a student recruitment CRM system.

One of the main drivers for the University was the need for a relational database to drive communication with potential students and provide analysis on the results of the communication.

Richard Noon and Sarah Banton-Place and are the Officers overseeing the implementation of the system at the University.

Richard comments, “We wanted a fully-relational database, where interactions captured from every touch-point are stored against a single contact record.  This will give us a truly holistic view of the individual and their journey. We have one central point where we can view a complete, joined-up history of each prospective student”.

Richard goes on to say, “Presently, we can only see a contact’s current status in our existing software solution. To maximise our targeting and conversions, we needed full conversion tracking from enquiry through to application, Alumni and beyond”.

The University also required powerful reporting tools to inform and drive its marketing and operations. It also wanted to include granular reporting down to School level.

The solution

The University chose Interactive Software Limited and its Achiever CRM for Universities software as the preferred supplier. And they quickly got to work. Achiever’s student recruitment CRM provided a single source of “truth” and enabled the University to carry out targeted marketing. The Achiever CRM for Universities software gave the University a sophisticated data processing tool with the ability to send targeted, omni-channel marketing communications across all media platforms.

Sarah commented, “We use the Achiever student recruitment CRM for Universities platform to interrogate a single, “true source” of student data and drill right down to individual student level. Interactive Software Limited is a very responsive supplier that really understands the unique dynamics of the HE sector and student recruitment marketing. We worked in partnership with Interactive Software Limited’s experienced project team to deliver phase 1 of the solution in 6 weeks.”

Interactive Software Limited adopted its Achiever Essentials approach to get the solution up and running in 6 weeks. The University also wanted to ensure that it mapped the implementation to the academic year and the student recruitment cycle.

Interactive Software Limited and the University worked very closely to install the “out of the box” student recruitment CRM solution that they could quickly configure to the University’s specific requirements as each team across the institution defined them.

Main benefits

They began the first phase of implementation at early enquirer/prospective student level and included prospectus requests, open day bookings and prospect communications.

Next, they streamlined the open day booking process by integrating an event booking portal with the existing website. As a result, prospective students can now self-serve, booking themselves on to specific sessions and personalising their event experience. Also, they can even log back on and amend their details and preferences, up until the evening before the event.

Finally, they implemented integration with existing systems including the student information system.  As a result, the University can tie enquirers who become applicants together. So only one record for that student exists on the database.