Empowering our agents to deliver a first class student experienceSelf service digital marketing resources to attract, inform and engage international students

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40+regional offices

Study Group has the most extensive global marketing and recruitment network in the industry offering global scale, cover and diversity to students, universities and agents. Over 14,000 new students from 142 countries chose Study Group to provide them with life-changing learning experiences in 2018.

400+sales, marketing & admissions staff

3,000+agents & business partners

50+higher education partners

We are the leading provider of international education

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3.6 million students from +150 markets reached digitally, driving brand and product awareness, engagement and enquiries.

We have extensive global digital reach

We prioritise student experienceOur brand proposition is built around our customers: students.

We believe in the power of international education to transform lives and to shape the future of the global economy.

Student experience is at the heart of every decision we make.

Nandita PatkarAssociate Director, Digital PerformanceStudy Group

Eve MossAgent Marketing ManagerStudy Group

• Insights from our student-first digital marketing campaigns• Digital marketing challenges faced by our agents• Study Group’s agent tool-kit to empower our agents to

deliver customer first digital experiences

Our student-first marketing strategy

Understand and map the student journeyInternational education is a highly competitive market targeting digitally empowered customers. A cohesive digital customer journey is absolutely critical for success. Our integrated digital marketing strategy ensures that students have a consistent experience with each of our higher education brands from enquiry to graduation.

OptionsI know my options –countries, subjects and places

DesireI want to study oversees

ResultsI have someone to talk to about my choices

ApplyI have what I need to make decisions

PrepareI am confident about looking forward to my new adventure

Accept offerI am excited and know what happens next

FriendsI make new friends from around the world, have fun and experience new cultures

ArrivalI feel welcomed, safe and supported

CourseI enjoy learning and know what I must do to progress

AdvocateI know I made the right choices and I am proud of where I studied

Student first approach to content marketingOur marketing strategy focuses on engaging and supporting students throughout their online/ offline journey.

Authenticity Personalisation

IntegrationCustomer experience

Authenticity builds trustAs digital marketing continues to evolve, consumers are becoming more adept at recognising and disregarding self-promotional or manipulative content marketing techniques. Authentic content marketing entertains and educates in a way that builds trust with your audience. In order to produce authentic content, understanding your customers and identifying how you can offer value is key.

Inauthentic content

Authentic content

While there’s nothing misleading or dishonest about using stock photos, they will not help you to connect with an audience on a personal level. Publishing a photo of a model that has no relation to your product will make your content feel impersonal.

Outdated or misleading statistics are not authentic. Although including statistics in content can be a powerful way to add value, statistics are outdated and re-published or withholding relevant information can lead the reader to feel manipulated and misled.

Stock imagery

Misleading statistics

A reliable way to encourage conversations is to offer customer service on social media. Responding quickly to customer inquiries can be a powerful way to show that you care about your customers and take their feedback seriously. It also helps to prove there’s a real person behind the computer screen.

Find ways to encourage your audience to share their own experiences through photos, videos, or stories. This is an excellent way to build authentic, trustworthy content across social media.

Communicate on Social Media

User-generated content

Student-led content on social media

92% of people trust recommendations

by individuals

*2016 study by TapInfluence and Nielsen Catalina Solutions; Semrush

UGC posts account for 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 brands

Influencer marketing generates 11 times the ROI of traditional

digital marketing*

The student-led video from our Bellerbys College Media student Dasha shared in March 2017, soon became the top post within a month across all channels.

11.4K organic reach and 1.9K total view on Facebook

461 video views + 652 GIF views on Instagram

930 views on YouTube with 71% average percentage viewed

Personalisation is key to customer engagementPersonalised messages across paid media ads, social media, email and website pages ensure that our customers receive tailored information and an improved experience. A recent Salesforce study found that:

52% 57% 65%

of consumers would switch away from a brand that doesn't

personalise communications

of consumers are willing to share personal data in exchange

for a personalised experience

of users said that personalisation influences

their brand loyalty

Personalisation to drive local engagement

Our localised Arabic campaigns to build brand awareness amongst Middle Eastern students drove incremental reach resulting in a 28% increase in brand impressions

Arabic outperformed English campaigns in raising brand visibility, resulting in a +44% increase in web traffic from key Arabic markets

User-centric approach for best customer experience on websitesWe utilise UX led websites, contact forms, study materials and chat support along with ‘always on’ testing to improve student experience. UX is a problem solving discipline that requires you to understand users’ problems and design solutions that help solve them.

The following elements all need to contribute to solving the problem:

Which requires you to understand the following elements about the user:

Context

BehavioursGoals

Data-led content marketing strategy

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+100k online enquiries analysed to understand most commonly asked questions.These insights enable use to make a data-led decision with content expansion and optimisation

50%

25%

10%

15%

Making key decision driving information available to students improves student engagement and drives successful student recruitment

Make decision making easier:Provide answers to student’s top questions

We analysed top questions our students had and launched our new FAQs section to help our students make right decisions

+202%

Pages / Sessions

+276%

Avg. Session Duration

16

+15%

Pages / Sessions

+22%

Avg. Session Duration

Make websites mobile friendly:Provide decision driving information any time, anywhere

• 51% more mobile users use a combo menu compared to a hidden burger menu

• A combo menu increases content discoverability by 33% for mobile users

Integrated systems are key to success. With a single view of Advertising, Website and CRM you can effectively:

ConnectConnect campaigns across

Ad platforms, Website analytics, CRM & Student

Databases

Integration improves service

TestTrack the impact of digital campaigns from click to student arrival

Share insightsShare on-site behavioural

patterns with Student Advisors to improve service level

Prove Prove return on investment

Test and learn approach to iteratively improve student experience

Our partner agents are integral to the delivery of a first class student experience

+80%of students apply for our courses via a local agent but still engage with our online content. The information, content and customer experience provided by Study Group and our partners must be consistent to ensure a cohesive experience and build trust.

How can our agents deliver consistent customer first experience?

Maintaining brand consistency

Study Group university partners B2C online presenceMarketing the university brand to international students

Study Group B2C online presenceMarketing Study Group products under the university brand to international students

Study Group partner agents B2C online presence Marketing Study Group products under the university brand to international students on behalf of Study Group

The brand proposition delivered by Study Group, our University partners and agents marketing on our behalf must be consistent to ensure a cohesive experience and build trust. We recognise that this may be particularly challenging for agents that are required to maintain consistent customer experience, while understanding each university’s brand proposition and Study Group’s products and processes.

Motivated primarily by logic and reason, decisions are made based on facts, value,

efficiency and expertise.

Branding succeeds by appealing to the target market's emotions. Success stories and consumer testimonials build trust and desire.

Concise, informative content providing concrete data and updates on the tangible features we

provide is used to build on a consistent relationship.

Content must speak to the customers personal aspirations. Relatable stories are the best platforms for emotional triggers to drive consumption.

Less variation in audience persona means that content can be tailored for a specific job role or

region.

Many different types of customers even within a small niche. Content and distribution must take into account each persona’s concerns and needs.

Typically companies make collective decisions relying on value-driven, educational content to

make informed choices.

Purchases are typically based on an individual decision, more emotive, and based on the customers own perceptions, wants and needs.

Lack of personalised student-centric content

B2B Marketing B2C Marketing

Our partner agents can’t simply share all of the marketing materials that they receive with prospective students because the marketing examples agents see

are tailored for a B2B audience.

Content styleContent

style

Audience persona

Consumer motivation

Decision making

Digital marketing expertiseDigital marketing requires time, money and resources. Many Study Group partner agencies do not have an internal digital marketing team with the capacity to incorporate our strategy.

How can we empower agents to use our digital marketing strategy to deliver a first

class student experience?

Promote a self-service mentality

Latest newsThe latest news and announcements from Study Group and our partner universities are collated in our personalised Agent Newsletter sharing the most relevant industry insights, updates and student facing content.

TrainingStudy Group agents have access to downloadable materials, e-learning and webinars providing valuable training on our products, systems and marketing insights.

Marketing materials Agents can access carefully curated marketing materials and download student facing flyers, banners and other marketing assets for use online, at events or when counselling students.

Online applicationStudy Group agents can submit multiple applications at once via the online application form and the online application status tracker enables real time tracking to keep customers up-to-date.

The Agent Portal extends our support throughout the student journey, providing the tools agents need to effectively council students and promote our products authentically. Agent Portal development is based on our agents’ feedback and changing needs to ensure we provide the best self-service support throughout the recruitment process.

Product knowledge is an important tool for closing sales. It instils faith, trust, and respect to create a positive customer experience. According to research, sales associates with strong brand expertise sell 87% more than peers without*.

Easily accessible training Flexible learning

Personalised content

Courses can be completed in under 30 minutes and revisited at

any time so that agents can train at their own convenience, 24 hours a day

from any location

We are establishing the key focus of individual agent contacts to ensure we promote the courses most

relevant to them - whether it’s specific products in our portfolio or processes they need to revise

Trackable progressAgents can easily monitor their progress with our user-

friendly platform and a short test at the end of each course enables us to easily identify any common

knowledge gaps to provide the support agents need

Enhanced reportingCourse reports indicate which products agents are

interested in, the courses they have passed and what they are struggling with to ensure we provide

the information they need when they need it

In 2019 we introduced a suite of self-service e-learning courses to make it easier for agents to learn about our university partners, how to promote them and how to handle objections effectively.

*Wranx

We introduced our Agent Newsletter to:• reduce the volume of emails shared with agents to keep them updated

on our products• provide a user friendly round-up of the most relevant information• utilise A/B testing and click-through data to measure engagement and

better understand our agents’ marketing needs and preferences• introduce personalised updates and shareable content tailored to market

preferences to ensure that agents can strengthen student experience by using the right content at the right time

• share bite-sized information quickly to support agents in providing accurate up-to-date information for the students they are counselling

Personalised news

Branding is more than just a logo design. Every piece of collateral should maintain a similar colour scheme, tone, overall aesthetic, and communicate a similar message

Our marketing toolkits are updated every 6 weeks with the latest materials available to promote our partners.

Agents will receive authentic personalised content that’s relevant for their market.

We ensure that statistics and branding are always accurate and up-to-date so that agents don’t have to.

Ready-to-use marketing materialsConsistent brand presentation across all platforms increases revenue by up to 23%*

*Forbes 2018

Go social…that’s where the students are The service tools, content and

information that we provide on our Agent Portal are set up to make it easy for Study Group agents to promote our products on their Social Media channels.

63% of customers actually expect companies to offer customer service via their social media channels. Smart Insights

71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others. Ambassador

Visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. HubSpot

Live chat has the highest satisfaction ratings for any customer service

channel, at 73%, compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone*.

*econsultancy.com

For agents to provide live chat on their website or social channels they need up-to-date case information at their fingertips.

Agents are always ‘in the know’ with our online application status tracker which is integrated with our internal systems for real-time tracking to keep customers up-to-date.

Our online application form enables agents to accurately submit multiple applications at once with a guaranteed response within 48 hours supporting them in providing excellent customer service at an important stage of the student journey.

Real-time tracking

How are we driving student success together?

+2%overall agent satisfaction rating

+4%satisfaction rating for training materials

+4%satisfaction rating for marketing support

Agent feedbackSince the introduction of self-service training and marketing materials on the Agent Portal in 2019 we have received great feedback from our agents

“Really excited to explore this e-learning platform! We appreciate your initiatives and support for betterment of services towards your partner agents.”

“I got 100% on the test (so happy about this!). I do find it very useful, especially the training you do beforehand and the questions regarding student scenarios”

and seen consistent improvements in our agent satisfaction ratings

Thank you