It’s important to establish the reporting metrics and regularity of reporting from the outset to keep all stakeholders up to date. Assessing what data will be available, from what sources and who will be responsible for collating is advisable at the start and the insight coming from the metrics may mean a change of strategy or direction within the duration of the campaign.
As a general guide you could consider the following timetable:
- A weekly review of associated returners applications/bookings compared to the same period in the prior year.
- A two-weekly review of any marketing metrics which are available from different sources – email stats (open rates, click through rate), website landing page data (views, new users, source of traffic) and social media engagement from organic or paid posts (likes, shares, comments).
- A monthly review of overall progress which could be included at the regular Marketing & Allocations Forum sessions or with internal stakeholders.
- Quarterly review of the same metrics, looking at the phasing of the campaign if new offers or incentives were available, if certain communications channels appear to be delivering a higher level of engagement. It’s also worthwhile within the first couple of months of the campaign to run a short online survey with students which have applied to see what made them apply and also sampling some students who haven’t applied again to see what their concerns are as this information may be invaluable in directing the future campaign messaging and channels.
- Following a review of the metrics refining the channel mix according to data findings, as well as the content following any research or focus groups would be beneficial.
