Supporting MBA recruitment through data-driven programme guidance

Background

Imperial Business School stands out by integrating business and technology, preparing students for the global economy and driving transformation. The Business School focuses on diversity in recruitment and has a multi-disciplinary marketing strategy, targeting future business leaders. Digital marketing is a crucial part of its strategy, reflecting the School’s commitment to diverse classrooms and inclusivity. They employ advanced website performance monitoring and optimisation techniques, using data to drive their decisions.

The Challenge

In an increasingly competitive higher education market, Imperial Business School sought a way to enhance engagement with prospective students. With digital marketing being central to its strategy, the School needed a tool that would not only generate high-quality leads, but also encourage further engagement beyond initial contact.

Why House of Education?

To meet this challenge, the Business School partnered with House of Education to create a tailored Digital Advisor – an interactive quiz tool that helps prospects identify which of the four MBA formats best suits their goals. This decision was driven by the institution's commitment to data-driven decision-making and continuous optimisation of digital marketing efforts.

HoEd’s solution is unique in two important aspects. First, the way it categorises viable prospects into segments defined as “qualified” or “ideal”, allowing the Business School to tailor its lead follow-up. Secondly, its interactivity and relevant content keeps users invested in the process. These advantages are underscored by Jenn Hoets, as she states:

“One way we measure success is in terms of quality leads, and the reports from HoEd have been instrumental in measuring our lead generation effectiveness, which we translate into our own CRM system. From these reports, we have seen a high uptake on the quiz, but more importantly for us, higher than average further engagement rates.”

The versatility and user-friendliness of this tool also means that it can be used to generate engagement through a range of various marketing channels:

“This innovative quiz tool has been a great asset for us to use across our different channels including emails, website, social media and paid advertising.” – Jenn Hoets, Marketing Manager for Performance Marketing and Affiliate Marketing at Imperial Business School.

Implementation & Collaboration

As seen above, the DA tool was integrated across multiple marketing channels, including emails, social media, website placements, and paid advertisements. This method was impactful and resulted in a high response rate from users. Thus, the tool aligned successfully with the Business School’s needs, making it a truly positive collaboration and highly effective experience.

Measuring Success

One of the key performance indicators for the Business School's marketing efforts is lead quality. As stated above, the HoEd DA tool provides detailed reports, which enables the team to measure lead generation effectiveness and seamlessly integrate the data into their CRM system. The results demonstrated not only high engagement, but also an increase in further interactions with prospective students.

Moreover, the team is able to glean information regarding each prospect’s personal ambitions and motivations for studying an MBA , and already knows which MBA format would suit each individual best. This allows for a more personalised nurturing of each lead.

“In terms of numbers, the quiz has helped us match a vast number of contacts to a particular programme – which helps with our ongoing marketing and recruitment efforts.”

Overall, by leveraging the HoEd DA tool, the Business School successfully enhanced its digital recruitment strategy, ensuring better engagement, higher-quality leads, and a personal programme matching for prospective students.

Conclusion

The collaboration between Imperial Business School and House of Education has proven to be an effective solution in an evolving higher education landscape. By integrating an innovative and data-driven approach, the Business School has been able to refine its student recruitment strategy, ultimately achieving greater engagement, personalisation, and conversion rates.

As the institution continues to innovate, its partnership with HoEd remains a key component in driving recruitment success.