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University of Technology Sydney

Creating meaningful connections to increase conversions at the top of the funnel.

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About the University of Technology Sydney

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a large public research university located in New South Wales, Australia. Based in Central Sydney, UTS is one of the top 150 universities in the world, counting more than 45,000 students. Due to its reputation, it attracts thousands of international students every year.

Conversion rates have increased from 13% to 25% in just 6 months

The challenge

Starting a new life overseas can be daunting. The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) wanted to offer future students a window into their unique student experience. They were looking for a way for prospective students to hear from their peers and find out what it’s like to study at Australia’s number one young university.

While prospective international students talk to offshore staff or local education agents about their study abroad dreams, they rarely get to speak to students who are already studying. UTS wanted a solution that could connect future learners with their existing student community at UTS.

Why The Ambassador Platform

The team at the UTS had been using The Ambassador Platform to support student recruitment during the pandemic when most activities went digital, but they realised that they weren’t using the platform at its full potential.

They thought connecting prospective and current students there would help build meaningful relationships while giving prospects access to important information that only people with first-hand experience of studying at UTS can provide.

"While The Ambassador Platform was an initiative the international and domestic marketing teams employed to support during the pandemic, post-pandemic it has by far exceeded our expectations. It is such a game changer, particularly for those who have never been to our innovative and creative learning spaces before."

Christina Miebach

International Marketing Manager

The University of Technology Sydney

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Meaningful Connections

Our chat is where connections are built, allowing for authentic, peer-to-peer conversations with UTS’s diverse and inclusive community. With thousands of messages exchanged every month, many friendships are born before they even meet on campus!

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Access to first-hand experiences 

Customers don’t want to hear from brands, they want to hear from others just like them. It’s no different in the world of Higher Education. The Ambassador Platform allows current students to show what life is really like through messaging and user-generated content.

Future learners at the centre

It's all about future learners' experience

The University of Technology Sydney is proud of offering a united experience for domestic and international students alike. The platform delivers a user-friendly experience that is relevant and engaging.

The experience

The UTS team fully embraced The Ambassador Platform, involving 50 of their staff, alumni and students, combining their different specialties and backgrounds to create a broad portfolio and a diverse portfolio of ambassadors.

This way, both international and domestic prospects would find it easy to spot someone they could connect with based on common ground.

"In an increasingly automated world, it was important for our international team to inject the human touch into their marketing. Our purpose-built facilities, future-focused approach to learning and diverse community of students and staff is what attracts lifelong learners to UTS. There is no better way for us to tell our stories and experiences than through the lens of our inspiring students and alumni.

 

Our ambassadors enjoy talking with online users from all over the world, in real-time and in the local language, wherever needed. With AI chatbots on the rise due to digitization and cost efficiencies, we pride ourselves on using a platform that allows for more meaningful conversations. We believe that a user who joins our community from somewhere as remote as Kathmandu deserves a response from a real person!

 

Cultural sensitivity is one of the key assets of having a peer-to-peer network: our ambassadors deal with an extremely diverse portfolio of students from all over the world, and as international students themselves, they are interculturally competent and embrace different ethnicities and backgrounds. They also have very unique experiences to share that a chatbot could never replicate."

 

Christina Miebach

International Marketing Manager

The University of Technology Sydney

See UTS's TAP Feed

Impact

Since UTS started implementing The Ambassador Platform more strategically across their recruitment funnel, the impact has been incredible:

  • Conversion rates have almost doubled, going from 13% to 25% in 6 months (page views to prospect account created)
  • The platform has become a powerful lead generation engine, generating 8% of prospect leads.
  • Over 39,000 messages were exchanged over 18 months - that's an average of 80 messages/day!

Does your university need some help in boosting top-of-the-funnel conversions? Chat with the team today.

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