THE BRIEF

Liverpool Hope University chose to work with us to understand the changes to their recent application and conversation figures. They wanted to determine brand awareness levels, perceptions and key motivators for prospective students from specific regions across the UK, with the aim of improving figures for the next application cycle.

STRATEGY

Our methodology combined qualitative and quantitative research to gain in-depth insights from key target demographics. Initially, we conducted three focus groups with 6-8 prospective students, each lasting one hour. The groups were segmented by distance from Liverpool forming 3 groups; hyper-local, surrounding, and national. These sessions explored how current messaging is perceived and aimed to identify factors that influence consideration of Liverpool Hope University.

This was followed by an online survey, in partnership with UCAS, targeting 600 students to gather a broader data set. This survey included a diverse range of participants in terms of gender, ethnicity, disability, and POLAR quintiles, and students interested in a range of subject areas. The focus groups informed specific questions for the survey, ensuring comprehensive data collection that captures attitudes, perceptions, and motivations of prospective students regarding Liverpool Hope University’s brand and messaging.

WHY IT WORKS

By segmenting the focus groups by geographical location, we identified distinct trends and differences within each market. From these findings Liverpool Hope is now able to tailor their marketing strategy, messaging, and communications to better resonate with each specific audience.

Conducting focus groups prior to the survey allowed us to identify key research topics, ensuring the survey questions were relevant and effectively addressed the core areas of interest. This method also facilitated hypothesis testing, enabling us to test initial ideas or concepts with focus groups and use the quantitative survey to validate or adjust these findings on a larger scale, resulting in more robust results.

While many insights were not entirely new, they had previously been based on intuition. Engaging an external company for the market research eliminated internal biases, ensuring that the results were more credible and impactful when presented to internal teams.