PROPOSITION DEVELOPMENT: ELEVATING THE POSTGRADUATE ACCOMMODATION EXPERIENCE.
“The insight from this project has been pivotal to the development of this proposition, which we’re now testing in 6 locations across our estate. This has helped us to build even closer relationships with Postgraduates, and understand what we can do to drive even greater loyalty amongst this important group.”
— James Ballard, Innovation Manager
Unite Students is one of the UK’s biggest brands for student accommodation, with properties spread throughout university towns and cities across the nation. Competition is strong, so Unite Students are always looking at new ways to differentiate and to meet student needs even better, with the ultimate goal of driving retention amongst those studying multi-year courses, recommendation from existing residents to potential new ones and increased revenue through providing additional services.
THE CHALLENGE
• A key audience for Unite Students is the postgraduate population. The hypothesis within the business is that Postgraduates are looking for a different type of accommodation experience compared to when they were undergraduates. Therefore, Unite Students have been developing their proposition to provide an experience that is more tailored specifically to postgraduate needs.
OUR SOLUTION
• Being so customer-centric, Unite Students always seek to ground developments to their proposition in insight. To this end, Motif conducted research looking at postgraduate life, to explore their needs and wishes when it comes to accommodation, and to review the various services provided in Unite Students’ properties.
• The research programme was designed to be immersive and multi-staged, to enable our clients to gain a deep understanding of what really matters to postgraduates. Key to this was looking at the accommodation experience both on a day-to-day and a longitudinal basis, to understand how postgraduate needs evolve from when they first arrive, through to the day that they leave.
BUSINESS IMPACT
• This research has empowered Unite Students to further develop and enhance their postgraduate proposition. As a result, the business has rolled out new services across their properties with the confidence that they will elevate the accommodation experience for this key audience. These services align closely with all of the building blocks from Motif’s loyalty model: the services have elevated the quality of the accommodation experience; value for money has been increased; the services are talking points in their own right (sharing); the more tailored proposition has built closeness with postgraduates; and it differentiates Unite Students from competitors (magnetism).
Wondering about how to build loyalty for your brand? Asking yourself if there are other approaches out there to use insight to better predict business outcomes? Please get in touch to find out more!