Education Marketing Response to COVID-19

May 8, 2020

These are difficult times but if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that everyone is spending more time online. Luckily, that’s where WE are.

We’ve been closely monitoring the ups and downs of our education campaigns. Here’s what we’ve saw in April:

1. Applications for online study are staying strong with surges of people now spending more time doing their research and exploring their options. One of our clients even had their highest course registration months for 2020 this April! With more time spent staying in, more people are planning their next steps and anticipating the future. When the future feels so uncertain, it strangely also feels like anything is possible.

2. With search traffic, we’ve found that search impressions are down, but conversion is up across Google and Bing. One client’s impressions may have dropped 32% but their click through rate rose 12% whilst cost per application went down from $54 to $44! This means it’s essential you go granular on your campaigns and focus your targeting and budget allocation.

3. We’ve also been able to generate a lower cost per action on our YouTube retargeting campaign ads than we’ve previously seen. A client’s Youtube impressions went up a whopping 67%, going from 55k to 91k! This is likely due to audiences having significantly more time for research. More time means more freedom, more freedom means a greater desire to explore future opportunities – and that means a much greater likelihood of engaging with our ads!

4. Of course, we’ve also seen education providers moving to online delivery throughout March and April. For some it was easier than others. Those who had platforms already established have been thriving, while those who offer more traditional face-to-face learnings have had to adjust. It’s been great to see organisations being agile and quickly getting new processes/systems in place. As online education modes continue becoming the new normal, confidence in the form will also grow alongside increased demand for online study.

Despite the especially challenging situation that we are facing in the education sector, these recent observations point towards great potential for emerging opportunities. Prospective students have more time than ever to consider their future, motivated to push and make plans not in spite of certainty but because of it. They are the kind of people we need to be reaching.

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