WHAT STUDENTS WANT, ARE WE OVER-COMPLICATING THINGS?
When we were asked to do this keynote speech on the theme of Insights for Impact, we were excited and grateful that two marketers were invited to talk to you about data – two segments of the sector that rarely get on the same billing!
So why do we care so much about insight? Why wouldn’t we is more the relevant question.
To unpick why we place such importance on data and insight, we need to take you back to that strange and unsettling time a few years ago during the Covid years where we both found ourselves running separate marketing consultancies and were quite frankly feeling isolated and lonely. We sought each other out and went for an epic walk along the Thames (without so much as a coffee in hand!) and put the rented property sector to rights. With a combined experience spanning university partnerships, PBSA, BTR, BTS and estate agency spanning a ridiculous number of decades between us, we felt qualified to make these observations. But was it only us…?
No it wasn’t…we asked the sector in November 2020 and the key findings showed:
48% didn’t make decisions based on data from the resident management system
Only 35% involved the customer in decisions pertaining to marketing
50% involved the customer in decisions regarding product
These statistics felt alarmingly low but not surprisingly so. We decided to delve deeper and find out what marketers thought their value was versus what their business leaders thought their value was:
Business leaders thought the second most important role for marketers was to focus on building B2B business whereas the marketers positioned this 4th.
Marketers placed pricing strategies as the 6th most important task, whereas business leaders put this very bottom of the priorities for marketers.
Understanding product and customer trends was 9th most important for marketers but the 4th most important thing a business leader believed marketers should focus on.
So you can start to see a pattern here – who was responsible for insight and data and who was leading this agenda? The crucial statistic that came out of this survey was only 18% of all respondents believed there was enough research being undertaken on product development to find out what customers of the future wanted.
This survey paved the way for what was to become The Property Marketing Strategists and we set out to talk to everyone and anyone in the sector via our Property Marketing Lounge webinar series, where many of you were panellists and tuned in.
We repeated this marketing focused survey in 2021 and the key findings a year on were:
11% of respondents said they believe there is enough research in the student accommodation product.
The marketing team perceived their priorities to be firstly supporting building and maintaining brand reputation – lastly supporting product development.
Non marketers perceived the marketing role to be firstly supporting product development and lastly social media.
So a year on and we were none the wiser but we felt we had enough insight to draw some conclusions.
It is not clear who owns insight within the rented property sector
Without this ownership, where does the data sit?
Can marketers access it and do they know how analyse it?
Do marketers have the resource and budget to do so?
Do they have the right leadership and forum to share insight?
Will anyone in the business listen to the insight?
Our purpose as The Property Marketing Strategists is to ‘Elevate the role of marketing in Property’ as we can see two things clearly going on:
Marketers are not being valued within the whole business
The whole business isn’t allowing marketers to show their value
We call this the ‘just’ syndrome…”Can you just send out a quick emailer?” “Can you just post this on social media?” “Can you just get these posters distributed?” None of these tasks enable a marketing team to demonstrate their skills and none of these requests respect the time and resource required to strategically get these tasks right.
What is the purpose of the emailer?
Who is being targeted and why?
Is an emailer the best method of communicating the message?
Which social media channel will be most effective based on analytics?
What artwork is required to communicate the message on social media?
Who did these posters? Why wasn’t marketing involved?
As you can see, there should be a whole stream of work involved before getting to the execution stage that marketers should be involved in so they can get it right. The implementation stage is like the bit where you put the cake mix in the oven, the success of the cake comes from the preparation – the deciding the purpose of the cake, who is it for, when is it needed, the sourcing of the ingredients, the measuring, the mixing and getting the oven temperature right. If you get all of this right, your cake should be perfect.
But marketers are so often excluded from key decision-making, they aren’t exposed to the strategic conversations, and they aren’t given the time to prepare and look into the insight to get to the best result.
At The Property Marketing Strategists, we decided progress on this front was too slow so we set about creating our own research into the product via partnering with key organisations on both in depth-surveys and regular questionnaires and focus groups. We provide this to the industry for free so at least some product and marketing decisions can be based on true insight. We are also pleased to say that some forward-thinking clients have instructed us to delve into their own customer base too.
Some surprising (but very simple) results have been:
Customer service would be greatly improved if maintenance operatives wore protective shoe coverings when entering student accommodation
Students would rather have full-length mirrors and coat hooks than an onsite gym
No students choose to live in flats of more than 8 people
Cinema rooms are the least important amenity
10% of surveyed international students would choose a studio flat
As you can see, just by asking, we can get the answers to some very simple questions that can influence the student accommodation product. Hense the title of this presentation – are we overcomplicating it? Too much is assumed – the last point about international students and studios we find incredibly interesting, and we are pleased to myth-bust this one. So why is it a much-believed theory in the industry? Because a huge proportion of international students do live in studios – but only because they generally enter the market at a point where studios are all that is left so they aren’t making a choice on an even playing field.
We have seen organisations agonise for months about sending surveys or organising focus groups but actually pulse surveys or online polls can work very effectively. We also feel there is too much emphasis on big annual surveys whereas some quick insight can be gathered regularly throughout the year. Insight shouldn’t be gathered to win awards, or as a marketing tool, only embark on gathering feedback if you’re willing to listen to the results and act upon the relevant improvements.
We are not researchers; we don’t claim to be and we are pretty sure there are many people out there who can do a much better job of the analysis and implications of all of this data. But as far as we can see, there are very few organisations who are asking the key questions that should help form decisions around what will happen in the future of your accommodation stock.
The other observation we make is there is data within your organisations but it isn’t necessarily being shared with the right people – some of it can feel quite secretive. And whilst it is acknowledged that universities and PBSA need to work closer together, it isn’t that easy. Any colleagues from PBSA will probably agree that getting in front of the right person in estates, accommodation or admissions is often met with reluctance and if you can get a foot in the door, the answers are rarely forthcoming.
If PBSA understand the future admissions strategy of their local university, they could (and should) provide a product that meets these requirements. On the other hand, universities should be more vocal about the type of amenities and features that would complement their future students’ experience. Say no to cinema rooms and yes to a specific price point. No one will solve the housing crisis if developers and investors continue to build accommodation that might not meet the needs of the future student – your future customer. These answers should look very different to what you might answer today or what you answered five years ago as we know thanks to UCAS’ data that the student of 2030 and beyond will be very different.
And how can we all meet in the middle to create a more sustainable student accommodation product? By doing the insight, sharing it and acting upon it.
We will leave you with a few choice words from some of our Youth Forum participants on their student accommodation experience and some of the data that we have uncovered over the past year. As well as a couple of meaty research projects, we’re constantly surveying students as part of our Youth Forum – these are short surveys to get on the pulse reactions to specific topics pertaining to student lifestyle. We get a great response from our independent database which shows if the questions are short, snappy and easy to fill out, you can get great insight without overcomplicating things.