JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: Grade: Service: Responsible to: Responsible for: Liaises with: Head of Customer Experience and Conversion G Marketing and Student Recruitment Associate Director, Marketing and Student Recruitment Digital Communications and Applicant Relations Team, Events Team Staff within Student Recruitment Marketing team, Academic Schools, Services and external agencies The Institution The University of East London is an extraordinary university in an extraordinary place. We re at the heart of unprecedented transformation and regeneration area and we have a longstanding commitment to our community as an anchor institution which truly makes a difference to people s lives. Constant innovation and real-world focus enable us to meet the challenges presented by the pace of change while delivering the opportunities this affords for our students, academics, researchers and professional staff. Marketing and Student Recruitment Group Marketing and Student Recruitment group is responsible for ensuring that the university s vision shines through everything that we do. We have ambitious recruitment and reputation targets and we re not afraid of the challenges that today s world creates for universities that want to make a difference. We re currently looking for two senior managers to work under the direction of the Associate Director of Marketing and Student Recruitment to help us achieve our vision and manage teams of dynamic and experienced marketers. Job Purpose The Head of Customer Experience and Conversion at UEL will lead on the development, planning and delivery of the end-to-end experience of our prospective students. Managing all key stages of our customer journey, the post holder will be responsible for all customer facing communication and engagement channels that enable UEL to deepen the relationship with its prospects and achieve its ambitious recruitment goals. It is an exciting opportunity for a strong marketer who is passionate about customer experience and lifecycle management, with professional expertise in multi/omni-channel marketing, customer nurture programmes, events management and e-mail marketing. The Head of Customer Experience and Conversion will be accountable for all KPIs across our customer journey, lead on customer experience strategy and take responsibility for planning, developing and managing a portfolio of recruitment activities aimed at measurably increasing conversion rates and customer satisfaction at all stages of the enquirer and applicant journey. It is essential that the role holder is able to provide innovative ideas to develop experiences that showcase our brand, and drive enrolments to all UEL courses. Understanding of a competitive environment, customer needs and the ability to work creatively and lead with strategic goals in mind are essential to the recruitment success of the university. Page 1 of 5
Main responsibilities: Customer Experience and Relationship Management Developing holistic customer journeys and shaping all customer touch points: events, digital and direct communication to drive customer conversion rates across all stages of engagement Shaping the UEL Customer Experience strategy in a way that enables us to convert and retain more engaged and loyal prospective students, driving ROI and enabling the university to meet its recruitment targets Developing and implementing an overarching customer communication plan (spanning enquiry to university enrolment stage), establishing relevant conversion targets and KPIs Driving appropriate levels of audience segmentation to deliver personalised and relevant customer touch-points Taking responsibility for regular updates on the effectiveness of these plans against targets and adapt all communication plans to reflect the changing needs of target audiences. Events/Experiential marketing Development, management, implementation of and overall responsibility for the Student Recruitment Marketing events frameworks for prospective students incl. full design of experiential campaigns, integrated with digital and direct communication tactics Setting clear, ambitious and achievable targets for all recruitment activities and events; monitoring, evaluating and feeding the insight back to plans, adapting the deliverables, and activating innovation Strong focus on streamlining event management processes across the portfolio and sharing best practice Managing relationships with key internal stakeholders, including UEL academics, schools and services that play a pivotal role in the success of recruitment initiatives and activities Applicant/Customer Relations service Leading on the vision and strategy of UEL s prospect experience, utilising customer service as a key selling point of the university Shaping all prospect touch points direct, phone and digital and to deliver seamless, effective and positive prospect experience to further enhance applicant conversion Together with relevant stakeholders from across the university leading on the development of all relevant systems, communication interfaces and plans required to deliver successful customer experience Customer Satisfaction and multi-channel integration Establishing a holistic framework of customer touchpoints, digital, direct and via any other contact channels, that would enable UEL to create a consistent customer experience, influence, motivate and engage our customers Managing a framework of qualitative and quantitative measures that would allow the team to effectively monitor and evaluate customer satisfaction for all recruitment activities and events Responsibility for active monitoring of customer needs and development of ideas and initiatives to ensure the above are met Messaging and brand Effective communication and development of copy led by brand values, product and institutional strengths through all customer touchpoints, in line with customer expectations and motivations Oversee all customer facing communication plans and messages that have clear content and (where applicable) call to action and actively encourage various target audiences to interact with UEL, to ensure recruitment objectives are embedded throughout all customer touch points Lead on the development of customer benchmarking tools and analysis, to understand activities undertaken by competitors with a focus on recruitment, events, communication and overall customer touch points Keep abreast of new marketing techniques to ensure our activities respond to the target audience s needs Page 2 of 5
Financial and team management Managing the budget for the Prospect Experience and Conversion team, ensuring effective use of resources and appropriate allocation in line with overall Student Recruitment Marketing priorities Management of substantial of three functional areas: digital communication, applicant and enquirer relationships and events Customer insight and analysis, and reporting and measurement against KPIs Development of analysis framework to understand customer needs with a level of detail required to deliver effective, rich, personalized communication, experience and touch point management across the whole cycle, Together with Insight and Research manager own customer feedback framework, driving regular and annual analysis cycles that enable continuous improvement, Take full ownership of key performance indicators relevant to particular stages of customer engagement Drive the development of a reporting/meetings framework and tracking of results Lead on the development of customer benchmarking tools and analysis, to understand activities undertaken by competitors with a focus on positioning, tools and campaigns Advise/recommend action to executive team to enhance recruitment Any other duties: Other duties that may be seen as being within the scope of this position To work in accordance with UEL policies, including our Equality and Diversity policy. Page 3 of 5
PERSON SPECIFICATION PERSON SPECIFICATION EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: : A degree in a relevant subject (A/C) Professional marketing qualification or equivalent experience (A/C) Member of a relevant professional body (A/C) KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE: Knowledge of customer experience management approaches and methodologies used in marketing and sales, incl. management of digital communication and engagement events (A/I) Knowledge and understanding of mass/marketing-communication / e-mail automation and/or CRM systems (A/I) Experience in customer segmentation and successful communication campaigns, supported by data-analysis and market insight, required to deliver successful customer communication campaigns, (A/I/P) Experience in people management, leading and directing multiple team members in a busy task-oriented environment, (A/I) Experience in brand dissemination, engagement campaign development and experiential marketing (A/I) Ability and experience in setting, monitoring and reporting against targets to key internal stakeholders, (A) Budget management skills with a focus on value for money/return on investment (A) Desirable Criteria Experience of UK student recruitment and marketing (A) Knowledge of admissions processes and policies, incl. UCAS (A) Experience of managing large scale projects (A/I) PLANNING AND ORGANISING: Evidence of strong management, planning, project management and organisational skills, required to manage an extensive portfolio of events, communication campaigns and customercentric activities (A/I/P) Page 4 of 5
COMMUNICATION: Excellent communication (both written and verbal), influencing and negotiation skills, required to cooperate with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders (academics, services, suppliers, partner boroughs, etc) combined with driven and assertive personality,(a/i) OTHER ESSENTIAL CRITERIA: Commitment to and understanding of equal opportunities issues within a diverse and multicultural environment (A/I) Criteria tested by Key: A = Application form C=Certification I = Interview P = Presentation R = Research papers T = Test Page 5 of 5