Problem / Challenge
Our client has been providing student recruitment and engagement services since 2013. They work with over 25 universities across the UK and US on prospect and applicant management, offer conversion, student retention, and seamless integration of their partner universities’ existing activities and infrastructure.
The client was working with another outsourcing provider in the Philippines for their offshore resources requirements. They were expanding their business and wanted to diversify their outsourcing partnerships as a protection against possible service discontinuity in cases of extraordinary circumstances, like the pandemic. Aside from this, they were also looking at the territorial expansion opportunity in India with its considerable student market. They were therefore looking for an outsourcing company that can help them build teams both in the Philippines and in India, and also had the capability to fast-track the onboarding of Email Marketing Assistants and Admissions Officers who can help work on the backlogs of their current team.
Solution
Eastvantage was able to immediately build a team of four Email Marketing Assistants in its Philippine office and in less than a month, onboarded six Admissions Officers in its India office.
The Eastvantage Learning and Development team facilitated a cultural training including familiarization with UK culture and language for the team members. This was done together with a technical training covering an introduction to the client’s business, processes, and core values before full deployment to operations. The Email Marketing Assistants also went through upskilling sessions on digital marketing, particularly on email marketing, and on HTML coding. All team members go through continuous client and university partners specific training, which are provided by the client in coordination with the Eastvantage Learning and Development team.
Aside from learning and development support, the Eastvantage HR team provides HR administration, performance management, and employee engagement support, while the Eastvantage IT team facilitated the integration of the client’s email marketing tools, set up other tools required for the operations, and provides 24/7 support. As an add-on service, the dedicated office spaces for their teams in India and the Philippines are designed according to the client’s branding to enhance team spirit according to the client’s core values.
Eastvantage established an efficient process that smoothly transitioned the team members from training to endorsement and finally to operations. To ensure a seamless and effortless transition, a dedicated Project Manager supervised the entire onboarding and transition process. This collaborative effort also involved the assigned Business Partner, who closely monitors the team’s progress and deliverables to maintain operational excellence. A weekly touchbase with the employees and the client is done to ensure alignment with the objectives of the client and their university partners.
In the first two months of operations, the Email Marketing Assistants helped clean up backlogs of the client’s internal team. Currently, tasks are currently being allocated by the client depending on the needs of partner universities. The team prepares email content as required by the client’s university partners for:
- Newsletters
- Information on courses
- Events
- Welcome emails
- Recurring emails outlining development of the students in their educational journey
- Curriculum or university updates
All content prepared by the Email Marketing Assistants go through validation by the client’s partner universities to ensure quality and alignment with their values and branding standards. After this, approved emails are sent out to distribution lists provided by the respective universities. On the back end, Eastvantage monitors analytics of the emails and submits reports to the client on metrics such as clickthrough rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, and other relevant metrics.
The Admissions Officers, on the other hand, are responsible for the processing of student applications. This includes:
- assessment of qualifications based on applicable tests (IELTS, TOEFL, etc.) depending on nationality and requirements of the university; and
- validation of application requirements submitted.
After processing, the Admissions Officers forward findings to the respective universities and await direction if they are to extend offers for enrollment to the student applicants.
Outcome
By leveraging on Eastvantage expertise and local presence in the Philippines and in India, in just two months the client:
- Was able to catch up with backlogs in email marketing support services; and
- Experienced a significant increase in the number of applications processed per admissions officer, from 12 to 25 per day, representing 108% improvement.
The client is now able to offer more cost-effective and efficient admissions and email marketing support to their partner universities. They have expressed full satisfaction with the team, their expertise for the various roles, English language capabilities, and adaptation to the UK culture and way of working. They are also happy with the partnership with Eastvantage, as while their support system is being well-taken cared of, they are able to pursue their plans of expanding their network of universities, aside from being able to better service student applications from India through the India Admissions team.
Today, there are already two more Admissions Officers in our India office and another will be onboarded by June. An Email Marketing Lead and six more Admissions Officers are currently being sourced. The client has indicated that they may outsource the rest of their requirements, including Student Enrollment Assistants, to Eastvantage and the team is expected to scale up to 50 full time employees within the year.
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