Digital Agency London | Website Development London | Website Design Company | Catch Digital

Visit project

• Visit the IQ student accommodation site at www.iq-student-accommodation.com/

Creative

• Website design
• Email design
• UX prototyping

Development

• Drupal CMS
• XHTML/CSS
• SMS integration
• Google mapping
• PHP/MySQL
• XML
• AJAX

Analysis

• Google Analytics
• Form stats

Objective

With demand for degree courses increasing at twice the expected rate in 2008 and the Government focused on a target of 50% of people entering higher education, the demand for student accommodation is strong.

With such a high standard of facilities provided on every scheme, iQ has created a new individualised approach to student accommodation and required a website that would act as a strong sales channel and reflect the quality of the brand.

The prime objective was to drive enquiries to the nine site-specific sales teams. In order to do this we had to ensure the site was highly visible to search engines and had an easy route to request a viewing, call back and sales information. The client also wished to retain in-house control over all aspects of the website and so needed a robust content management system to be incorporated.

Approach

The website was designed to inform students of the opportunities provided by iQ student accommodation using imagery and the kind of language to which they could relate. As well as overview pages with photography and a wealth of information on the actual accommodation itself, the website provides students with information on the surrounding area via a Google map, pinpointing bars and clubs to show the ideal placement of iQ's accommodation. Overall, the website has been designed to provide enough information for the student to make their decision without having to look elsewhere online.

An unprecedented amount of information is managed via the CMS, with each page able to be controlled in its entirety, enabling iQ to alter the information as more becomes available in the local area. For example inserting additional pins highlighting bars and restaurants on the Google map, promoting latest offers, updating room availability and editing all body copy and images.

Mobile marketing has been used to allow students to register their interest in upcoming locations. A short SMS code was promoted on hoardings for developments and students received further details of the development as well as links to the website when texting the number.

While the website is predominantly aimed at promoting the accommodation to students, parents are also catered for. Making the right choice plays a huge part in their peace of mind as a parent or guardian, and the students feeling of security, belonging and well-being. With this in mind, a section was especially created answering parents' most common questions.

Result

At the heart of this new sales channel is an intelligent form that ensures, as well as keeping all enquires stored in a secure centralised database, an enquiry alert email is immediately sent to the site specific sales team containing the information the user has filled in the form. This enables them to take the appropriate action immediately, either a call-back, an information pack or to arrange a viewing.

Launched in May 2009, in the first 14 days alone the sales enquiry form was submitted 84 times. This is not counting direct email links or telephone calls (taken from individual site contact details) which accounts for even more enquiries.

The initial launch month enjoyed a 20% increase in page views to 23,235 and in the four weeks leading up to 16 June 09 the site had 5,318 unique visitors. An impressive figure which is set to gain even more stature as the new website beds in and is indexed organically via Google.

The website has information for the nine current sites broken down into five conversational sections, "what's it like?" "what's it cost?", "what's included?", "what's nearby?" and "useful links" and is proving sticky with the average time on the website increasing by 10% to over three minutes.