During quieter periods of the year, it can be easy to take your foot off the gas and miss opportunities to engage with potential learners.

When it feels like urgency to study is dwindling, tweaking your messaging and finding different ways to prime students to take on new opportunities to learn can be an effective solution. In this article, we’ll go through some key ways you can boost student urgency, even during the quietest parts of the year.

Traditional higher education delivery roughly follows significant events in the year, with terms being built around holidays and national celebrations, such as Christmas.

As in-person learning needs to respect teachers’ annual leave and public holidays, this can mean that students often cannot get full access to education around the festive period.

Education providers can feel that it’s not worth ramping up marketing and outreach efforts in this period, as students may be uninterested or simply too busy to enrol on courses.

However, showing that you can support students’ higher education-related needs throughout the year through online teaching can be valuable. Providers can still maintain student desire to study throughout the year through any period, provided they have a laptop, computer, and internet access.

For young people and learners who are used to distance education, there no longer has to be a quiet period when it comes to improving professional and academic performance.

Many learners have become used to learning on their own time, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and previous lockdowns, with the impact of COVID-19 meaning that a traditional education system or learning strategies that’s based strictly on a set calendar could be an outdated approach for many students.

With this in mind, trying out new engagement strategies year-round may yield more results than expected.

It can be easy to keep your messaging the same through quieter periods, and it can feel wasteful to use valuable time on new marketing or outreach campaigns when you’re unsure of the returns they’ll offer. 

However, simple tweaks can revitalise your outreach and put you on the radar of students. One of the best ways to do this is by choosing the most valuable learners to you and focusing on driving interest up from learners who are more likely to convert or are converting in course areas that are the most valuable for you. 

During quieter periods, spending time trying to get learners to take on courses in low-converting areas will be even harder. Pick your battles and focus on easy and valuable wins. If you notice a conversion dropoff in certain periods, target the learners in subject areas or courses that typically drop off the least. Those who are keen to find out further information about the learning process and online learning courses you provide will offer the most rewards during leaner conversion periods.

Using YOY data to work out which users are the most valuable during quiet periods can be a good way to choose who you want to target. If you know that you’re pushed for time ahead of any periods of extended leave around Christmas, or other quieter parts of the year, have a strategy that focuses your time on where it can generate the most value. This can be more effective than casting a wide net and trying to target all of your users.

It’s also a good idea to think about what style of marketing initiatives to use to target these kinds of users with. Sales enablement content that’s focused on bottom-of-the-funnel users is great to use when targeting likely-to-convert users. Pull resources away from top-level search content, as this is best suited for targeting low-converting users who will have less time during busy personal periods, such as Christmas, to learn more about you.

Quiet parts of the year can sometimes be followed by busier times in the year, when providers and education institutions may see above-average engagement levels from learners. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to be one step ahead and prime learners during the quieter period.

For example, providers will often target users in January, as learners may be looking to take new steps to build knowledge that will help them excel in their current role or open up new job opportunities.

Helping them understand the learning resources they can access and the e-learning opportunities that will help them achieve available professional development goals ahead of time may energise learners to access learning platforms, even during quieter periods.

Using January as an example, providers may find more success by starting their new years messaging before the new year actually begins. During the festive period, providers will often struggle to find a hook or a key reason as to why students should start learning in that period. Telling users that they can set themselves up for the new year by enrolling on courses that begin in January is an exciting and engaging message. 

During January, your competitors are likely to be sending potential learners the same messages, making it difficult to stand out during a busy marketing period. By getting one step ahead and marketing courses that begin in January during the festive period, you’ll be at the forefront of learners’ minds come the new year.

This method also works for any other periods of quiet that are followed quickly by higher-than-normal conversions.

Often, trying to get students to convert during a quiet period can feel like a hard sell, but it’s worth bearing in mind that there are some benefits to starting a course during quiet periods. 

With the Christmas period as an example, providers can demonstrate to users why December can be a great time to begin a course. Online courses are a great way to fill in a month that can often feel quite empty up until Christmas day itself.

Starting face-to-face courses can be more difficult over this period, but distance learning can provide a great learning opportunity and learning experience for students over the festive period. Some might find that with a good internet connection and some spare time, studying in December is actually the best learning experience for them.

Furthermore, Christmas is a time when employees tend to take the most annual leave, meaning that there’s lots of time to study or take on a part-time course. For those who don’t have to travel far to see family, the festive period can be the perfect time to learn new skills and get a head start on the new year.

Taking part in online education in a quiet space and using online education and digital learning tools can be ideal for some students over the festive period. 

Additionally, learners who are spending the festive periods alone may find that remote learning can be a positive way to boost well-being and improve mental health during a period when social interactions may be few and far between. This is especially true for any remote education that involves larger groups of students who may need to work together in a virtual learning environment.

This kind of messaging is also appealing to users who are more likely to convert or who place high levels of value on learning and upskilling and are keen to take online classes and set up positive learning outcomes for the new year.

For those who are always on the lookout for new courses and online resources, messaging around the opportunities presented by the festive period could be the piece of outreach that helps you to stand out effectively against other competitors.

Quiet periods can be a challenging time, and it can be difficult to come up with an engagement strategy that cuts through.

By using the tips we’ve suggested, you can find opportunities and get through to bottom of the funnel users who are likely to convert. Tweaking your strategy can ensure that even the quiet parts of the year are never totally silent.

Subscription learning is an exciting approach to learning that education providers can introduce to learners as a way to boost urgency to learn, student engagement, and establish a pattern of lifelong learning.

In this article, we’ll go through some of the benefits of subscription learning and weigh up whether this learning style could be the future of higher education.

Subscription learning is a style of education delivery where students will pay a monthly or yearly fee to get access to a wide range of courses and educational content. 

Experts predict that this approach to course delivery could grow in popularity and follow a model similar to subscription services such as Netflix and Spotify as a financially sustainable way to get access to educational content at any time. 

Recent research from PwC found that Australians spend an average of $55 per month on entertainment subscriptions, demonstrating that most consumers are already comfortable with using a subscription model. 

If you’re an education provider, you might be wondering whether it’s worth investing in this style of education delivery, or if you already use it, you might be keen to find out more about how to grow your subscriber base.

Subscription learning can be a powerful tool for education providers and offer additional opportunities to increase student enrolments and improve learner engagement. This style of learning delivery can also offer benefits to education providers in other ways as well. 

When education providers are seeking to connect with learners and show them their latest educational content, it can be hard to know how and when to target new users. Sometimes, the times when new courses become available or providers update current courses don’t coincide with periods when learners are keen to enrol on a new course.

Subscription learning helps to fix this issue. This is down to the fact that providers can make learners aware of upcoming or improved courses whilst a learner is taking part in a course. Alternatively, if providers know that a course will be added to their library in the next few months, they can suggest that as a course a learner can take on once they’ve finished their current course. 

The key here is that providers can have a subscription base that they can target with new course content, confident in the knowledge that these learners have a vested interest in finding new and interesting content from you as a provider. 

Instead of retargeting former learners with new course content months after they’ve completed their course with you, you can suggest to current users you know will still be keen to take on new courses as part of their subscription.

For learners who can see a clear path ahead of them regarding career progression and career-related financial goals, subscription learning can be an ideal choice for them. Education can be a key tool in boosting wages, and this is a key factor for learners considering taking on courses during the current cost of living crisis. 

One of the key benefits of offering a subscription learning model is that you can demonstrate to users how they can take on certain courses in an order that matches their career goals. If a learner has already subscribed to you, it’s simpler to predict what kind of courses they’d like to access over the period of a year or more.

One way to predict how a subscriber will behave is by getting them to complete a survey before they start the subscription that asks them what level they are at currently in their career and what level they’d like to reach. 

Once you have that knowledge, you can set up a learning schedule or provide them with course suggestions over a period of 6-12 months, ensuring that they’re aware that you have their long-term goals in mind whilst also giving you the ability to predict enrolment rates to courses reliably.

Research conducted by Candlefox found that post-pandemic, student urgency to learn was at an all-time low, meaning that learners may need more encouragement to take on new courses. You can increase student urgency to learn by demonstrating the positive outcomes of course completions, outlined through testimonials and other key selling points, and show students how they can spread out their learning over a subscription period.

Instead of trying to convince new learners that now is the time to choose a new course, you can suggest to subscribers a series of courses that could be completed over an extended period. 

Additionally, you can suggest relevant courses that can be taken within their subscription period once they’ve already completed a course with you. Giving them unlimited access to new content could inspire them to take new approaches to upskilling and e-learning and see the opportunities for professional development.

The key way this can increase the urgency to learn is that it makes the process of taking on a course more natural and gives the learner time to think about which courses they’d like to do next whilst studying within a subscription model. As the user will have already been considering how they can get the most worth possible out of their subscription, they’ll already be open to hearing about and enrolling in new courses you have available.

Taking on learners in a subscription model means that you can set learning goals and ‘gamify’ their learning process. In the same way that you would set learning goals, adding a level of gamification can boost engagement and improve learning urgency to access an online course. 

In practice, this could take the form of interactive tracking tools, which the learner could use to see how much progress they’ve made or how close they are to achieving the learning goals they’ve set out. This also couples well with encouraging students to take part in micro-learning, whereby they take on engaging short courses designed to boost skills in a specific area. This is a fast-growing area of learning, and subscription learning complements this model well.

Gamification can be a powerful tool for providers to use. Teachers who introduced gamified learning found that creating voluntary learning ‘quests’ for students saw an increase in engaged learning of 300%. Gamified learning experiences like this show the potential that this learning style could have for education providers looking to boost student engagement and interest in their online education courses, which could dramatically improve customer retention rates and lead volume.

As with all learning delivery options, there can be some downsides as well as upsides. Although there are many positives to subscription learning, providers may run into some common issues down the line.

One of the main obstacles of this model is that it requires learners to give a significant amount of time and money over an extended period. Accessing online learning content with a monthly subscription fee might be ideal for some learners, but it’s important to bear in mind that there will always be learners who don’t want to commit to learning over a long period. 

If your course library is very large, you may not run into this problem, but for smaller providers, learners may feel restricted in the range of courses they can explore. If you’re a large provider who can give learners access to a high volume of courses or you can offer comprehensive coverage of courses in a particular area, this may not be an issue, but this issue could arise for smaller providers looking to use this model.

Overall, subscription learning is an exciting and interesting course delivery style that could benefit education providers. Much like the success of entertainment subscription services, it could be time for the education sector to use a payment model that’s more in line with the spending habits of everyday consumers. 

It could be a solid revenue stream for the right kind of provider, but it may be ambitious for all providers to expect this to be the main business model they rely on. However, it’s worth noting that for smaller providers, convincing learners to commit to you long-term if you have a limited course library could be difficult. Providers would have to ensure that they’re demonstrating value for subscribers as much as possible in order to fully maximise the benefits of using this model.

A subscription model is one of many styles of education delivery that could help to boost student engagement and generate a higher volume of enrolments.

Thinking about unique ways to connect with learners and deliver high-quality courses can be a vital tool for providers who want to establish themselves as leaders in their space and outpace their competitors. If you feel that you want to boost enrolments, offering services like subscription learning could be the key to unlocking greater success down the line. 

Course USPs help you stand out above your competitors and connect with users, as you demonstrate your ability to offer them something that they can’t get anywhere else.

Finding ways to present and leverage your unique selling propositions can make a huge difference when it comes to converting potential students. Showing students what makes your courses special can allow you to become a leader in your space and break ground where your competitors haven’t so far. 

In this article, we’ll go into some of the key ways you can do this and get immediate results.

USP stands for unique selling proposition and can be used to describe any exceptional quality of a course, product or business. Whether it’s in marketing, manufacturing, or education, understanding and communicating unique selling propositions is an effective way to get through to customers the reason why you’re the best fit for them.

An example of this outside the education sector could be a small business that targets customers with relevant marketing messages that highlight strong, unique selling propositions which alleviate pain points they may have experienced with other retailers and solve customer needs. Overall, this could help to improve customer experience and create a business model that focuses on longevity and durability that bring in new customers in the long run.

In the education sector, course USPs could cover a variety of areas within your marketing strategy. For some providers, their prestige and reputation within the education sector can be a USP in itself. If you’re a smaller provider, unique selling propositions could be around flexibility, course delivery options, or learning tools that are unique to you as a provider. Spend some time brainstorming common themes within your courses, as you may find that there is a common mission statement that you can build on.

A good way to treat your company’s USP and courses is to think of it like an elevator pitch that shows what specific benefit there is for potential customers and which pain points you hope to alleviate for your target market.

The key defining feature of a USP is that it should answer the key question posed by your target audience: “Why should I choose this course and provider?” It should show the qualities that make you special and the best choice possible.

You might think that your courses speak for themselves, and students will see the benefits of your courses easily. However, it’s good to consider making your course USPs as obvious as possible, as students might not be willing to give you the time needed to scroll through lots of information. 

Our student sentiment index found that students’ urgency to study is currently at an all-time low, with 71% of students saying that they planned to study within the next 12 months, a drop of 8% from 2020. This means that students need more convincing reasons than ever to study, which are put before them in a way that captures their attention and makes an impression straight away. 

As providers are now catering to students who are less likely to take a step towards studying, effective USPs are vital for communicating course benefits.

One of the simplest ways to write course USPs that capture student enrolments is to determine the key attributes your courses offer that allow you to stand out from competitors. 

These attributes should be present and clear in your digital marketing efforts, as well as in your content marketing, social media, and site landing pages. 

Below are some examples of unique selling propositions that can be used as effective templates or jumping-off points.

How your course is delivered can be a key differentiator you should communicate to learners. This can be a make-or-break factor for many learners, as the way in which a course is delivered heavily impacts the accessibility students have to learning. 

Suppose you can offer hybrid or fully online courses. In that case, this could be an essential factor for your potential learner base to consider and be the perfect area to build unique selling propositions around. This is backed up by recent data from the Voice of The Online Learner Survey 2022, which found that 94% of students now have a positive view of online learning, an increase from 86% prior to the beginning of the pandemic. 

But it’s not just about telling learners you offer unique course delivery options, such as hybrid or online learning. It’s also important to think about how course delivery could fit into your learners’ personal lives, as this is a great way to find brilliant USPs and improve your marketing campaigns. 

Does your course delivery allow for maximum flexibility? Do you have case studies to back up your USPs that demonstrate how your course delivery was the perfect fit for a large portion of your previous students? Starting with questions like these and working backward to find the perfect USP that sums up the benefits of your style of course delivery could give you the chance to capture far more student enrolments in the long term.

Another potential area to focus on building USPs around is how students actually pay back course costs to you. 

Sometimes, the fact that a course is lower cost or better value can be a USP in itself, however, having a unique approach to repayment can also be a unique selling point to potential learners. 

With average earnings down and a worsening cost of living crisis, giving students peace of mind when it comes to repayment can be a solid area to focus on. If you have a repayment model that allows for flexibility and takes individual needs into account, you can build out USPs around this. This approach can help to boost enrolments, not least because it positions you as a provider who genuinely cares about its students and wants them to see learning as a blessing and not a burden, 

Remember that unique selling propositions are designed to help a potential learner understand what makes you special. If you feel that your repayment system is set up in a unique way that might be kinder or more flexible than your competitors, let your learners know.

When you’re aiming to craft USPs that make an impact, focusing on outcomes and results is an excellent way to connect with learners. 

If you’re aiming to find leads for premium courses, focusing on how your courses can lead to lucrative career opportunities, professional development, and open up new and exciting job roles can be an effective value proposition.

If you don’t have case studies or data to back this up, suggesting typical paths or career opportunities that come after completing a course can be enough of a foundation to build a solid USP on. This works especially well for accreditations or certificates that are required to start certain job roles. 

If you do have data to back up your unique selling propositions, this is a powerful way to cut through the noise and stand out. Building up skill sets and becoming qualified is a proven method to advance career opportunities and increase earnings.

USPs help you stand out from the crowd in your marketing efforts and attract high-quality students that are likely to convert. 

Spending time understanding the benefits you offer and knowing what makes you special as a provider is the best way to craft genuine and strong USPs. These can drive up student enrolments and help you to get a competitive advantage and higher market share within the education sector.

The release of our 2021 student sentiment data saw prospective students’ urgency to study decline. The lingering effects of the pandemic, in combination with the changing ways of work, have impacted prospective students’ confidence and motivation to study.

This five-year report analyses how student sentiment has changed over the past five years, and what trends may arise.

In 2016, we noticed a demand for prospective student data – education providers, industry bodies and governments wanted to understand prospective students’ motivations, goals and behaviours. 

Designed to meet these demands, our Student Sentiment Index measures four key areas:

1. Urgency to commence study within a 3 or 12-month period
2. Motivation to enrol and continue studying throughout the lifetime of their course
3. Confidence in the teaching capabilities of our sector
4. Dependency on government-funded courses, grants and initiatives

Together, our data enables us to paint a holistic picture of how likely prospective students’ are to enrol, and how environmental, social and political changes impact their decision to study.

Our sentiment data shows some interesting trends at a program level. 

Interest and enrolments in all course types – postgraduate, undergraduate, diplomas, certificates and short courses – were stable between 2017 and 2019. However, this trend was disrupted by the pandemic in 2020 and again in late 2021. 

Postgraduate enrolments increased in 2020, before dropping significantly in 2021 (31% and 24%). The decreased demand for postgraduate degrees – the preferred choice for study for middle-aged learners – most likely resulted from workers losing jobs, extending or changing careers. 

In the more recent years, we have seen micro-credentials and other forms of short courses rise in popularity. Interest in micro-credentials, subject bundles and non-accredited training increased from 4% in 2020 to 9% in 2021. 

With changes to how we work and the release of the National Micro-credentials Framework, we can only expect interest and enrolments in the short course sector to increase further.

Sensitivity to government-funded courses peaked in March 2020, before declining in 2021.

As expected, the pandemic had a devastating financial impact on our workforce. Lay-offs, redundancies, and unemployment rates all contributed to higher economic anxiety and stress, leading to increased dependency on government-funded courses in 2020. 

However, as more workers returned to work and unemployment rates reached an all-time low, we saw sensitivity to government-funded programs ease. 

While financial anxiety may not be as high as in 2020, we should expect to see reliance on funded education continue.

Despite stability pre-COVID, prospective students’ motivation and urgency to enrol were notably more volatile in 2020 and 2021. 

In 2020, 73% of prospective students answered they were likely to enrol in a course within three months – the highest recorded between 2017 and 2021. However, in 2021, only 63% was recorded.

Following a similar trend, 79% of prospective students answered they were likely to enrol in a course within 12 months. This volume also dropped to 71% in 2021.

Looking at the bigger picture, only 60% of respondents stated they had a clear timeline of when they wanted to study. 

With travel restrictions lifted, it’s no surprise that education has dropped on the priority list. 

Looking beyond COVID, the appetite for travel is strong. New research shows that over 90% of Australians are expected to travel within the next two years. Holiday companies are also reporting booking rises – particularly for international travel– in 2022. 

All this means is that study will be further down the agenda this year – but not off the cards permanently. Travel and socialisation will dominate most plans this year but this trend is expected to reset next year.

Students believe the standard of education and training in Australia is falling. 

Prospective students are becoming increasingly concerned about not finding the right course for their training needs. Only 54% of students were confident they could find a course to suit their study and career goals in 2021 – a noticeable change from the 61% in 2020. 

Additionally, students believe the teaching capabilities in Australia are getting worse. When prompted to evaluate the effectiveness of our teaching staff, 17% of students believe training is getting worse. Confidence in course outcomes dropped from 96% in 2020 to 86% in 2021. 

Looking forward, we hope to see more scope in subject areas and program levels. As training demands also pivot, we hope to see more short courses and micro-credentials be made available to students in the near future. 

Despite prospective students reporting lower intent to study, we noticed fairly stable demand across our Education Marketplaces. For most industries, students were still interested in studying – they just needed more assurance before committing.

Education providers hoping to maintain enrolment volumes and ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment) will need to diversify their attention. The priority moving forward will be on converting student leads, improving the learner experience and driving completion rates.

Robust nurture funnels and user experience will critical to boosting enrolment volumes this year and next. Enrolment cycles may be extended as students take time to consume more informational content and ultimately make the decision to study.

It’s clear dramatic shifts in student sentiment have changed how we approach domestic student recruitment.

If you’re curious about how to best optimise your digital marketing channels and increase conversions, get in touch with our team.

With over 140 education providers on our network and excellent ROMI, we’re well positioned to help providers adapt to this changing student recruitment landscape.

COVID-19 will continue to disrupt student sentiment across urgency, confidence and motivation to study.

While the urgency to study is declining this year, we expect it to pick back up in 2023. Furthermore, as new policies, methodologies and reforms roll out across our education sector, we believe students’ confidence in our training capabilities will also increase.

Catch-up on our 2021 Student Sentiment article here.

With UK inflation at its highest level in nearly 30 years and wages stagnating, education must play a role in training and upskilling workers to fill higher qualified roles.

A healthy job market and a growing appetite for remote working has led to an increase in opportunities for UK workers. Our economy follows a natural cycle – as jobs and skills demands rise, education and training must also increase. 

Therefore, training providers are well-placed to help workers upskill and reskill – unlocking higher-qualified occupations and salaries.

Below, we’ll delve into ways education providers can help learners grow their careers and wages in a way that keeps up with, and even supersedes, the rising levels of inflation.

Despite employees’ hard work throughout the pandemic, staff are now economically worse off, and are facing less financial support going into 2022.

UK workers saw their wages rise by 3.8% at the end of 2021. However, this statistic actually resulted in a wage cut of -0.8% when accounting for inflation.

This shows no signs of improving either. The Bank of England says high levels of inflation could take years rather than months to improve. Workers can no longer rely on hard work alone to boost their take-home pay, and will need to turn to other methods to guarantee themselves a positive salary boost.

Despite insufficient wage growth, some professionals are able to boost their salaries by entering an employee-tilted job market. 

The ONS reported that since there are 1.3 million vacancies in the UK, employees can be pickier and more demanding when it comes to salary, flexible working, and other benefits. 

Additional data from YouGov shows that one in five UK workers want to work completely from home and nearly half (43%) saying that they prefer to work from home at least some of the time. 

British workers unhappy with their current wage and working situations will find themselves searching for new roles – that include rewarding work, flexible working environments and financial increases – elsewhere in the near future. 

Regional wage disparities in the UK will also cause workers to use remote working as a way to source higher wages from companies in other regions of the country. 

Those working in London take home a median weekly salary that is £181 higher than those working in the North-East of England. This statistic clearly demonstrates a geographic imbalance when it comes to labour remuneration. 

Remote work opportunities could and can be the key to helping lower-paid workers access high-paying jobs from businesses elsewhere.

Although the current employee-centric job market may alleviate some wage concerns, there is a better solution to combating career stagnation and inflation. 

Further study can help more workers unlock new skills and qualify for higher positions and salaries. 

Those who have a higher level of education can expect higher earnings in their career. The IFS found that those with a university degree will earn 20% more over their lifetime than those without one. 

Education providers can utilise this trend to demonstrate the impact of further study to potential learners. Any qualification will have a positive impact on earnings and enable workers to vie for higher-paying occupations.

Benefits aren’t just limited to longer-term courses. Short courses can be an essential tool in helping employees find flexible and lucrative employment opportunities. 

For employees who want to use remote work as a way to find more lucrative remote employment, micro-courses and fast-paced skills training will give them the edge they need to nab their desired roles.

Today’s employers are seeking workers with more diverse skill sets. A survey conducted by Glider.ai found that employers were 2.6 times more confident to hire remote workers if they passed specific skills tests.

From another perspective, employers wanting to keep staff by offering higher wages can benefit from implementing training courses as well. 

For some companies, it can be challenging to justify wage increases if there isn’t a guarantee of improved productivity. However, providers can demonstrate how targeted and precise training can ramp up productivity, therefore allowing them to subsequently increase wages and retain staff.

By setting up dedicated programmes designed to increase productivity and knowledge, employers can fast-track wage progression in a way that rewards both the company and employees alike.

Education providers can play a pivotal role in helping ambitious employees increase their salaries through further education and training.

In an uncertain workplace, employers and employees alike can rely on education providers to provide the route towards higher wages and more rewarding work.

Career aspirations and motivations have changed dramatically over recent years. The urgency to study is now at an all-time low.

Our latest student sentiment study found that COVID-19 has taken a substantial toll on learners’ academic progress and their ambition. The shockwaves felt throughout 2020 have severely impacted prospective students’ confidence, urgency, and motivation to study.

Our Student Sentiment Index examines the attitudes prospective learners have towards commencing study. 

Our technology enables us to identify prospective students’ urgency and motivation to study, their sensitivity to funding, and their confidence in our sector. As a result, we can measure the direct impacts of economic, social and political factors – such as those created by the pandemic – on the health of our education and training sector.

Our 2021-22 Student Sentiment study unpacks the lingering impacts of the impact and how prospective students are feeling a year later.

Below, we unpack key themes from this year’s Index.

At the start of the pandemic, we saw thousands of prospective students turn to education to upskill, career change or return to work. However, the generic sentiment toward training post-COVID was the opposite.

When asked what role education will play in their lives, only 71% of prospective learners stated they were considering studying within the next 12 months. This figure stood at 79% in 2020.

The downward trend seems to indicate that study is no longer the highest priority for Australians this year. 

As domestic and international borders reopen, the travel that had been postponed is now back on the cards. We see young people shifting their attention from employment back to travel. 

The trend to prioritise travel and leisure is not unwarranted. The nature of the past two years has created a culture of burnout and stress among learners and workers. 

Learners are experiencing extreme fatigue, anxiety and mental scarring from remote learning, job losses and isolation.

Similarly, emerging technology and remote working has created a need for workers to ‘always be on’ and accessible 24/7. This way of thinking has created an unbalanced employee work-life ratio, heightening feelings of burnout and stress. 

As borders open and socialisation is available again, we may see more Australians prioritise their mental health and leisure over education and training.

Our sentiment data found that workers and high-school leavers are not looking to study within the next three months. The percentage of learners looking to commence study within three months dropped from 73% in 2020 to 63% in 2021.

While this decline is the opposite of what we saw in 2020, it isn’t surprising. 

According to the Australian Financial Review, university applications in 2022 dropped dramatically, with the biggest decline originating from the non-school leaver cohort. 

Kim Paino from the Universities Admissions Centre said that the decline was no surprise given the heated jobs market.

“There’s a consistent trend showing reduced demand for study when employment prospects are high,” said Paino.

The obvious exceptions are apprenticeships and traineeships – where we have seen an increase in both enrolments and completions. Apprenticeships enable learners to complete their training while working – fulfilling the employment ecosystem.

Although the increase in apprenticeships in 2020 and 2021 is largely due to the government-funded wage subsidy scheme, which saw employers receive a 50% subsidy for each first-year apprentice they took on, our data suggests apprenticeship enrolments and completions will continue to rise. 

Despite lower sentiment to study, some industries such as real estate, allied health, data analytics and software engineering continue to be in demand – with enquiries and enrolment volumes reflective of this.

According to prospective learners, Australia’s standard of education and training is falling behind. 

Between 2020 and 2021, there was a 6% increase in students who believed training standards in Australia were getting worse. In 2021, only 86% of learners were confident study would help them reach their career goals – a large cry from the 96% we saw in 2020. 

The biggest contributing factor to this is the lack of course scope, accredited and unaccredited. Learners ranked their confidence in finding a course suitable for their training needs low.

Furthermore, students’ confidence in completing courses fell dramatically in the latter half of 2021. They were not optimistic about their ability to complete their study and achieve all learning outcomes. 

Common reasons cited were:

In the TEQSA study, students also reported difficulty navigating the transition to remote learning and managing their workload. 

Following the extensive research conducted by the government and industry bodies, we can expect significant changes to training quality this year. The Federal, State and Territory Governments have all been vocal in their promises to prioritise learner wellbeing and improve the overall experience for domestic learners.

Despite being on the up with domestic demand for university-run postgraduate courses almost doubling in 2020, postgraduate qualifications may no longer have a place in our future. 

Last year, interest in postgraduate qualifications dipped 7%, while diplomas and undergraduate programs remained largely unchanged. Certificates and shorter, non-accredited training, such as micro-credentials, were the only two qualification types that saw increased interest. 

This is mostly attributed to the growing number of employers seeking informal or ad hoc training to combat internal skills shortages and tight labour market conditions. 

In a study by the AI group, nearly half (48%) of Australia’s chief executives plan on spending more on training and development this year. 58% of executives placed staff training and development at the top of their business investment list  – ranking it as a first or second priority. 

In 2021, 52% of employers provided unaccredited training to their employees, with many choosing unaccredited training over accredited training as it was more cost-effective and tailored to their needs.

The short courses and micro-credentials trend is only projected to increase given the Australian Government’s sizable investment in micro-credentials through its National Micro-credentials Framework and Micro-credentials Online Marketplace.

With urgency and motivation to study low, we will see workers and employers being more particular about when and how they approach training and development.

For those who provide training in Australia, the good news is that, although there is lower intent to study, completion rates have remained stable. So moving forward, the priority for education providers will be to nurture their learners through to completion.

This article is the latest addition to our 2021 Student Sentiment Index series. Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest insights.

Quick delivery, wide reach, and higher conversion rates are just some of the features of implementing an SMS marketing strategy. 

In today’s digital age, almost every business has incorporated some form of email marketing into their strategy. However, there is opportunity to drive even greater revenue by implementing a robust SMS strategy.

Because of its significantly high open rate, SMS marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies used by businesses today. People spend more time looking at their phones than their laptops or print media. In fact, users engage with their phones on average 2,617 times every day.

While SMS can provide greater conversion rates, it is crucial to test and compare it against your other marketing channels. For example, SMS can be more expensive than email marketing due to cost per send, so it’s imperative to test both channels and find a healthy mix of the two. 

Taking your current marketing strategy to the next level may be easier than you think. 

Utilising SMS marketing has shown to be an extremely effective strategy highlighted by its 98% open rate and countless benefits. It not only offers the opportunity to instantaneously communicate with your prospective students, it also integrates with other vital marketing channels, helping you learn more about your customers.

Here are some of its core benefits:

When it comes to SMS, there is hardly any wait time. When you hit the send button, you can be assured that your message will reach your subscribers immediately. 

SMS involves little preparation – there is no need to gather materials or wait for printing. All you have to do is compose your message and distribute it to your consumers. And, because texts are considerably more likely to be opened than emails, your prospective learners will receive your critical information as soon as possible. 

With a read rate of 97 percent within 15 minutes of delivery, SMS is one of the most immediate channels accessible. You can rest assured that your time-sensitive communications will be viewed nearly immediately.

Because more people are looking at their phones, the expected open rate for SMS is significantly higher than that of email, contributing to larger volumes of clicks.

On average, only 2% of links in emails are clicked.

SMS campaigns, on the other hand, have a 19% average click rate, making it one of the most effective techniques to generate leads online.

Although SMS is its own channel, it does not mean it should not co-exist with your other forms of marketing. SMS is best utilised when working in harmony with the other channels of marketing, such as email, social media, and other forms of digital marketing and content. 

For example, a prospective learner may be interested in a course but is not ready to enrol. Instead, this user might be prompted to subscribe to the email and SMS list, marking the beginning of their journey and engagement with your brand. From here, they might engage with your SMS content and be funnelled back to your website, increasing enrolment or enquiry conversions.

Customer retention ensures your existing customers are valued over the course of their journey. One of the greatest benefits of utilising SMS is its ability to retain your existing customers.

SMS allows you to communicate with a user post-conversion – whether that’s post-enquiry or post-enrolment. With an automated SMS journey, you can schedule particular touchpoints, including feedback surveys, birthdays or holiday offers, and other important events.

These touchpoints create a two-way, ongoing relationship with your users, ensuring they feel connected with your brand throughout their journey.

In order to seamlessly implement an SMS strategy, it is crucial to incorporate your email marketing strategy. Although they are both separate channels, email and SMS should be used in a way that compliments each other.

Since SMS marketing has the potential to provide a substantial return on investment, it’s a great way to send out targeted offers, personalised updates, and other time-sensitive information. 

SMS marketing can also help you fill gaps in your emails.

Understanding the ideal use cases for email and SMS marketing can help you get the most out of both. Because their capabilities complement each other, effectively combining the two communication platforms can result in more successful campaigns and more engaged customers.

Although there are benefits to implementing an SMS strategy, there are drawbacks to consider. 

Important factors to be considered by education providers are costs, the amount of content per text, the organisation of an SMS list, frequency and schedule of SMS and email sends, personalisation, and resources required to manage a new channel.

As your brand looks to target its prospective learners, it is critical that a multi-channel marketing strategy is being used with SMS as an essential component. 

Not only will positive results follow from implementing an SMS strategy, but furthermore your understanding of your current and prospective students will grow rapidly. With continuous testing and optimisation, SMS will change the way in which you communicate with your students for the better.

If you own a website or operate in the digital sphere, you’re always looking for ways to increase web traffic and improve conversions (subscriptions, enquiries and purchases).

At Candlefox, we value and prioritise organic traffic. We invest heavily in our organic content function, building content to help learners across the funnel make the best education decisions for them.

We’ve learnt over the years that organic search traffic has improved our brand visibility and the quality of users landing on our site. This means more-qualified, higher-intent leads for our partners.

Still not convinced? We explain in detail why organic traffic is so important to us, our Marketplaces and our partners.

There are two ways to get traffic to your website when it comes to search engines. 

The first is to create and deploy paid advertising campaigns that drive traffic to your preferred pages. 

The second is quality onsite content that ranks highly on search engine algorithms. Marketers must combine content production and distribution with search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques to rank highly.

Although it typically takes longer to actualise results, organic traffic can be one of the most important forms of traffic you can get on your website because it is highly targeted.

A high volume of organic traffic means your content is relevant and satisfies user intent. Not to mention, search engines, including Google, favourably rank websites whose content best meets a searcher’s query. 

In addition to screening qualified users, organic traffic also increases the credibility of your brand.

Users naturally trust search engines to provide them with the information they need, so organically websites that rank in the top positions are seen as more trustworthy. 

A good marketer understands that a great content strategy starts with the ‘why’ – why you’re creating the content, who you’re creating it for and what purpose it will serve.

At Candlefox, we believe in a scalable, long-term organic content strategy that provides compounding value.

We create evergreen content across each phase of the enrolment journey, from research and discovery to decision and enquiry. We utilise our blogs and commercial landing pages to foster a holistic onsite experience, serving rich content that meets learners’ intent, no matter where they are in the decision-making funnel. 

Across our blogs and commercial pages, we ensure that our content production includes a healthy mix of blog posts, videos, infographics and quizzes that:

We use first-party data to identify learners’ motivations, pain points and behaviours, and translate these insights into targeted content across the marketing funnel. 

While we’re creating content that serves a purpose for learners, we also benefit from its data. Our cross-page tracking allows us to better understand our users, including their onsite behaviour, interests, goals and challenges.

Our organic content strategy enables us to achieve many business objectives that benefit our partners and us. These include:

All of the above means we can provide better leads for our partners.

Our organic content helps us attract highly-targeted, highly-qualified users across various stages of the funnel to our Marketplaces. 

Once they’re on our Marketplaces, we utilise other onsite tools and resources to encourage them into a nurture funnel, where we help them make the best decisions for them.

Learners are non-homogenous. Some prefer to access content through search engines. Others through paid advertisements on search engines or social media.

While a strong organic content strategy can set you up for success, it’s important to adopt a combined approach that integrates both organic search traffic and paid advertising into a holistic digital strategy.

As lifelong learning becomes the norm – not just a trend – we ‘ll see a shift towards ‘self-led’ or ‘self-directed learning’. 

Learners are looking for more autonomy over what and how they learn, and education providers, as facilitators of learning and training, should be there to support them.

Employers are always looking for new ways to boost productivity through training but are often unsure how to achieve this goal. This presents a unique opportunity for training providers to step in and be the subject matter expert. 

Below, we unpack strategies that providers can use to develop mutually-beneficial partnerships with businesses of all shapes and sizes based on this unique learning style.

Driving positive student outcomes should always come first in all forms of learning – and self-led learning is no exception.

The main principle of self-led learning is that learners have full ownership of their education. This applies to the speed at which they complete a course or module, which topics or courses they choose, and how they learn (distance, in-person, workshop-led, etc.).

The self-led learning model unlocks greater student engagement, promotes enjoyment of learning and increases chances of course completion. It gives students control of their own learning, helping them make the best choices for them.

Self-led learning has a wide range of benefits for students, which naturally benefit their employers too. 

Below, we’ll walk through three key benefits and explain how you, as an education provider, can better communicate these to companies looking to upskill their staff.

LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning report revealed that over 40% of Gen Z and Millennial workers and over 30% of Gen X and Baby Boomers wanted “fully self-directed and independent learning.”

The study demonstrates that learners are eager and willing to guide themselves when it comes to training. 

A training programme that is highly engaging and well-chosen enables learners to start exercising the new skills they’ve acquired immediately. With a well-designed training regime, both employees and employers reap the benefits sooner. 

With reports like the one from LinkedIn showing that employees of all ages are crying out for learning that puts them in the driving seat, it should be straightforward to explain to employers that this approach will be more likely to lead to an increase in course engagement. 

Identifying which training courses provide the most value to your employees can be time-consuming. If a course ends up being a bad fit, it can mean previous time and resources wasted.

Therefore, it’s essential to explain to companies that self-led learning can reduce this risk. 

Generally speaking, employees are more tuned into their development needs than learning and development (L&D) teams. The self-led learning method ensures that learning is integrated with each employee’s professional goals and objectives – and by default, the wider company’s mission and vision. 

The CIPD’s Professionalising Learning and Development report found that 98% of learning and development practitioners wished to develop a positive culture for learning, but only 36% felt like they’ve actually developed one.

There are a number of factors that contribute to this misalignment:

A culture of learning in a workplace is born from a love for continuous learning. This means that every employee, regardless whether they’re in management or not, knows how to identify and implement training programmes that help them achieve their long-term career goals. 

This bottom-up, as opposed to a top-down, approach to learning and development, is the cornerstone of a healthy company culture.

As a trusted training provider and subject matter expert, your job is to help employers understand the true impact that a new style of learning or training will have on their team, overall workforce and company direction.

As you build a relationship with employers, you may find yourself advising on how best to build a self-led learning strategy. 

Below are a few tips you can give to employers in order to help them achieve this.

The first step for employers is for them to speak to their staff and discover which areas they’d like to upskill in. Employers need to work with their leadership team, management and workers to identify key training areas – often, different areas for different teams.

While this is happening, it’s equally important to establish two-way channels for employees to provide training feedback and suggestions. 

Employees, particularly those not in leadership or management, may seek guidance from other team members and managers. For those taking initiative, ensure they have easy access to L&D teams for seamless and faster training implementation.

As a training provider, you may be asked to help employers define the results and outcomes. 

Here, you’ll need to develop a strong understanding of their core objectives: are they looking to upskill to plug a temporary skills gap? Or do they want to overhaul their company’s approach to learning completely? 

This is important to define, as self-led learning can be applied in different ways. 

Self-led learning can be excellent for boosting motivation and interest within the company. On the other hand, it can be used as a platform to build out a new employee-led learning programme. 

Understanding the short and long-term goals of a business will allow you to identify the best ways to apply self-led learning, driving the best possible results.

The great thing about self-led learning is that it can be turned on and off as needed. It can be a supplement to other styles of learning or can replace the entire training process entirely. 

The key is to help businesses learn from the initial implementation process and trial. It might be the case that a section of the staff prefers more traditional teaching methods, or that workers struggle to make time for learning. 

Bumps in the road don’t mean it’s time to abandon ship, and education providers need to help employers fully understand what’s working and what’s not.

Self-led learning is an exciting and rewarding approach to learning that can boost employee morale, motivation, and engagement, which has a knock-on effect of increasing company profits and retention.

Self-led learning may need a more nuanced approach, but like all workforce training partnerships, guarantee a steady stream of students in the long run. 

If you’re curious to learn more about how education providers can provide bespoke solutions to students and employers alike, get in touch with Candlefox today.

Last week’s 2022 Federal Budget announcement doubled down on Australia’s COVID-19 recovery. 

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s fourth Budget focuses on building a robust, future-proof economy – marking the next stage in Australia’s growth.

Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business Stuart Robert welcomed the Budget, saying “it would ensure a pipeline of skilled workers for the Australian economy – delivering generational skilling.”

We break down what the budget means for the education and training sector and the implications of the upcoming federal election in May.

Since signing the Heads of Agreement for Skills Reform in August 2020, the Commonwealth and Australian state and territory governments have continued to work towards a new National Skills Agreement (NSA). The new agreement will see each jurisdiction receive a major funding boost for skills training in high-priority areas. 

The Australian Government has committed an additional $3.7 billion as part of the 2022 Budget, on top of the current $8.3 billion National Skills and Workforce Development Specific Purpose Payment – bringing the new National Skills Agreement total up to $12 billion. 

The extra funding allocation from the Federal Government ensures that an additional 800,000 training places will be made available to prospective learners. 

The Morrison Government hopes a new agreement will transform the way all governments support and provide vocational education and training. A new NSA will increase transparency in the system and lower student fees, ensuring students can access high-quality training and have the necessary skills for future jobs.

The National Skills Agreement still needs to be signed by the Commonwealth and all states and territories before coming into effect. But this announcement means the Morrison Government will go into the May election promising at least 800,000 more training places than the opposing Albanese Government.

The Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) and Completing Apprenticeship Commencements (CAC) wage subsidies were recently extended until 30 June. Once these existing initiatives expire, the new Australian Apprentices Incentives System (AAIS) will kick in (from 1 July 2022).

While the new Incentive System won’t match the 50% wage subsidy program currently being offered, it is expected to build on the success of the current wage subsidies.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia’s apprentices, trainees and workers building their skills were key to delivering a stronger economy.

“By backing Australian apprentices and trainees we’re getting more people ready for the jobs that will set them up for life,” the Prime Minister said.

The $2.4 billion initiative will be introduced in two phases:

The Apprentices Incentive System will be guided by a new Apprenticeships Priority List, developed and updated by the National Skills Commission every year. The Priority List will outline the occupations with an apprenticeship or traineeship pathway that have strong current and future demand. 

The new incentive program will see more employers take on new apprentices, leading to increased enrolments and completions. Providers offering apprenticeship training can expect climbing interest from prospective students over the next five years.

The Federal Government will invest a further $49.5 million over two years, contingent on matched funding from states, to expand the widely-successful JobTrainer Fund. This is expected to deliver up to an additional 15,000 free or low-fee places, particularly for the aged care sector through its Aged Care Boost. 

Minister Robert said the 2022 Budget will bring the “total investment under JobTrainer to $2.1 billion, funding more than 478,000 training places, in partnership with state and territory governments.”

A new Skills and Training Boost will be made available to small businesses with an annual turnover of less than $50 million. 

Under the new incentive, small businesses will have access to a 20% deduction for the cost of external courses delivered to their employees by education providers registered in Australia. 

Australia’s small businesses employ approximately 7.8 million workers. This boost will encourage more businesses to invest in the skills of their employees – driving productivity within their businesses and the wider economy. 

The Skills and Training Boost was made available to small businesses from Tuesday 29 March. 

This new announcement is an obvious win for fee-for-service Australian education providers. With employers set to receive a 20% tax deduction, we can almost certainly guarantee increased demand for fee-for-service corporate or workforce training. 

In addition to the generous budget allocations, the Australian Government will provide $28.5 million to support the following two initiatives:

While the 2022-23 Federal Budget has substantially invested in our education and skills sector, its rollout is contingent on the 2022 federal election outcome.

If the Morrison Government is re-elected, we will see the above changes come into play shortly. However, if the Albanese Labor Government wins the election, we should expect a different set of budget allocations and initiatives.