Liverpool Hope University Achieves 72% Enrolment Conversion Through Unibuddy Community

Challenge 

Liverpool Hope University relied primarily on email to communicate with prospective students, using a series of standard messages covering topics such as course information and accommodation. While this addressed knowledge gaps, it gave limited insight into what students genuinely wanted to know.

Beyond the general enquiries inbox, the team had no visibility into individual concerns. This resulted in repetitive questions, inefficient use of staff time, and slow response times which increased the risk of students disengaging before receiving a reply. 

Email as a channel didn’t fully align with how prospective students preferred to communicate, as it was too formal. These students were turning to platforms such as Snapchat, creating their own groups, but this left Liverpool Hope without any insight into emerging questions on interests. 

“We were addressing the major concerns, but we knew that there was so much we were missing in terms of the little things that help students make decisions about accepting a place with us, and moving to the city,” explained Kate Jones, Student Recruitment Officer at Liverpool Hope University. 

Solution

Liverpool Hope University adopted Unibuddy Community, seeing it as a natural extension of their existing Unibuddy Chat. Kate explained that it felt like the right fit at the right time, fitting seamlessly with their approach to conversational engagement.

Safety and visibility were central to the decision. Unlike the previous student-use of Snapchat, Community gave the university full oversight of conversations, with the ability to monitor messages, flag concerns and set trigger words. The team also valued that conversations felt human rather than automated, with student ambassadors reappearing across the website rather than presenting as a generic chatbot with Unibuddy Chat.

Community also opened up new ways to engage prospects beyond traditional email. Through the Updates feature, Liverpool Hope were able to share timely, informal content about life in Liverpool, from festivals to music events, helping students build excitement about the city. Combined with confidence scoring, this allowed Kate and her team to identify lower-confidence students in a way that felt authentic and well-timed. The team embraced creative outreach through a “One Kiss Is All It Takes” campaign around Dua Lipa’s concert in Liverpool, which used the Updates feature to excite prospects about city life and student culture, in a way that traditional emails could not. 

Impact

Liverpool Hope University saw a significant impact from using Unibuddy Community. Through the platform, 513 applications were submitted, with 376 enrolling, resulting in a 72% enrolment conversion rate. Kate reflected, “it was mindblowing for us! 513 users might not seem like a lot at first glance, but the impact on our university conversion rate was significant. We just knew we were onto something really great.”

In the second year, engagement skyrocketed, with over 13,000 messages exchanged within a four-week window. The team has had no major concerns with bullying or safety issues, and they can now reach hundreds of students at once through images, announcements and blog posts. Monitoring conversation topics also allowed them to anticipate student interests, highlighted by discussions around nightlife in Liverpool promoted content around the top five nightclubs, keeping the university one step ahead.

Community has fostered meaningful student connections. During an open day, Kate spoke with a former prospect who had used Community in the previous year; the student shared how it helped them meet fellow coursemates and organised to attend their first lecture together as a group. 

“We could have never anticipated how much we would enjoy using Unibuddy. It’s something that’s now part of the calendar and we are excited to start planning how we are going to use it, and how we will make it different, and what we want to achieve.”