Last year, there were 2.86 million students in UK universities. That’s an awful lot of young people studying, partying, and spending. Students have always been deal-hunters, keen to save their pennies whilst still securing the latest on-trend products.
However, the rising cost of living has taken Gen Z students to a whole new level of bargain hunting, and they’re favouring the brands that offer them the best value for money.
So, when’s the most important time in the calendar for students and brands in terms of engagement and spending? Freshers Week, of course! Students spend 80% more during Freshers Week, meaning it’s an occasion you can’t afford to miss. They’ll be actively scouring Freshers fairs discounts and searching for free stuff, eager to be introduced to new and exciting brands that capture their attention with the best deals and value for money.
In this blog, we’ll be sharing how our Student Beans partners can get their brand in front of students during Freshers Week to boost conversion rates, secure spending and drive loyalty with new and current students.
Freshers fairs and student spending
As we well know, this cohort of young students are tomorrow’s big spenders, meaning it’s key for brands to start understanding Gen Z shoppers whilst they’re still at college. By offering great discounts, you’ll be not only upgrading their student experience but also building the foundations for long-standing loyalty.
But, sadly, it’s not that straightforward. Competition for student spending is fierce, meaning that brands need to ensure they’re setting themselves apart from the crowd by incentivizing spending and offering truly great value. And it’s all about the full funnel approach: from social media to Freshers fair freebies, it’s vital that you connect with them at multiple touchpoints in order to secure those final conversions. Gen Z students need to be exposed to your brand, products, and offers long before Freshers Week starts to ensure that you won’t be fighting against other big names. If your brand is already on their mind, they’ll be sure to come to you first!
Now, this may all feel like a lot to think about, but don’t worry; we’re here to help…
Boost engagement and conversion: Upgrade, Subscribe, Drive
In order to optimise your brand’s performance when it comes to Freshers Week, we’ve come up with a handy step-by-step toolkit to help our Student Beans partners reach their goals. Introducing: Upgrade, Subscribe and Drive, our three steps to success for your 2023 Freshers campaign. Following these three steps will make it easier than ever to generate sales over this key period.
Upgrade
Showcase the best of your brand to Gen Z students in the lead-up to the most important shopping period of the year by upgrading your Student Beans listing to an always-on Premium Brand Hub. We can now upgrade brands to a premium design, which includes more discounts and a more effective way of displaying your brand, products, content, news and more.
Did you know: 50% of brand page visits come from users searching for the brand
Subscribe
The Subscribe offering of our toolkit allows us to power up your always-on Premium Brand Hub with a multi-channel, always-on content feed to Gen Z. With authentic and engaging written/visual content created by our expert editorial team, your brand will be able to really resonate with Gen Z students.
Did you know: Our collab subscriptions have the potential to generate over 3 million impressions per month!
Drive
This is the bread and butter of Student Beans. Establish your brand as the front runner in your sector by utilising our advertising suite (newsletters, web inventories, emails… you name it!) and highlight your incentives, all with a view to driving student conversions. As we’ve already said, they just love a good deal!
Did you know: 97% of students search for a discount when shopping
So there you have it. Freshers Week is right around the corner, and it’s time for brands looking to reach students and build loyalty to get cracking. What are you waiting for?!
Like what you’ve heard? Reach out to your Account Manager now to find out more, or if you’re not already a Student Beans partner, get in touch today!
