The Full Story
The University of Chichester is a small but highly ranked institution with campuses in Chichester and Bognor Regis. Managing recruitment, events and communications across a split campus while maintaining a personal feel has always been a challenge, particularly with limited resources.
Gecko was first deployed in 2021 and has since become central to how the university operates. Today, all student data, open days and communications are managed through Gecko, which effectively acts as Chichester’s CRM. As Mae Soan, Marketing Campaigns Officer, explains, “We use it for every campaign that we do, all of our event comms, our open-day bookings, forms, surveys, enquiries, SMS and emails.”
Before Gecko, the university relied on three separate systems for events, email and management. “What we wanted was to have all of our comms, event management and reporting on one easy-to-use system that multiple people could access,” says Steph Coogans, Marketing Manager. Gecko replaced those tools with a single platform. “We no longer have to do manual data uploads into the email system. We can quickly set up events and trigger comms via SMS. It’s so much more efficient having everything in one place.”
Open days have been transformed as a result. Visitors can now pre-book sessions in advance, guaranteeing places and helping the team allocate rooms more accurately. This has improved attendance and the overall experience for prospective students.
Gecko also plays a key role in nurturing enquiries. Anyone who submits a form is automatically entered into a series of scheduled broadcasts and workflows. “They get drip-fed all the comms, it keeps them warm and engaged,” says Mae. This approach is fully pre-scheduled, allowing the team to stay responsive without constant manual work.
Audience segmentation has improved too, particularly for international recruitment. Additional data captured through Gecko forms allows the team to tailor communications by country and language.
SMS has become an increasingly important channel. Messages are used around key moments such as UCAS deadlines, open days, graduation and clearing. “A day before we remind people that the open day is tomorrow, and on the day we remind people to check in,” Mae explains. SMS volumes nearly doubled year on year as the team leaned into timely reminders.
Clearing is another area where Gecko has made a major difference. Chichester now uses an online clearing application form that triggers automated offers based on UCAS points. Admissions teams can then verify details without being overwhelmed by phone calls and emails. “The speed of our offers through clearing is now immediate,” says Mae.
This automation has reduced staffing pressure significantly. “Last year there were six of us, this year there were just three of us working on clearing,” Mae says.
Most recently, Chichester has introduced the Gecko app to support open days. Staff can check visitors in on arrival, track attendance in real time and manage the flow of sessions, while students access tickets digitally.
Looking ahead, the team plans to explore more advanced personalisation to track the full student journey. For Steph and Mae, the value of Gecko is clear. “When you use everything in conjunction,” Steph says, “Gecko is incredible for event-based stuff.”