How can a young and ambitious university try to change stereotypes about Russian education? Attracting foreign students to Russia with

the help of digital tools

HSE

University

Alexey SobolevskyDeputy Head of Public Relations @ HSE University

10 years in digital marketing

HSE University

About HSE University

25 000 students in 4 Campuses:Moscow, Saint Petersburg,

Nizhniy Novgorod and Perm

Year 2013

650 Foreign students overall from 47 countries

83 PhD degree professors

QS ratings by subject:

Philosophy (151-200)

Economics & Econometrics (151-200)Sociology (151-200)

205 degree programmes (10 English-taught)

About HSE University

40 000 students in 4 Campuses: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod and Perm

Year 2019

3 400 Foreign students overall from 110 countries

83 PhD degree professors

264 degree programmes (40 English-taught)

QS ratings by subject

#1 in Russia

Classic Sales Funnel

Awareness

Interest

Decision

Action

STAGE 1: Awareness

STAGE 1:

Websites AdsProjects Offline events

Awareness

Keystone (masterstudies.com,

bachelorstudies.com etc.)

StudyPortals (mastersportal.eu,

bachelorsportal.eu etc.)

Viva Mundo

Youtube campaigns

Google Ads campaigns

Facebook campaigns

VKontakte/

MyTarget campaigns

Open Doors Olympiad

International Youth Olympiad

Megacities of the future

IDAO Olympiad

Online Webinars

Exhibitions

Country tours

STAGE 2: Interest

STAGE 2:

General Web-portals

Interest

Website redesign

Social Media (campaigns, communities, ambassadors)

Online-Courses

Print materials unification

Web articles

Keystone (masterstudies.com, bachelorstudies.com etc.)

StudyPortals (mastersportal.eu, bachelorsportal.eu etc.)

Educations.com

Viva Mundo

STAGE 3: Decision

STAGE 3:

Campaigns Communication Other

Decision

E-mail campaigns

Retargeting campaigns (Google Ads, Facebook, Vkontakte)

WhatsApp communication

Facebook communication (+ambassadors)

Direct calls

Portfolio Review

Webinars

Projects

Scholarships

STAGE 4: Action

STAGE 4:

Action

Internal CRM system

Direct e-mail campaigns

WhatsApp Communication

Direct Calls

Agents (i.e. Uniagents network)

Technology stack

Analytics & Advertisement

Analytics Advertisement

Google Analytics (over 20 resources, sampling

problem)

Yandex Metrics (over 120 targets,

including JS-funnels)

Google Tag Manager (over 100 tags and 90+ triggers,

including event triggers for buttons, registrations etc.)

Facebook pixel (+custom events, 50+ custom audiences (incl. E-mail based)

+ Look-alike)

Vkontakte pixel (+custom audiences)

MyTarget Pixel (+custom audiences)

Yandex Audience (e-mail-based audiences)

Facebook Ads (geo, age, language, interests, look-alike, custom audiences

+conversion tracking)

Google Ads (custom audiences, interests, keywords+competitiors, geo)

VKontatke + Yandex.Direct (for CIS countries)

Numbers

International audience

Facebook campaigns

Facebook LAL campaigns:

VKontakte campaigns

Google campaign

Yandex campaigns

0,76$ retargeting

campaign visit

5-6% lead conversion

±16$ per CRM lead

3 times less effective

(behavioral statistics)

0,4$ targeting

campaign visit

3-3,5% lead conversion

±13$ per CRM lead

0,08$ targeting

campaign visit (mostly – Google

Network)

0,7% lead conversion

±7$ per CRM lead

0,07$ targeting

campaign visit (mostly - Partners

Network)

1,5-2% lead conversion

±3$ per CRM lead

Numbers

Russian audience

The brand coefficient: 8-9X (conversion enhance and lead cost decrease)

Google campaigns Yandex campaigns

0,07$ targeting campaign visit

5-9% lead conversion

±1-3$ per CRM lead

0,05$ targeting campaign visit

6-10% lead conversion

±0,5-2$ per CRM lead

Numbers

E-mail campaigns & Webinars

E-mail Megacities of the future project

37 372 mails sent

687 CRM leads

Average conversion:

2%

13 webinars

645 registrations

231 online visitors (still counting)

Numbers

Other Activities

Pup-up forms Offline Events

755 views

201 CRM Leads

27% conversion rate

4 984 leads

428 CRM leads

8% conversion rate

#1

Country image

#2

University visibility

#3

Young brand

#4

Language problems

#5

Distance and logistics

#6

Internet connection speed (CDN Servers)

Key problems

What’s holding us back?

#1

Price and quality of education

#2

English-taught and double degree programmes

#3

Heart of Russia - Heart of Moscow (close to city centre in the largest city

in continental Europe)

#4

HSE University: Nothing like you expected

Key possibilities

What could push us forward?

www.hse.ruasobolevsky@hse.ru

Alexey SobolevskyDeputy Head of Public Relations @ HSE University

HSE

University