Since UBIQ was launched at the beginning of 2021, we have quickly established ourselves as the fastest-growing company in the sector—working with 100+ schools in just 2 years. It is because UBIQ is not just correctly predicting the future of school websites, but actively shaping that future with our product, service and approach that makes us so excited for the year ahead.
With that in mind here are some of our key predictions for 2024.
1. First-Party Data
Most schools are yet to fully grasp the significant value that can be derived from collecting, organising, analysing and gaining insight from first-party data—especially first-party data from their website. We expect 2024 to see marketing departments place increasing value on their first-party data and look to companies such as UBIQ to solve their first-party data strategy and challenges.
2. A Single Source of Truth
Currently, most marketing, admissions, giving and DEI departments lack a single source of truth. There is not one view of a prospective family or a potential donor. Information and their engagement are spread over analytics platforms, admissions and student databases, spreadsheets, analytics tools and the website itself. We predict 2024 will see all this information better consolidated into a single source of truth, with customer data platforms like UBIQ’s becoming commonplace.
3. The Democratisation of Data
Data within schools is still siloed and mostly found in the form of numbers in a spreadsheet, rather than connected, analysed and turned into insight where it takes on meaning and value. Our main objective for the year ahead is to continue to democratise data for schools—so that it is more accessible, insightful and therefore valuable. There is no place where the democratisation of data will be more insightful and valuable than with the school website.
4. Personalisation & Experimentation
We expect that 2024 will see a continued shift from school websites housing static information resources to dynamic, individualised and personalised experiences—that adapt and change based on the wants and needs of a school’s different audiences. Marketing teams will also become much more comfortable with applying experimentation to their website—be it A/B testing to test different outcomes or multi- variant testing to optimise content and experiences.
5. Return on Investment (ROI)
We anticipate that many independent schools will need to invest heavily in marketing and more specifically their website, to survive. Websites will shift from being seen as capital expenditure, to an ongoing recurring subscription with a direct ROI attached to it. It will be up to suppliers such as UBIQ to demonstrate the value they bring in tangible and measurable results.
Whatever 2024 has in store, what is certain is that UBIQ will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible. We will keep challenging schools, asking them to consider whether that might be a better way. Meanwhile, we will continue to challenge ourselves to help the schools that we work with to find that better way, to realise their advantage and to support them in implementing it.
