Unplaced Applicants Email Opportunity

As you may be aware, UCAS facilitates the entrance of over 400,000 people each year into higher education. What you may not know is that there are up to as many as 100,000 applicants who apply yet do not have a place secured at a university or college come the start of Clearing. This is your chance to make contact with them and show what you have to offer.

UCAS offers one opportunity every year for Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) to get in touch directly with these applicants who have not been successful in attaining a place through the usual channels.

This bespoke email facility, performed on a solus basis, is open to any HEI from the Monday following A Level results and runs for just 3 weeks. From the 18th of August you will be able to target those applicants who are best suited to filling any places that may still be free.

Last year proved to be very successful. On average, a recipient who opened one of our emails was over three times more likely to go on and attend that HEI than one who did not open it*. This highlights the power of being able to speak to these applicants directly.

Targeting

In order to best facilitate the smooth running of this operation, we allow only two filters to be applied to this group of unplaced applicants; post code (of domicile) and subject. This allows you to best select applicants and make them aware of the courses in which there are still spaces.

Format

Due to an exceptionally high volume of work at this time of year, emails must be in one of two standardised formats:

  1. Text only. Just supply your copy, with hyperlinks embedded, in a word document at least 2 working days before the send date.
  2. Banner and text, as above with a headline banner.
    Banner to be received by UCAS within a week of confirming the booking.
    Banner spec: 600 x 90 pixels in static GIF format less than 50kb

This data will then be placed into a UCAS email template, sandwiched between an introduction paragraph and a disclaimer at the foot of the page.

Time Slots

UCAS shall be sending a maximum of 6 email broadcasts in any one day due to the level of uptake. We can only guarantee that the email will be sent on that day rather than being time specific though we will try and meet any requirements that you have. Once this has been agreed changes cannot be guaranteed. Failure to meet artwork specifications or copy deadlines may result in the broadcast slot being missed. In this event UCAS reserves the right to invoice in full.

Cost

The cost is 50p per name plus VAT.
In the first available week the minimum spend per email broadcast is £2,000 which equates to 4,000 recipients. This is due to the greater opportunity afforded by an earlier broadcast date. Thereafter the minimum spend will be £1,500.

  • w/c 18 August - Min spend £2,000
  • w/c 25 August - Min spend £1,500

Please note that while multiple email broadcasts are acceptable, they will only be done so if the average spend is greater than the minimum required.

Booking Details

Bookings will be available from 9am on Monday 21 April. To book or discuss things further, please contact Michael Darch on 01242 545708 or m.darch@ucas.ac.uk. Please note that a valid purchase order number is required when booking.



*Based on all 2007 campaigns fulfilled by UCAS Media.