Continuing our last Social CRM case study in China, this time, you will learn about our sCRM and Marketing Automation strategies for the School-level of Dulwich College in China to expand its lead generation capability.

Marketing Automation and Social CRM (sCRM) Initiatives for the School Level

Objectives

To ensure a smooth and scalable implementation, these strategies were first introduced at one Pilot School, serving as a model for future rollouts across the Brand’s network.

Recognizing the opportunity to build internal capabilities, we also focused on strengthening awareness and understanding of Marketing Automation (M.A) tools and processes. To support this, we:

• Developed a comprehensive M.A guidebook and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) based on the onboarding experience at the Pilot School
• Delivered targeted educational workshops to introduce core M.A functionalities and methodologies

Below are the solutions and results of our M.A and Social CRM (sCRM) deployment at 1 Pilot School in Shanghai:

Solutions & Results

1. Identify Different Follower Profiles for Personalized Content Engagement

Similar to the Marketing Automation efforts for the Brand-level, in order to identify different targeted personas from the existing and future WeChat Official Account followers, the Pilot International School also needed to:

• Continuously enrich the user profiles by identifying them with comprehensive tags based on the source, behavior, and preference
• Deliver tailored content engagement based on the identified user profile by leveraging the automatic journey enabled by M.A

2. Accelerate Lead Generation & Management

To further enhance lead generation at the School level, there was a valuable opportunity to introduce a more strategic engagement approach for retaining followers after they connect with the WeChat Official Account.

New Followers

When researching international school options, prospective parents often follow several WeChat Official Accounts, including the well-known Pilot School. By introducing engaging touchpoints such as a personalized Welcome Journey, schools can better guide these parents with timely and relevant content, making it easier for them to find contact details and updated information - all key to maintaining interest and building trust.

Existing Followers

To keep long-term followers engaged, it’s essential to deliver ongoing value through well-organized content and regular, purposeful interaction. With improved content delivery, schools can re-activate passive or “hibernating” followers and keep the school top-of-mind.

To support this, the following steps were taken:

• Establish effective, well-mapped Welcome Journeys upon onboarding to collect data and direct users to the most relevant content
• Ease the search for information with keywords autoreply and clear, efficient content centers in the H5 page format

In addition to the potential leads, Marketing Automation and Social CRM (sCRM) can also help the Dulwich Schools screen out more Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) automatically to admissions by:

• Driving subsequent follow-ups based on the information submitted by prospects via the Enquiry form and capturing data
• Developing a lead scoring system in the sCRM backend to provide MQLs admissions in a timely manner

This not only eases the follower’s access to information but also provides a clear step for the School to identify qualified leads that are lower down the Conversion funnel.

With these new setups, Dulwich College China witnessed more than double the engagement level of new followers, a considerable improvement in online enquiry among new followers, and collected other valuable insights on user engagement.

3. Improve Data-driven Insights for Strategy Decision-Making

Thanks to the direct data capture and consolidation throughout the user journey on the School’s Private Traffic platforms (i.e. WeChat Official Account and website) and holistic tagging, Marketing Automation and Social CRM can empower the School’s departments, especially for the Marketing team to:

• Make more informed decision-making
• Gain insights through ongoing profile enrichment to drive more targeted engagements and boost follower stickiness

To Wrap Up

Finally, we’re proud that Dulwich College International highly valued our work and expressed strong satisfaction with the Marketing Automation and Social CRM strategy playbook tailored for WeChat.

“ITC has been working closely with both our China and global teams to implement our Marketing Automation Roadmap in China across multiple institutions in EiM Global Group. They’ve brought integrity and subject matter expertise throughout the project. They are true experts in Social CRM and WeCom.”

Lily Zhuang - Group Digital Marketing Manager - Dulwich College International

Going forward, ITC will continue empowering the prestigious International School Brand in China with system data integration, WeCom communication solution, and holistic, full-fleshed sCRM operations.