Over Welcome Week 2023 we launched our new University of Exeter app to all students across our Exeter and Cornwall campuses, reaching over 1,500 users in just five days! You can learn everything you need to know about the new web-based app in this blog post, but essentially we’re developing this new app to improve the student experience at Exeter and it has a range of handy features to help students navigate their Uni life, and it’s being continuously developed based on user insight and feedback with regular new updates and releases!
Launching the app over Welcome Week was important so that we could reach students new to the University, making them aware of the app and how it can benefit them throughout their time at Exeter. Because our app can’t do everything we need it to just yet, we currently still have the older iExeter app available to students, so it was important to be on the ground raising awareness of the great things our new app does from the beginning of their journey at Exeter so they know when to use our app.
Engaging students on campus
Engaging students can be tricky, especially during Welcome Week when we’re competing with many others to get students attention. We held events at our Streatham and Penryn campuses, collaborating with the Digital Hub to promote the new app in fun ways. We knew that students visit the Digital Hub for help using digital tools including the new app, so it seemed like the perfect spot to reach our target audience. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years, it’s that Exeter students love a Nintendo Switch Mario Kart tournament, so of course we incorporated this into our promo activities.
We invited students to play Mario Kart, and then chatted about the new app to students waiting to play. We also offered students who registered on the new app the opportunity to win a Nintendo Switch with Mario Kart for themselves, which of course went down a treat and was a great incentive for students to try out the new app – although many students were just pleased to try it out due to the great design and user-friendliness of the web-based app which was great to see!
What’s next?
We saw over 1,500 students use the app over Welcome Week, and this number has been rising daily and currently has over 5,000 users, which is even more impressive considering our October target was 4,000 users. A combination of a great app built with user needs in mind, and an effective communications campaign has resulted in a hugely successful launch event.
In terms of what’s next, we’ll be continuing on-campus promotion of the app throughout term one and beyond, sharing new features and updates, gathering student feedback throughout to ensure the app remains in service of our users. And who knows – maybe soon the app won’t only be for our students. Look out for more from us!
Are you a current University of Exeter student? Try out the app here. Unfortunately it only works for UoE students right now, but anyone can learn more about the app on our website, and get in touch if you want to know more.