University Open Days & Building Seamless Customer Journeys

Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of weekends visiting university open days with my son. These events might seem a world away from the corporate world, but the marketing and customer experience lessons they reveal are surprisingly universal.

Because, when you think about it, choosing a university is a high-value purchase (my sleepless nights confirm this!).

It’s emotional, expensive, and long-term - just like buying a house, choosing a financial service, or investing in a piece of software or systems that will shape your business for years to come.

And just like any big buying decision, every touchpoint matters.

What struck me most during these visits was how uneven the experience could be…

Some universities absolutely nailed their pre-event marketing - beautiful websites, slick booking journeys, and engaging email sequences that made us genuinely excited to visit.

But then, the in-person experience fell flat! Poor signage, disengaged (or absent) staff, and no nice-to-have takeaways that made us feel like this could be a place to belong.

In a nutshell: an atmosphere that didn’t match the story we’d been sold online.

And the result? My son immediately crossed one of those universities off his application list. It was a sharp reminder that no amount of great marketing can save a broken customer experience.

Others were less polished online but shone brilliantly in person.

The most impressive? Those that joined up both worlds seamlessly.

The power of the pre-visit experience

The best universities treated the pre-visit phase like the beginning of a relationship, not a transaction. Their digital experience was seamless - simple booking forms, mobile-friendly design, and personalised confirmation emails that felt warm and human.

They didn’t just send reminders, they built anticipation. Emails that introduced the campus, shared student stories, and offered practical advice on travel and parking all worked together to warm us up before we’d even arrived. It felt curated, thoughtful, and human.

For businesses, that’s the equivalent of a well-designed website that’s intuitive and friction-free, paired with an onboarding or pre-sale journey that builds trust and excitement before a client even signs the contract.

It’s not about bombarding prospects with information, it’s about guiding them thoughtfully, setting expectations, and making them feel seen.

Delivering on the promise

For some universities, their perfectly executed digital excellence evaporated the moment we stepped foot on campus (and I feel very sorry for the marketing teams who were, quite frankly, let down by the rest of the organisation).

The universities that underdelivered on the day highlighted a common mistake many brands make - focusing all their effort on attraction, not retention.

Some, dare I say it, gave an air of pretentious presumption that they didn’t need to try so hard because their prestige in the rankings spoke for itself.

In business terms, that’s like a company with brilliant digital marketing but poor customer service. You might convert prospects, but you won’t keep them.

The universities that got it right, told a very different story. From the moment we arrived, everything clicked. Physical signposting was clear and well-branded. Student ambassadors were confident, chatty, and genuinely proud of their university. Staff were easy to find and eager to help. Even the merch - from tote bags (we’ve collected oh-so-many tote bags!) to helpful subject-specific handouts - felt like part of a cohesive experience rather than an afterthought.

It was proof of consistency - they delivered exactly what they had promised online, and that builds trust.

The business takeaway: connect your marketing and experience teams

It’s easy to think of marketing and operations as separate worlds - one focused on awareness, the other on delivery. But the best-performing organisations know these two functions must work hand in hand.

When your marketing team sets expectations that your frontline team can’t deliver, you create a gap that damages trust. But when both teams are aligned - when the story you tell online matches the experience people have in person - that’s when loyalty begins.

Whether you’re selling university places, software subscriptions, or premium coffee machines, the principle is the same: your marketing sets the promise and your experience delivers it.

When those two align, you don’t just make a sale - you create advocates. Because, in the end, people remember how you made them feel. And no campaign, however clever, can compensate for an experience that doesn’t live up to the story you’ve told.