Email is a key communication channel between City & Guilds and its centres. In 2011, it radically changed its email newsletter service, resulting in a substantial measured improvement in centre engagement.
City & Guilds relaunched its email newsletter, Focus, in order to provide a new, customisable notification system. Within the first three weeks of the new system launching, response rates to emails were up 60%, the result of centres being allowed to customise their notifications to ensure relevance. The new service allows City & Guilds to send its customers news about industries they are interested in, as well as options to receive updates on e-learning and information specific to their role, whether it’s as an employer, college head or training provider. By creating tailor-made email updates, City & Guilds has proven its ability to make meaningful communications with customers. With a vastly improved email-open rate over the previous version of Focus, the new email service will help give customers timely, relevant knowledge that they can act on to drive their business efficiently.
Adapting to customers
While colleges, training centres and learners share many of the same challenges, all of them have specific requirements that cannot be met using ‘off the peg’ solutions.
Building tailored solutions to customer needs is a crucial part of what City & Guilds offers. In 2010-11, City & Guilds has been working at a local level to meet the grass-roots needs of individual regions and colleges. Since 2010, City & Guilds has been running a pilot scheme in conjunction with Hertfordshire Local Authority to introduce functional skills and employability qualifications in schools. Emma Tingley, Business Manager at City & Guilds explains the thinking behind the Hertfordshire Schools Project. ‘Hertfordshire is a very high- achieving area, with good GCSE results,’ says Tingley. ‘But we want to ensure that all learners in the area have access to qualifications – whatever their level and skill – and to make sure that each learner has a clear pathway to progression.’ Through the Functional Skills and
Employability qualifications, learners are having their numeracy and literacy skills recognised, as well as developing soft skills and learning essential tips such as CV writing. Meanwhile in Walsall, City & Guilds has been demonstrating its ability to build completely new ways of working to help customers and learners get the most out of qualifications. In 2010-11, Walsall College worked
E-volving assessments Since October 2010, City & Guilds has produced over 250 e-assessments for a variety of qualifications, including engineering, automotive, aeronautical and furniture production
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with City & Guilds to test a new model of quality assurance. College directors gave City & Guilds a clearer understanding of what the college needs from awarding organisations and these findings have been incorporated into a new quality package. ‘For the first time, our quality and support package is agreed in one document, which enables the college to plan more effectively,’ says Chris McCaffrey, Head of Customer Support at City & Guilds. The new package is designed to give centres a flexible level of quality assurance based on the centre’s individual needs. In Hertfordshire and Walsall, City & Guilds is demonstrating its ability to develop leading-edge thinking that benefits customers and will, in time, improve the national landscape.
‘We want to ensure that all learners have access to qualifications, and a clear pathway to progression – whatever their level’ Emma Tingley, Business Manager, City & Guilds