The Chemistry of Storytelling
Choosing a university is an important decision for young people; it’s not just about finding the right course and a university with the right credentials, but about finding somewhere that feels like home, an intangible feeling that can be hard to evoke, especially in an online environment. We know that applications are driven by a combination of both the head and the heart, so making sure that students have ‘the feels’ about your university is mission critical. Immersive storytelling can help to create a powerful emotional connection so when prospective students come to make their choice they can lean heavily on those feelings of connection and belonging, and choose you.
This isn’t just anecdotal; neuroscience supports it. Good stories and experiences invoke chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters like oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins. Oxytocin amps up the emotional connection between storytellers and their audience; dopamine is the reward hormone that gives us a feel-good rush, and you know how gripped you are at the end of an episode with a cliffhanger? (Currently me, every Monday night after watching HBO’s House of the Dragon…) That’s an endorphin release you’re feeling.
But how can you make an audience feel these things through your website content?
Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a neuroscientist to figure this out. Independent research and our own Vepple platform data show that not only is it possible to adopt storytelling principles within digital experiences, but when you do, students are much more likely to engage.
Digital Platforms: Bridging the Emotional Gap
How can you communicate your university’s unique ‘vibe’ and showcase student life in a way that engages prospective students on an emotional level? Through storytelling, universities can paint a vivid picture of campus life triggering emotional responses like joy, anticipation, and a sense of belonging.
Data tells us that storytelling through digital platforms, such as Vepple, dramatically enhances engagement. For instance, guided tours led by students, which give a peek into the daily life and culture of university campuses, can increase engagement times by up to 155% compared to the platform average.*
For many students, especially those from overseas, the first real ‘experience’ of a university is through its digital presence. Platforms like Vepple not only offer a solution to the physical distance but do it in an emotionally engaging way. So it’s crucial to get these first touchpoints right and optimise them to deliver against your targets. By using storytelling techniques, prospective students can explore university campuses through virtual guided tours which pull together 360 panoramas, interactive maps, student ambassadors, curated social media content, and videos that provide a sense of place and community. Such experiences make the university more than an option; they turn it into a preference.
We commissioned the latest wave of our primary research programme in February 2024** to explore how prospective students reacted to different digital platforms, specifically comparing a more traditional website with a virtual Vepple powered-experience. We also compared data from a Russell Group university and Post 92 university in the same city. Here are some of the more interesting highlights:
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- Students who engage with digital platforms that incorporate storytelling elements, like Vepple, are twice as likely to describe their experience as exciting when compared to those using a traditional website.
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- There was an 80% increase in users saying the university has good accommodation after using a digital platform that embraces storytelling.
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- 70% of students said a Vepple-powered experience would make them more likely to attend an in-person open day.
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- 65% of students are more likely to apply to that university after using Vepple.
But what if I’m no Shakespeare? Do I have to be a good storyteller to do good storytelling?
No! Universities already have so much great content, it’s less about creating new content and more about how you structure it, or how you present it.
Vepple customers can easily take content they already have (photos, 360s, videos, maps etc), pull it into a Vepple guided tour and create a narrative to present the story. By tapping into the power of storytelling through these guided tours, they can more easily communicate their university ‘vibe’ as well as increase student engagement with their content.
We can even help in writing that narrative. Our clever development team have created the Veppliser, using generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) to support our university partners in writing a narrative for guided tours, significantly reducing the time and effort required!
So, with some clever prompts and adding information such as the required stops along a guided tour the Veppliser will then create an introduction to your guided tour, descriptions for each stop and even a suggested script for student ambassadors to use. Obviously, we always recommend that they edit it to check for tone of voice and accuracy, but the output from the Veppliser significantly reduces the copywriting burden on a university content team when creating guided tours. A tool so useful that it’s been approved by Google’s Cloud Trust and Safety Team as a safe web-app for anyone to use.
See it in action:
The Emotional Heartbeat of University Choice
When The University of Salford came to us for help in improving their engagement levels in their Vepple virtual experience, we used the Veppliser to restructure their existing content into stories. After implementing “Day in the Life” guided tours across 30 subject areas, they saw an immediate 44% increase in average engagement time per session and a 111% increase in page views per session.*
These numbers not only highlight the effectiveness of well-crafted digital stories but also underline the potential for universities to profoundly impact their appeal through emotional engagement.
I spoke to Kyle Campbell about the impact storytelling has had for the University of Salford in a recent podcast:
Listen to the full podcast on Spotify.
Take a look at how effectively guided tours present information through a narrative that tells a story:
In the competitive landscape of higher education, universities that effectively harness the power of emotional connection through digital storytelling are the ones that stand out. They are not just seen as educational institutions but as communities where students feel they can thrive, belong, and succeed.
Vepple, with its array of personalised and immersive digital tools, enables universities to create these crucial emotional engagements. It’s not just about showcasing the university; it’s about letting prospective students experience it in a way that speaks directly to their hearts.
For students choosing their perfect university, it’s these emotional connections, carefully woven through digital narratives, that often tip the scales. And for universities, it’s a powerful reminder that in the digital age, the heart still has an important place in decision-making.
Sources
* Taken from Vepple platform analytics
** Market research undertaken by The Student Room for Revolution Viewing in February 2024. 768 students were surveyed with a planned entry year of either 2024 or 2025. Each respondent used one of four websites to find key information and were asked the same follow-up questions. These four websites were: two traditional university websites (representing a Russel Group an Post-92 university) and two Vepple-powered Virtual Experiences for each of the same universities.
