Student Engagement Statistics: UK Data for Brands

The most useful student engagement statistics measure what students do after they meet a brand: whether they respond, sign up, keep what they were given and say they will buy again. Official bodies such as HESA tell you how many students there are, not how they engage. Dig In’s survey programme, with over a million responses since 2016, fills that gap for UK brands.

Key points

• 88.7% of students said the Welcome Bag improved their welcome, rating it 4.3 out of 5 (2024, n=48,991).

• The median brand saw 85% of students say they were likely to buy again after trial (2025, 24 surveys), and 96% would recommend (2025, 20 surveys).

• 96% of students still carried the Santander tote weeks later (n=50,000, Santander’s End of Campaign Report 2025).

• More than 64,000 students signed up to mydigin.com during Freshers 2026 (Customer.io, 8 October 2026).

• Many widely shared Gen Z engagement figures have no traceable source. Check the primary source before you quote one.

Why student engagement statistics need checking

Student engagement numbers are scattered across education bodies, discount platforms, social analytics vendors and one-off surveys. Many round-ups repeat figures with no primary source, and some mix up different measures: purchase intent quoted as recall, or reach quoted as survey sample. This page uses only figures with a named source, a year and a sample size.

How students engage with physical touchpoints

Something physical, delivered to where students live, is still one of the clearest ways to get noticed in the first weeks of term.

• Welcome Bag: 88.7% said the Welcome Bag improved their welcome, rated 4.3 out of 5 (2024, n=48,991).

• Santander tote, 2025: 500,000 totes distributed, 96% still carried weeks later (n=50,000) and 10,000+ student photos, according to Santander’s End of Campaign Report.

• Santander mailer, 2025: 1,053 registrations from 4,037 views.

The Santander results show the point of a useful item: a tote that is still being carried weeks later keeps the brand in view long after the first contact. See the Santander case study.

How students respond to product trial

The Dig In Trial Benchmark covers 196 brand surveys for 161 brands since 2018. For the median brand:

• 85% of students said they were likely to buy again (2025, 24 surveys), rising to 88% in 2026.

• 96% said they would recommend the product (2025, 20 surveys).

• 8.8 out of 10 for taste (2025, 18 surveys).

Named results sit around those medians:

• Coca-Cola, 2026: 89.9% likely to buy Original and Zero (n=3,019), from 8,225 survey responses.

• Nivea Soft, 2024: 87.6% likely to buy again and 98% would recommend (NIVEA Freshers 2024, n=2,986).

• Boots, 2024: 82.5% likely to shop at Boots (Freshers 2024, n up to 6,093).

These are stated intentions from surveys. They show strong engagement with the product, but they are not sales, so pair them with redemption or retailer data.

How students engage after the first contact

mydigin.com is printed on every Dig In bag, and it carries the relationship on after arrival.

• Sign-ups: more than 64,000 students signed up to mydigin.com during Freshers 2026, and the number is still growing (Customer.io, 8 October 2026).

• Year on year: Golden Ticket sign-ups were nearly double the previous year at the same point (59,935 at 28 September 2026, against 31,191 in 2025).

• Email reach: 173,000 students on Dig In’s mailing list, and 4.4 million emails delivered in the 12 months to September 2026.

Dig In doesn’t quote email open rates. Many recorded opens are generated automatically by email apps, so open rates overstate attention. Volume and named campaign results are more honest measures.

Survey participation as a sign of engagement

Students taking time to answer questions about a brand is engagement in its own right, and it produces the evidence brands need.

• Over a million survey responses since 2016.

• 48,991 responses to the Golden Ticket survey in 2024.

• 8,225 responses across seven Coca-Cola surveys in 2026.

The money context

The Student Futures Index 2026, from Dig In with We Are Futures (1,086 students), found 88% say managing money is an important life skill and only 30% feel confident managing money. Students engage readily with things that are free and useful, and are more selective about everything else.

What these numbers mean for campaigns

1. Lead with something useful. Students under money pressure respond to free trial and items they keep using.

2. Reach them where they live. A product in their room in the first days of term gets attention that a feed struggles to match.

3. Give every touchpoint a next step. A QR code, a sign-up or a survey turns a moment of attention into measurable engagement.

4. Measure intent and behaviour separately. Purchase intent shows the product landed; redemption and repeat purchase show what it earned.

5. Use a benchmark. A result means more against the median of other brands than on its own.

Sources and method

Dig In figures come from Dig In’s survey store, Customer.io and client reports, each with its year and sample size. Santander figures are from Santander’s End of Campaign Report 2025. The Student Futures Index 2026 is a joint study by Dig In with We Are Futures. For official student numbers, use HESA and UCAS.

Questions brands ask

What is a good engagement rate for a student sampling campaign?

For stated purchase intent after trial, the median brand in Dig In’s surveys saw 85% of students say they were likely to buy again in 2025 (24 surveys) and 88% in 2026. Use that as the reference point and add redemption data for behaviour.

Why doesn’t Dig In quote email open rates?

Many recorded opens are triggered automatically by email apps, so open rates overstate how many students read a message. Dig In reports email volume and named campaign results instead.

How are Dig In’s student statistics collected?

Through Dig In’s own survey programme, run after campaigns and through mydigin.com, with over a million responses since 2016. Each figure carries its year and sample size.

Working with Dig In

Dig In has reached students arriving at university since 2015 and measures engagement with its own student surveys. If you want to see how students engage with brands in your category, ask our team for the data.