National Express used Dig In welcome boxes in 2022 and 2023 to give new students travel offers on arrival day and learn how they plan to travel.
The brief
New students make regular long trips home and to see friends, but most do not have a car at university. National Express wanted to reach them before their first trip, ahead of rail and other coach brands.
What we did
We put National Express offers in the Dig In welcome box so students had them on arrival day: 188,965 offers in 2023. Each year a survey with a free-travel prize asked students how often and why they travel, and what they think of National Express.
The result
188,965
offers delivered on arrival day, Freshers 2023
88%
said they would use their National Express offer, 3,072 respondents, Freshers 2023
4.5 / 5
brand rating for National Express, 5,600 respondents, Freshers 2022
80%
would consider coach for a long-distance UK journey, 5,600 respondents, Freshers 2022
What it means for brands like yours
Travel habits form in the first term, when students work out how to get home. An offer in hand on arrival day put National Express into that decision early, and the surveys gave the brand a picture of when and why students travel.
Questions
Did National Express market to university students?
Yes. National Express offers went into Dig In’s Freshers welcome boxes in 2022 and 2023, with 188,965 delivered on arrival day in 2023.
Would students use the offer?
88% of respondents said they would use their National Express offer (3,072 respondents, Freshers 2023).
What else did the survey cover?
How often and why students travel, and how they rate coach travel for long journeys.