When students don’t feel they belong, they tune out. By rethinking how it communicates, the Plus Programme saw stronger engagement, higher attendance, and improved student confidence – all thanks to behavioural science.
The Challenge
Despite the potential benefits of the Plus Programme, many underrepresented students eligible for support were not engaging with its events and opportunities.
Feedback revealed several barriers to participation. Students often experienced social isolation and imposter syndrome, while others struggled with time constraints due to external responsibilities.
A common issue was a lack of awareness or understanding of the Programme.
Some students didn’t realise they were enrolled, often due to impersonal or overwhelming email communications.
Others feared that participating might signal a disadvantaged background, leading to stigma or perceptions of being less capable.
Negative early experiences – such as discomfort in social settings or unsuccessful applications to events – further discouraged continued involvement. Additionally, email fatigue, information overload, and unclear relevance of activities contributed to low engagement levels.
To ensure all students felt supported and empowered to access the Programme’s benefits, these challenges needed to be addressed effectively.
The Approach
To address these obstacles to engagement, the Plus Programme collaborated with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) in 2019 to apply behavioural science principles in designing a communications trial aimed at improving student engagement.
Together, they crafted behaviourally informed emails and text messages that:
- Normalised common concerns about belonging by including quotes from relatable student voices.
- Reduced choice overload by grouping events into clear, thematic categories and simplifying the content.
- Emphasised the social and emotional benefits of participation – such as a sense of belonging – rather than focusing solely on long-term outcomes like employability.
The intervention was tested through a randomised control trial involving over 3,000 students.
In addition to emails, text messages were used to increase salience and deliver timely, personalised nudges. A welcome message strategy was also introduced, highlighting exclusive access, offering reassurance, and including planning prompts to create a positive first impression.
The Impact
The results of the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) approach were promising. Email click-through rates increased by 5 percentage points – a 21.1% relative improvement – among students who received the behaviourally informed messages. On average, students in the treatment group opened one more email than those in the control group, indicating stronger engagement with communications.
As one student shared, “I love reading the newsletters – it helps me to feel more involved in university.” This reflects a broader trend in which personalised, relevant communication enhanced students’ sense of connection.
Event attendance also rose, with a 3.1 percentage point increase per 100 students. Importantly, the new messaging approach helped reduce psychological barriers such as imposter syndrome and decision fatigue, particularly for new students. Another student noted, “From the newsletters/emails, the Plus Programme has helped me with exposure to different opportunities.” This underscores how simply being aware of support – even without participating in events – can positively influence students’ confidence and sense of belonging.
The trial highlighted the potential of behavioural messaging as a scalable, low-cost strategy to enhance engagement among underrepresented student groups. One long-time participant observed, “I’ve been a part of the Plus Programme for a long time now... I definitely think it’s been easier for me to engage with the comms from Plus Programme over the last year or two.” These evolving improvements have not gone unnoticed by the students themselves.
Since the trial, the team have adopted the learnings whilst also further refining communications to Plus Programme students and continue to see good results.
Connect with us to see the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) approach in action. Follow our Instagram and visit our website to discover how behaviourally informed communications are transforming our engagement strategies. Contact the Plus Programme by emailing theplusprogramme@leeds.ac.uk.