Students demand results…by text
A Chester-based mobile marketing innovator has made Scottish students more connected to education than ever by sending out results by text.
Students traditionally receive their National Qualification results through the post from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
But this year, more than 45,000 students opted to receive their results by text message.
Results day can be tense as students wait to receive their results, so the SQA partnered with award-winning mobile communications company Textlocal to make the delivery of grades more efficient and personal.
SMS has proved to be the fastest and most accessible way to deliver results to students, who can access their grades anywhere, such as away from home or on holiday, as long as they have their phone with them.
Receiving the information early provides candidates the most opportunity to consider their next steps.
In 2006, SQA introduced ResultsOnline, a service, allowing candidates to register for online delivery of their grades. In 2008, this was re-launched as MySQA, a portal that candidates could use to access an online record of their qualifications and achievements.
By registering and activating a MySQA account, candidates can opt to receive their exam results by email or SMS. The all-important results are delivered through these channels from 8am, which reduces that agonising wait for the post to arrive.
Jason Palgrave-Jones, Managing Director from Textlocal, said: “Students are becoming more connected than ever to education thanks to a service that enables them to receive their results the moment they are released.
“Textlocal is about speed, efficiency and personalised service. They are the key elements for good communication in the digital age and it is vital that students going on to the next stage in their lives can receive the information they need using a service they use most frequently.”
As more students register with MySQA every year, the awards body foresees SMS becoming an ever more popular choice. This service also demonstrates how SQA is listening to their candidates’ needs and providing information via an accessible route.
Stuart Davidson, SQA’s Director of Business Systems, said: “Our partnership with Textlocal has been incredibly helpful. Their team immediately understood how important it is for us to get candidates’ results to them quickly and efficiently on the morning of results day.
“The Textlocal team worked collaboratively with us throughout the planning process to ensure that their systems were ready, tested, and proven well in advance.”
SQA is the national awarding and accreditation body in Scotland and helps people realise their potential and achieve their ambitions by providing a wide range of high quality, internationally recognised qualifications and associated services.
One of its suites of qualifications are National Courses and Awards, which were achieved by more than 140,000 students in 2016, from around 600 schools and colleges.
Textlocal is an award-winning mobile communications company, based in Malvern and Chester, and founded in 2005. More than 160,000 users have sent more than one billion text messages using their Messenger platform.
Textlocal have been transforming the way businesses communicate using Messenger.
They have been listed by Media Momentum’s Top 20 fastest growing digital agencies across Europe for three consecutive years and in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100.
SMS can be a more effective engagement tool for business than email or social media, because the open rate is so much higher. The average open rate across all industries is less than 23 per cent, while 99 per cent of all texts are opened and nine out of 10 are read within three minutes.
