Customer Satisfaction as Key to Online Education’s Success
Online education is progressively being perceived as a service industry, with a focus on serving the needs and expectations of its clients, the students. According to Mahajan (2017), concerns about satisfaction and students’ evaluations of excellence would entice and keep students, just like any other type of business. According to Lau (2020), student happiness and engagement are inextricably linked. In today’s highly competitive market, any business must create a high-quality product that meets customer expectations, charge a fair price, grow distribution, and follow it up with a solid marketing strategy. All that the online educatio sector can do to affect demand for its product is included in the marketing mix. Customer perceptions of quality in the context of online educational services are also improving. The link amongn consumer pleasure and quality of service has garnered considerable attention as well.
This study aims to investigate the marketing mix strategy and adaptation in online education in the United Kingdom. The study’s findings will be used to help build marketing strategies for the online education sector.
- To establish the importance of marketing strategy in online education.
- To verify if the distribution approach has an impact on students’ purchase intention
- To evaluate 7ps of marketing in online education and its adaptation.
- How the Marketing Mix does influences students’ online education?
- What are the marketing-related factors that affect the online education sector?
The findings of this research would assist both scholars and students equally. The relevance of marketing mix and adaptation in online education in the United Kingdom is highlighted. This paper would assist future academics and researchers in understanding the importance of the marketing mix.
Several scholars in the sphere of online education have examined service marketing. Intangible, inseparable, heterogenic, and perishable are the four aspects of services. Since a service cannot be preserved for subsequent use, it is characterised as perishable (Ndofirepi, Farinloye, and Mogaji 2020). Service heterogeneity is a result of the difficulty in standardising service performance that has an impact on quality. Even though the buyer and the seller are both responsible for the consumption and production of the services provided, service delivery and consumption are inextricably linked. Considering online education services demand a distinct marketing mix than traditional consumer goods, a change in the marketing mix is required. The four Ps of traditional product marketing is product, pricing, promotion, and place (or distribution). As in the service industry, the marketing mix can be modified and is still significant to some level. People, processes, and physical evidence have been added to improve service delivery (Prabowo and Sriwidadi 2019).
Product is whatever catches people’s interest, encourages them to buy, acquire, or consume it, and fulfils a demand or necessity. A product might be a tangible item or an intangible service. Televisions, cell phones, and other tangible things are illustrations of tangible products. Legal counsels provided by a lawyer or medical care provided by a doctor are instances of intangible services or items (Gunawan and Wahyuni 2018). As a result, online educational services are an intangible product in which an educator instructs learners using any available internet media. In online education marketing, the product is linked to educational facilities.
Price Is An Important Part Of The Marketing Mix For Attracting Students And Earning Revenue For Professors. The Price Is Sum Of Money Customer Pays For Service or product that an organisation provides. Prices, according to Hung (2020), are defined as what is offered in return for services and goods.
Marketing Mix and Service Marketing in the Online Education Industry
The online education industry must communicate with their target audience to pique their interest; they should engage students and parents regarding their goals and actions. Promotional strategies are one key area that requires an appropriate response; online educators must employ promotional policies to inspire their potential customers as well as the services they deliver (Hung 2020).
All business initiatives that make the product accessible to the intended consumer are included in the marketing mix. The concept of producing goods and services accessible to clients for convenient consumption is known as distribution. When it comes to reaching out to customers, the majority of service providers use direct marketing (Setiawan et al. 2021). In online education marketing, place (distribution) refers to the accessibility and affordability of teaching in any location through online mode.
The most crucial aspect of any service or experience is the people. Customer experience components are customised to match the demands of the people who consume them, and services are frequently generated and used at the same time. Everyone participating in the development and delivery of a service is referred to as people (Khodakarami et al. 2021). The professor’s and staff’s performance is determined by their ability, abilities, experience, and knowledge. Customers (students) expect high-quality service, thus professionals must possess the necessary social skills, intelligence, and knowledge of the service industry.
The enhanced marketing mix, sometimes known as the 7Ps, includes the process. The process of 7Ps refers to the steps taken by customers to get and consume a product, as well as all of the actions associated with manufacturing and providing the service (Jain and Jain 2017). To put it another way, the process is how the customer obtains the service. In the marketing and business literature, there are a variety of perspectives on the process. Enrolment, program completion, assessments, results in publication, and graduates are among the bureaucratic responsibilities of online education. The online education process includes customer counselling, customer interaction, staff discretion, methods, procedures, policies, and the flow of activities.
Every research includes a research methodology in which the analyst describes the research approaches used. The research method is used as an interpretation tool to assist the audience in determining whether the evidence presented in the study came from reliable sources. After that, in this study, the research approach is implemented to teach the reader about the research techniques used (Kumar 2018). This component of the study covers the research strategy and data collection methods, as well as the data analysis method.
According to Pandey and Pandey (2021), primary and primary data can employ a variety of methods, the most prevalent of which are interviews and surveys in primary data applied studies. A survey method will be employed in this research. The researcher would use an online survey for a variety of reasons, including the source data’s high credibility and reliability. As a result, the researcher will be able to generate accurate and trustworthy results. The current study will be quantitative rather than qualitative. The number of answers from students will be counted. The number of answers from customers will be counted. Quantitative research, according to Pandey and Pandey (2021), may detect numerical data and quantity types of data.
Product, Price, Promotion, and Place: Adapting the 4Ps of Traditional Marketing Mix
The primary data collecting method and the secondary data collection method, according to Pandey and Pandey (2021), are two important data gathering methods used in academic research. To collect data for the current inquiry, the main data collecting strategy will be applied. Students from private schools and institutions in the UK will participate in this online poll. The study enlisted the participation of 400 pupils from private schools and institutions in the UK. The convenience sampling strategy will be used to select the samples due to the ease with which they can be collected, notably in terms of time (Kumar 2018). Data confidentially will be protected during the main data collection period, by study ethics. Customers’ personal information will be kept private and would not be shared.
According to Taherdoost (2016), data analysis is the method of analysing collected data to achieve research objectives, and theoretical concepts can be used in this process. A descriptive analysis will be performed on the data collected through an online survey. For the study’s sample, around 200 students will be chosen at random. Pie charts and bar charts will be used to illustrate the data collected, and Microsoft Excel will be used to accomplish so. The information will next be analysed utilising literature reviews.
4. Conclusion
Investigating the marketing mix strategy and adaptation in online education in the United Kingdom is the aim of this research paper. This research will be completed using the primary data, and thus, an online survey will be conducted among 400 students from private schools and institutions in the UK.
5. References
Gunawan, A. and Wahyuni, S.F., 2018. The effect of the marketing mix, service quality, islamic values and institutional image on students’ satisfaction and loyalty. Expert Journal of Marketing, 6(2).
Hung, N.T., 2020. The Impact of Educational Marketing on Universities Performance: Evidence from Private Management Colleges of Vietnam. International Journal of Management (IJM), 11(11).
Jain, M.R. and Jain, S., 2017. Analyzing and Exploring the Effectiveness of Each Element of 7Ps of Marketing Mix.
Khodakarami, P., Zakaria, Z., binti Jamil, R. and Najmaei, M., 2021. The influence of Management Commitment on Inward Export Performance in Higher Education: Mediating Role of People Marketing Mix Adaptation. Journal of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing, 5(4), pp.561-576.
Kumar, R., 2018. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage.
Lau, M.Y.M., 2020. Effects of marketing mix on students’ selection of transnational top-up degrees in Hong Kong. International Review of Management and Marketing, 10(5), p.27.
Mahajan, P., 2017. Incorporating 11 p’s of service marketing mix and its impact on the development of technical education. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 20(2).
Ndofirepi, E., Farinloye, T. and Mogaji, E., 2020. 13 Marketing mix in a heterogenous higher education market. Understanding the Higher Education Market in Africa, p.222.
Pandey, P. and Pandey, M.M., 2021. Research methodology tools and techniques. Bridge Center.
Prabowo, H. and Sriwidadi, T., 2019. The Effect of Marketing Mix toward Brand Equity at Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study in BINUS Online Learning Jakarta. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 27(2).
Setiawan, R., Cavaliere, L.P.L., Hussaini, T., Villalba-Condori, K.O., Arias-Chavez, D., Gupta, M., Untari, D.T. and Regin, R., 2021. The Impact of Educational Marketing on Universities Performance (Doctoral dissertation, Petra Christian University).
Taherdoost, H., 2016. Sampling methods in research methodology; how to choose a sampling