Everyone talks about personalisation, but most brands are still treating it as a checkbox. Gen Z students turn out to be one of the clearest mirrors for this, they’re vocal, fast to disengage, and surprisingly willing to share data when the value is obvious. New data from Pion’s Freshers report cuts through the noise on what actually moves the needle. 

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What the article covers:

• Why personalisation fails even when brands think they’re doing it right
• What student behaviour reveals about the data-trust tension all brands face
• The difference between a one-time discount hunter and a loyal customer, and how you create the latter
• What the Freshers report data tells us about offer relevance, friction, and loyalty

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1. The personalisation gap most brands don’t see

The personalisation gap that many brands are facing only see it as a targeting problem. It’s actually a value exchange problem. 98% of students want deals and 82% want them personalised. That’s not a niche preference, it’s a baseline expectation. 

The value exchange problem can be seen by how 42% of students are put off by long or complex sign-ups and 41% disengage when offers feel irrelevant. That’s not a data problem. That’s a broken value exchange problem. Students don’t want to only feel like a consumer for a brand, but a part of a community. A student consumer wants to experience the brand.

This pattern isn’t unique to students or Gen Z. It’s just more apparent, and more measurable, when the audience has less patience for friction and higher expectations to be seen by a brand. Which makes them a useful mirror for what every brand should be asking about their own audience.

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2. Why value exchange has to be instant

Gen Z students see friction and irrelevance as the same problem. It leaves them thinking that a brand “doesn’t get them,” therefore they don’t want to continue purchasing from the brand or give them their data. Once that impression forms, it’s very hard to undo. 

Students aren’t anti-data sharing, they’re anti-sharing to a brand that gives nothing in return. This can be seen in the Freshers Report where 95% of students want a brand to reflect their values, and 85% say the brand's values influence their choices. Those aren’t small numbers. That’s nearly every student saying brand identity matters to them. Practical relevance, however, wins when budgets are tight. 

Values build a fondness towards a brand, but relevant offers drive consumer action. 

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3. Timing is a personalisation strategy

Timing is as important as targeting. Most brands get one right. 

The spend is high, but that’s exactly when loyalty is most fragile, not most guaranteed. During Freshers, spending is high, for example 71% of students spent over £100 and 56% spent over £150. On the other hand, loyalty is at its lowest. 

A prime example of balancing relevance is PureGym’s Freshers campaign. They showed up at a routine-forming moment, and framed their offer as an essential partner in students' growing lives. While they did have a promotional aspect of exclusive student deals, which included a £0 joining fee and discounted memberships, they picked a key point of where students are open to trying something new. 

A moment-based personalization outperforms a segment-based personalization. A quick purchase fails in comparison to a brand aiming to be part of someone's routine, especially during key transition moments that matter like moving, social life changes, or trying to form a new routine. Ask yourself, is your brand showing up at the moment, or just at the demographic?

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4. From discount hunters to loyal customers

A discount gets attention. Relevance gets loyalty. Most brands are only investing in one. Brands that consistently show up across the year build a familiarity that survives the constant cycle of budgeting. Consumers won’t try something new if they are tight on budgets, instead they will default to brands they trust and have seen more than once. 

Creating a pattern that a consumer can remember, holds for any audience in a life transition or routine. Supporting a consumer as they settle into something new helps build an emotional connection, not just brand recall. 

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5. What good personalisation actually requires

The brands winning with students and large audiences aren’t doing anything different, instead they are more precise. 

Verified audience data is a key help, it removes the guessing work on who you’re actually talking to. A verified audience comes with a consumer knowing that there is a high value exchange relationship that benefits them. 

To earn this audience, life stage segmentation gets you closer to the moment. 

The right offer, to the right person, at the right moment always wins. 

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