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Akero is a marketing platform for universities and higher education institutions. It captures prospective student leads, scores them, automates campaigns and syncs with Salesforce Education Cloud and similar CRMs.
Akero is a marketing platform purpose built for universities, business schools and other higher education institutions. It captures prospective student leads from web forms, landing pages, paid media and offline sources, scores them, runs nurturing campaigns, and synchronises with the institutional CRM, typically Salesforce Education Cloud or HubSpot. Akero is widely used by UK and European universities recruiting international students.
Akero loads a tracking script on the institution website and hosts forms on landing pages. It enriches each captured lead with country, course interest, behavioural events, and source attribution, then pushes the record to the CRM with a unified score. The platform also publishes paid media campaigns directly to Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok and measures performance end to end.
Akero sets first party cookies on the institution domain (akero_id, akero_session) and may use third party cookies on akero.io. It collects the IP, user agent, referrer, URL, the form fields submitted (name, email, country, course interest, sometimes date of birth), behavioural events, and the device fingerprint. Ad platform pixels can also be loaded inside the Akero tag.
Prospective student records may include minors, special category indicators (health, financial aid), and persons in vulnerable situations. The tracking cookies are not strictly necessary, so Article 5(3) ePrivacy requires consent. Marketing emails and SMS require a separate opt in under Article 13 ePrivacy. Akero acts as a processor under your DPA for marketing automation and as a controller for product improvement.
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Akero is hosted on AWS in the United States. Lead data, behavioural events and message content are transferred to the US. Transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and on Standard Contractual Clauses for non DPF subprocessors. Document the chain in your record of processing activities and your privacy notice.
Sign the DPA, gate the Akero tag behind consent in your CMP, set a clear retention period for unconverted prospects, and use granular consent for marketing emails, SMS and profiling separately. Minimise form fields, avoid asking for date of birth or financial aid unless strictly necessary, and ensure ad platform pixels are also gated behind consent. Disclose Akero in your privacy notice and the prospective student fair processing notice.
Websites using Akero must obtain user consent under GDPR regulations.
DPIA considerations
A DPIA is recommended. Akero processes detailed prospective student profiles (interests, geography, behaviour), often including minors or applicants from sensitive contexts. Document the lead capture sources, the retention period, the US transfer mechanism, and the data sharing with the institutional CRM.
Sample consent text
We use Akero to manage prospective student communication. Akero sets cookies on this site and transfers your interactions and contact details to its servers in the United States. We only activate it after you accept the marketing category in our cookie banner, and we collect a separate opt in for marketing emails.
Third-party domains contacted
app.akero.iotracking.akero.iocdn.akero.ioforms.akero.ioCookies placed
| Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| akero_id | http_cookie | 1 year | Persistent prospective student identifier set by the Akero tag on the institution domain. |
| akero_session | http_cookie | Session | Session identifier used to deduplicate page views and events within a single visit. |
| akero_attr | http_cookie | 90 days | Attribution cookie storing the original campaign, source and medium of the visitor. |
| akero_form_state | http_cookie | 30 days | Form state cookie used to remember partial submissions and last viewed step in the application flow. |
Akero places tracking cookies for advertising — comply with GDPR using FlowConsent.
Akero sets first party cookies (akero_id for the visitor, akero_session for the session, akero_attr for source attribution) on the institution domain. The Akero tag can also load advertising pixels (Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok) that set their own third party cookies.
Yes. The tracking cookies are not strictly necessary, so Article 5(3) ePrivacy requires consent. Marketing emails and SMS to prospective students require a separate opt in under Article 13 ePrivacy and the corresponding national rules.
Consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR for marketing and behavioural tracking. Contract performance under Article 6(1)(b) for the application workflow when the prospective student initiates it. A documented balancing test can support a narrow legitimate interest for lead scoring strictly within the institution.
Yes. Akero is hosted on AWS in the United States. Lead data, behavioural events and message content are transferred to the US. Transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and on Standard Contractual Clauses for non DPF subprocessors.
A DPIA is strongly recommended. Akero combines large scale behavioural tracking, potentially minor data subjects, automated lead scoring, and a US transfer. Several criteria of the EDPB DPIA guidelines apply.
Sign the DPA, gate the Akero tag behind consent in your CMP, request EU residency if available, minimise form fields, separate consent for marketing and profiling, and disclose Akero in your privacy notice and prospective student fair processing notice.
Alternatives include EnquiryBot, Element451, Salesforce Marketing Cloud for Education, FullFabric, Slate (Technolutions), and Mailchimp combined with a higher education CRM. EU based options include FullFabric and Salesforce EU residency.
Add an Akero entry listing the akero_id, akero_session and akero_attr cookies with their lifetime and purpose. Mention the US transfer mechanism, the role of Akero as processor for the institution and as independent controller for product improvement, and link to the Akero privacy notice.