- You must keep in mind that you have 2 main audiences- students and their parents. It’s important to balance the design and information presented.
- Determine your Call to Action (CTA).
- The primary audience for the site is prospective students and parents, and the goal of the site is to provide applications. From both content and design information architecture standpoints, this goal should drive all aspects of the project.
- Develop the content and design the pages to allow prospective students to actually “see” themselves at the university. Incorporate student photos, quotes and testimonials to allow users to get a feel for the university and what life is like there.
- The information architecture should be simple and concise to increase usability. Limit the navigation to key links that are logical in the “buyer’s journey” for the prospective student audience. The number of links on the secondary navigation and the side navigation is overwhelming. Maintain consistency with navigation and page structure throughout the site.
- The key admissions information needs to be easily located, centralized and robust. The analytics show that these are among the top pages and are in line with the primary objective for the website – as a marketing tool to bring in new students.
- The program pages are key in the decision-making process of choosing a university. These pages need to be built out with more content to give prospective students more information. The analytics support the need for this. The program pages received more views than the home page, so they need to be very complete in the information presented. Faculty, courses needed, and course schedules were missing from program pages.
- Your website is often the first impression a customer has of your company so it’s important that it be user friendly and well-designed. If you make a good impression, you might gain a new customer, make a bad one and you may lose that potential customer to your competitor. Here are three ways that UserTesting can help you optimize your website to make a good impression for potential customers
- As you decide what to test on your website, think about the outcomes, results, or KPIs that have the greatest impact on your business outcomes. This sets the focus on gathering insights that align with strategies and activities that drive positive business results. Understanding your customers is the key to any successful business. While looking to create or revamp a website, if you consider customer feedback throughout the development and optimization process you will be able to create solutions and experiences that match what your customers are looking for.
- User testing through certain platforms allows you to see visually every move of the mouse and keystroke, as well as hear from user commentary as they navigate through your website with a list of tasks. Getting this feedback before a website redesign is great to give you information on what you are doing well and to inform the things that need improvement.
- As you review the results, you will likely notice a series of themes or issues that need addressing. You may also gain insightful feedback that only a few users experience, but that information is still valuable in understanding the site usability.
User feedback is a great opportunity to improve the user experience and ensure that your customers are getting the best experience they can from your website.
Visit our Higher Education Specialties page to read more about Steel’s Higher Education Marketing Capabilities.
Source: UserTesting – The Complete Guide to User Testing Websites, Apps and Prototypes
Based in Austin, Texas, Steel is a full-service integrated ad agency that uses a deep understanding of how families make purchase decisions to deliver brands that families love. In close partnership with our clients, Steel unites data, technology, creativity and influence to produce more stunning growth for brands in health, education, food and fun that serve the American family.
