mythbusting websites: what prospects value about #highered websites (and what we believe they value)
TRANSCRIPT
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• 45 minute webinar + 15 minutes for questions and answers • Ask questions through the GoToWebinar Control Panel • Tweet during the webinar with #higheredmyths • Please fill out the post-webinar evaluation • Check your inbox early next week for the webinar recording and slide deck
The Plan
#higheredmyths
#higheredmyths
Michael Stoner President, mStoner
[email protected] @mStonerVT
Gil Rogers Director of Enrollment Marketing, Chegg
[email protected] @GilRogers
#higheredmyths
Myth? OrReality?
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Myths or realities?
#higheredmyths
1. Your website is effective if it isn’t responsive.
2. Teens will think poorly of your college if you have a bad website.
3. Your website is the most important influence in a teen’s decision to apply.
4. Teens overwhelmingly prefer video and images to text on college websites.
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Myths or realities?
#higheredmyths
5. Teens move freely back and forth between social media and college websites.
6. Teens are eager to engage with your college through a smartphone app.
7. Virtual tours are way more important to teens than campus maps.
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Demographics: Professionals
#higheredmyths
• Work across multiple functions: marketing, communications, web, social media, admissions
• Institutions: 40 % public, 20% private universities; 33% liberal arts, colleges community colleges, prof schools
• More than 50% have worked in higher ed for 5-15 years • 596 responses included in final report
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Demographics: Teens
#higheredmyths
• 62% high school seniors; 35% juniors • Most considering applying to public (86%) or private universities (61%) &
51% considering both. 28% considering applying to liberal arts colleges • 87% had started researching colleges already • Prospect pool is diverse: 47% Caucasian/White; 24% Hispanic/Latino; 23%
African American/Black; 11% Asian • 2,346 responses included in final report
#higheredmyths
Your website iseffectiveif it isn’t responsive.
Myth or reality?
#higheredmyths
66%of teens used a smartphone or mobile
device to respond to our survey
#higheredmyths
81%of teens told us they visited a college website using a
mobile browser in our Mythbusting Admissions research, conducted in 2015 (mstnr.me/AdmissionMyths)
#higheredmyths
70%of teens told TeensTALK® 2016 that they
use a college website throughout their admission process (bit.ly/2frJo5e)
#higheredmyths
Teens will thinkpoorly of your collegeif you have a bad website.
Myth or reality?
#higheredmyths
82%of professionals said that a bad website
will have a negative impact on teens opinion of the college
#higheredmyths
74%of juniors agreed that “College websites make a
difference in my perception of the school.” (E-Expectations 2016: mstnr.me/E-Expect16)
#higheredmyths
43%of teens said that their opinion of a
college would be affected by a bad website
#higheredmyths
Kind of jobs I can get
Tuition, costs, aid info
Academic info
Student life info
Admission & app processes
What other students are like
Info re tours, info sessions
Scheduling a visit
0 10 20 30 40 50
Hard-to-use areas of .edu websites
#higheredmyths
Your website is the mostimportant influence ina teen’s decision to apply.
Myth or reality?
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The question we asked
#higheredmyths
“When you evaluate a particular college prior to deciding whether to apply, how important is the college’s website in your decision whether to apply or not?”
#higheredmyths
80%of professionals rated the importance
teens placed on a college’s website as 6 or 7
#higheredmyths
84.4%of respondents to NACAC’s “2015 State of
College Admission” attached “considerable importance” to websites as an undergraduate
recruitment strategy (mstnr.me/2dAAeSn)
#higheredmyths
of teens rated the a college’s website as 6 or 7 among sources of information
37%
#higheredmyths
Question:
“Which resources did you or would you use during each phase of the college application process?”
data & figure from TeensTALK® 2016; © Stamats 2016 | © Chegg 2016
#higheredmyths
Teens overwhelmingly prefer
video and images to texton college websites.
Myth or reality?
#higheredmyths
2.4 hrsaverage time teens spend each day watching
TV/DVDs/videos (The Common Sense Census: mstnr.me/2eko4vY)
#higheredmyths
76%of professionals said that teens prefer
video to text and images
#higheredmyths
40%of teens say they prefer video content
to text
#higheredmyths
Content preferences on a college website
what teens say (n=1902)
what professionals believe (n=520)
text & articles 64% 17%
photography 60% 74%
charts and infographics 47% 55%
headlines and subject lines 47% 57%
videos 40% 76%
other images besides photography 8% 6%
#higheredmyths
Teens click throughto your sitefrom social media sites
and vice versa.
Myth or reality?
#higheredmyths
Click-throughs from a .edu site to a social site*
to Facebook
to Twitter
to Instagram
to LinkedIn
to YouTube
to college search/help80
44
10
35
25
34
57
69
11
63
39
53
professionals (n=434) teens (n=1349)
*when researching colleges
#higheredmyths
Click-throughs to a .edu site from a social site*from Facebook
from Twitter
from Instagram
from LinkedIn
from YouTube
from Snapchat
from YikYak
to college search/help78
5
15
35
7
32
23
33
73
20
40
61
58
58
45
59
professionals (n=430) teens (n=1431)
*when researching colleges
#higheredmyths
Teens are eagerto engage with your collegethrough a smartphone app.
Myth or reality?
#AMAHigherEd #higheredmyths
#higheredmyths
54%of professionals said that teens will download
and use a college’s app after they’d decided which institution they were attending
#higheredmyths
72%of teens said they did not download or use
any college apps
updates on admissions info
learn about college-specific info
submit an applicataion
communicate with a college rep
take a virtual campus tour
0 16 32 48 64 80
Half of teens would download an app to communicate …
But: do you offer what they want?
#higheredmyths
#higheredmyths
Virtual tours areway more importantthan campus maps.
Myth or reality?
#higheredmyths
39%of professionals said that teens looked at a campus map when researching colleges
#higheredmyths
78%of professionals said that teens used a
virtual tour when exploring colleges
#higheredmyths
67%of teens looked at a campus map when
researching colleges
#higheredmyths
64%of teens used a virtual tour when
researching colleges
#higheredmyths
Teens and your website …
• Your website is important throughout the process, but different parts are important at different times.
• Your site must be responsive: 66 percent of the teens responding to this survey used a smartphone or mobile phone to fill it out. In contrast, 92 percent of professionals used a desktop or laptop computer.
• Photos are important forms of content. But pay as much attention to the text on your site as to the videos.
#higheredmyths
Teens and your website
• The content about academics/majors is very important. Make it robust and easy to find. And remember: teens look for both these terms on your site.
• The campus map is a neglected information resource for teens: they use it in a variety of ways in addition to way finding.
• Your social media sites are important in creating an impression of your institution, but teens won’t necessarily go to your site from Facebook or vice versa.
Michael Stoner President
@mstonervt
312.622.6930 [email protected]
Mallory Wood Director of Marketing
@mallorywood
802.457.9234 [email protected]
Resources
• Download: Mythbusting Websites:
mstnr.me/MythB2016 • Mythbusting Admissions (2015):
mstnr.me/AdmissionsMyths
Gil Rogers Director of Marketing
@gilrogers
860.990.2745 [email protected]
Questions
#higheredmyths
Bonus round:best .edu websites
#higheredmyths
Professionals
#higheredmyths
Teens
m storytellers, experience crafters, brand builders