rebuilding the world_campus_website_campos_incpswc_upcea_march_2012

Re-building the Penn State

World Campus Website

Maximizing a

Brand’s Positioning

Agenda

– Overall goal

– Problem definition

– The process

– Tips for success

– Q&A

Overall Goal

Grow World Campus enrollments

through the website redesign to

meet the needs of the adult learner

Agenda

– Overall goal


– The process


– Q&A

Problem Definition – Branding and Design

• Most frequently asked question: “Is this the real Penn State?”

• Lacked relevant imagery and video content

• Content was delivered as the “owner’s manual” instead of the “brochure”

– Content and Site Architecture

• Site architecture and content grew organically

• Lacked consistency

• Prospective student and current student content intermixed

• Website was not mobile-friendly

– Content Management System and Hosting Environment

• Content management system was not technically scalable to handle future growth

• Coding was not SEO-friendly

• No server backup

Rebuilding the World Campus website

is like rebuilding our campus, except

it’s all online

Agenda

– Overall goal


– The process


– Q&A

The Process: 2 Years

Phase Start date

I. Project scope July 2009

II. Content and design March 2010

III. Market research May 2010

IV. Usability testing May 2010

V. Launch and measure results July 2011

Phase I: Project Scope

Project Scope

– Define the objective:

To optimize conversion and retention to grow World Campus enrollments, we will completely overhaul the website and create a new interface that allows our users to easily find the information they need, when and where they need it, online and/or mobile, with clear calls-to-action

• Prospective students

• Current students

– Determine where we had expertise and where we needed external help in order to accomplish the project

– Establish a project manager/project team and develop a communications plan for the many stakeholders involved and for approvals at each stage

Phase II: Content and Design

Content USING DATA/TESTING TO INFORM DECISIONS

– Brand research

– Web research

– User survey

– Site search

– Staff and stakeholder feedback

– Knowledge base

– Usability testing

– Reinforce “This is the real Penn State”

– Develop rich media and photography

– Establish information architecture that gives users

information when they need it

– Follow web writing best practices

– Keep content clear and concise

– Keep SEO in mind

Content GOALS

– Promote a strong, collegiate feel

– Appear clean, modern, simple, not trendy (what you’d expect from a high quality online institution)

– Use color and imagery synonymous with our brand

– Be consistent, intuitive

– Follow University visual identity web standards

Design GOALS

Phase III: Market Research

Market Research BRAND PERCEPTION AND POSITIONING

– Immersive research to understand prospective

audience perceptions and needs

– Brand imagery study to determine how best to

connect to the main University while highlighting

the advancements in online learning


Immersive Research

What is Immersive Research?

An online research

framework that

captures consumer

behaviors,

experiences and

emotions in

context.

Immersive Research Overview – Online ethnography combined with social

networking technology

– Captures emotions, behaviors, and context to understand experience as it unfolds via text, images and other forms of media

– Provides a deep view into participants’ lives by interacting with them over a period of days or weeks

– Research activities include a series of assignments that participants complete asynchronously via a secure website

– Activities might include uploading digital images or videos that represent a participant’s feelings, perceptions, or experiences, and provide insights about brand, products, services, and/or experience in relevant time

Immersive Research Overview Immersive research is helpful when you need to…

– Gather insight into participants’ perceptions of branding, packaging or

messaging and impact on stakeholders’ perceptions

– Determine how presentation and messaging influence stakeholder

perceptions

– Identify key differentiators of a brand

– Understand needs and priorities of target audience(s) (e.g. students,

alumni, faculty, parents, et al.) about curriculum, campus life, student

services, etc.

– Understand decision making process with regard to school selection,

program choice, activities, etc.

– Develop clear recommendations that enable your institution to achieve its

strategic objectives based on stakeholder input

Activity-Based Immersive Research

Question-Based: What’s in your fridge?

Activity-Based: “Please take me on a photo tour of your fridge.”

Butter

Cheese

Lettuce

Mustard

Milk

Leftover Spaghetti

Carrots

Orange Juice

Jam

Activity-Based Immersive Research Collage

“Help Mabel”

Ad Testing

Online University Project

23

Traditional/Immersive Research

Comparison

Traditional (Focus Groups, IDIs)

Immersive

• In-person (primarily)

• Respond to stimuli (videos,

images, storyboards)

• Group dialogue/interaction

• Recall

• Group exercises/techniques

• Verbal responses

• Ability to touch/feel/interact with

products

• Online

• Respond to stimuli (videos,

images, storyboards)

• Individual and group online

interaction

• “In the Moment”

• Individual activities

• Media rich uploads/text

Traditional/Immersive Research

Comparison

Traditional (Focus Groups, IDIs)

Immersive

• Requires travel and facility

• 12 active participant research minutes

per participant

• Question based

– Tell me

– In person real time

– Ask/probe

• Client observation “behind the glass”

• Laddered approach for learning

• Removes barriers of time and location

• 120 active participant research

minutes/participant

• Activity based

– Show me

– Online

– Complete activity/probe/do more

• Online client observation

Steps in an Immersive Research Study – Define the research objectives

– Identify the participants

– Develop activities

– Program the activities

• The first is an easy welcome activity to become comfortable with the tool

• Number of activities depend on the length of study and objectives

– Invite participants

– Launch the study

• Activities launch one at a time over the course of the study

– Moderate participant responses

– Analyze and synthesize data collected

– Produce report


• To understand prospective students’ perceptions and images of the brand and how they compare to their needs and priorities

• To compare prospective students’ perceptions of the brand to 3 competitor institutions

• To obtain prospective students’ reactions to new strategic brand positioning/messaging/images

Background & Objectives

• Adults between the ages of 24 and 44

• Currently interested in seeking online degree program offerings

• Employed full-time

• Minimum household income of >$20,000

Target Market

• 2 weeks Duration


• How do they compare to your ideal? Behavioral Exercises

• Ranking potential marketing messages

Experiential Exercises

• What’s in a name? What’s in an image?

• My ideal online university

Projective Exercises

Online University Project Day 1 Day 3 Day 5 Day 8

What’s in a

Name? What’s

in an Image?

My Ideal

Online

University How Do They

Compare

to Your Ideal? Ranking

Potential

Marketing

Messages

Welcome

Research Findings WHAT WE LEARNED

– A competitor’s website was perceived most favorably by participants

• Attractive website with good balance of text and images

• University appears “proud” of its students

• Good amount of courses and programs available

• Uses current technology

• Information is “straight and to the point”

• Communicates adult learning environment

From this, participants inferred a positive educational

experience vs. Penn State World Campus

– Penn State World Campus website was viewed as:

• “Boring”

• Crowded; too much going on

• Not as credible

• Distracting with too many links and tabs

From this, participants inferred a very traditional, dry,

“academic” experience; not dynamic


Research Findings IMMERSIVE RESEARCH IMAGERY

“I think there is definitely an

emphasis on welcoming technology

into the classroom. This is

important.”

“It seems like they think of themselves as an excellent

university and they have been around for a long time.”

“This website makes me ask myself

‘Where do I go from here?’”


– A competitor’s website was also ranked most often as

closest to participants’ ideal online university

– Participants’ reactions to the World Campus’s new

marketing messages were highly favorable

– Participants were enthusiastic and highly supportive

of the World Campus’s efforts to improve their

website

Actions Taken

The World Campus…

– Completely redesigned all of the website content to speak to

what participants described as expectations for ideal online

university

– Conducted additional research around imagery and brand

perception

– Created all new imagery and design with rich media to

modernize the brand image and allow users to engage more with

the brand

– Intends to continually review the brand strategy to ensure that it

is meeting market needs


Brand Imagery Research

Brand Imagery Research QUESTIONS

– A picture is worth a thousand words…

• What do we want to convey in our imagery

about our brand and the experience?

Landmarks

Students

Faculty

Achievement

Brand Imagery Research Findings WHAT WE LEARNED

Landmark Images

Landmark 1: Katz Building Landmark 2: Aerial of Campus Landmark 3: Old Main Landmark 4: Lion Shrine

Most positive attributes: Landmarks 2 and 3

Quality

Tradition

Experienced

Trustworthy

Brand Imagery Research Findings WHAT WE LEARNED

Student Images Student 1: Three people Student 2: Woman with computer at table Student 3: Woman with computer on sofa Student 4: Man drinking coffee

Most positive attributes: Students 1 and 2

Goal-oriented

Intelligent

Phase IV: Usability Testing

Usability Testing

– Large usability test: previous website

– Many smaller usability tests:

• Site Wireframes and Mockups: “click” testing

– Repeat large usability test: new website

Buttons should look like

buttons

Previous Site Testing LESSONS FOR THE NEW WEBSITE

Calls to action should not

make you think

If you want people to

do something,

don’t be afraid to ask

them more than once

Applying the

Findings LESSONS FOR

THE NEW

WEBSITE

Redundant Navigation IT’S A GOOD THING

Saying things twice is

a good idea—especially when

it comes to really important

navigation

Site Wireframes and Mockups SMALLER USABILITY TESTING: IT’S BETTER TO TEST

GOAL: Get a sense of whether specific design, layout,

and/or navigation elements/labels are working (a/k/a

“debugging the design”)

APPROACH: Find out what’s not working, take our best

guess at fixing it, repeat until we think we’ve fixed it, look

out for new problems, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Usability Test 1: Header Area

Users of Version 1 nearly always completed tasks

twice as fast as users of Version 2

Usability Test 2: Navigation Area

Users of Version 2 completed tasks

roughly twice as fast as users of Version 1

Phase V: Launch and

Measure Results

Before

After:

Prospective

Students

After:

Current

Students

After:

Mobile Site

Results: Metrics

Since launch 8 months ago vs. last year:

– 1,600,000 web visits, +32%

– 36,000 Inquiries, +51%

– 4,700 Inquiries from mobile (incremental)

Results: Usability Testing

Task

% Change

Success Rate

% Change

Failure Rate

Request Information +151% -42%

How to Apply +71% -56%

Contact Us -9% +9%

Find Tuition Rates +40% -47%

Find Financial Aid Info +544% -58%

Find Transfer Credit Info +318% -75%

Agenda

– Overall goal


– The process


– Q&A

Tips for success

– A website redesign never really ends…

– Know what you want your brand to stand for and

make sure your website is integrated with the rest

of your brand

– Use data to help make informed decisions and

reduce debate in order to keep moving forward

– Ensure there is senior level support and

established checkpoints for on-going

communications

Tips for success

– Know where your internal expertise is and where

you need to seek external help and budget for it

upfront

– Identify a project manager and establish a timeline

even if it changes…because it will!

– Ensure there is a cross-functional collaborative

team established with accountability to the delivery

of the project

– Communicate, communicate, communicate with

your stakeholders and seek continuous feedback

Agenda

– Overall goal


– The process


– Q&A

rebuilding the world_campus_website_campos_incpswc_upcea_march_2012

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