Achieving reputation outcomes on the Web

Presenters: Ty Glasgow, Jeff Johnson, Big Bad Interactive

Web strategy

Brand and Web strategy have a major impact in all areas. It needs to matter.

Admissions

• Application volume.
• Acceptance rates.
• Yield.

Academic reputation

• US News rankings
• Research grants.
• Faculty recruiting.

Advancement

• Community.
• Fundraising.
• Endowment.

Typical outcomes

Admissions

• Increase yield > identify and overcome objections > accepted student site (restricted), remove silos through cross-referencing all content, differentiate.

Advancement

• Increase alumni engagement > cross-organizational interation > prospective student referrals, internships, contextual giving modules.

Academic reputation

• Increase US News peer assessment, recruit faculty > channels for peer audiences > scholarly accomplishments, department sites, accurate and consistent information.

Elements of a successful site

Viability

• Before working on a Web strategy, does the institution understand its core business objectives and target audiences? That comes first.

Usability

• Intuitive, manifest model, easy to decode, works to enable the scent of information.

Desirability

• Strong/differentiating presentation of the brand and content. Compels, informs, guides user experience.

Sustainability

• Content management, governance, ongoing development, long-term support.

Measurability

• Macro: outcomes measured against relevant business objectives. Micro: campaign/tactical-based measures.

Myth busters

• All information should be 3 clicks away from the home page.
• Usability “gurus” say …
• Award-winning sites are effective sites.
• Happy users equal positive outcomes.
• You have less than 8 seconds to win the user.
• “M-TV” look.
• Be entertaining to prospective students — provide the right window into the experience, but don’t feel a need to entertain.
• Prospective student link — the whole site should be for prospective students.
• Admissions sites drive Admissions outcomes — the whole site should support admissions.
• Centralized versus decentralized — false dichotomy.
• CMS will solve all my problems.
• My institution’s Web presence can’t be tamed — if you want to participate in the design discussion, you need to have participate in the strategy discussion.

What not to do

• US News logo on home page.
• Reinvent Facebook (current students and recent grads) or MySpace (prospects) or LinkedIn (for alumni) — learn how to coexist with these.
• Use blogs for natural communities (like current students and alumni) but not prospects (there’s no natural, existing affinity).
• Podcast interesting faculty and guest speakers (for current students and alumni).
• The penitentiary look for photography (no people, buildings).
• Home page news and events with more than 3 or 4 items each — separate upcoming announcements from past reports.
• Fly-out menus — eliminate them!
• Too many “give here” or “apply now” buttons.
• Quick links on the home page — extraordinarily bad solution for poor information architecture. Very high use of search also indicates poor information architecture.

Examples

Providence College

• Outcome: increase male enrollment.

University of the Puget Sound

• Why major in liberal arts?

Holy Cross

• Why liberal arts?

Manhattanville College

• Click on Now@Mville for streaming video.
• Theme line: What happens here matters.

Suffolk University

• The key to unversal navigation is understanding those overarching areas that are relevant to everyone, to tell their story. Continues through to schools.

Five key take aways

• Think Web governance and organization — nothing else works without this.
• Think cutting across organizational boundaries to present information.
• Think multidisciplinary — develop a strategy first — then integrate IA, interface design, and functionality.
• Think whole, not parts — the biggest leap towards driving Admissions, Advancement, and Academic reputation outcomes
• Think outcomes — it’s why you’re doing this.

Points to consider

• Does your Web site feel like your campus?
• We try to focus on the revenue generating audiences, and encourage the smaller successes with current student and faculty who are often very task oriented.
• To the extent you can keep within your .edu domain.
• Use “major and minor” instead of “departments and programs.”
• Make sure you have a strong oversight committee and integrated implementation group before you start anything complex.