Goingon Prospective Students

Tony Rose, Executive Strategist, UX/Content | @TonyRoseUXUSER-CENTERED WEB FOR HIGHER ED

“The more people you cater to, the less relevant

and meaningful your content becomes—for

everyone.”

Rick Allen, “Defining Target Audiences: Who Are We Talking To, Really?” 7/28/15meetcontent.com/blog/defining-target-audiences-who-are-we-talking-to-really/

What does it meanto go “All-In”?

That’s relative; this is absolute

Traditional thinking:

“Prioritize content for your primary users”

Going

Going All-In means focusing on one user group(…at a time)

What does it mean to go “All-In”?

Focusing on one user group

“We know who you are,we know why you’re here,we have what you’re looking for,and we’re going to help you.”

“Students perceive the audience to be students, but still find the messages mostly

to be about marketing the institution”

Katrina A. Meyer, Stephanie Jones, “Information Found and Not Found: What University Websites Tell Students,” Fall, 2011http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall143/meyer_jones143.html

(Do they know why I’m here?)

(Do they know who I am?)

Were they all-in for me?

(A CASE STUDY)

(Are they going to help me?)

Do they know who I am?

Do they know why I’m here?

Do they know who I am?

Are they going to help me?(eventually…)

Removed a universityfrom consideration after abad experience with their

website

Emily Cretella, 7 content marketing stats that should shake higher education – and 5 ways to act on themhttp://cursivecontent.com/

Removed a school fromtheir prospect list because

of a bad experience

Katrina A. Meyer, Stephanie Jones, “Information Found and Not Found: What University Websites Tell Students,” Fall, 2011http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall143/meyer_jones143.html

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Plan accordingly

First you needto know why you need them

Traditional thinking:

“Step oneis to know your audience”

Going

Plan accordingly

BrandingMarketingPositioningMessaging

Plan accordingly

Properly positioning your institution takes work,but will improve your

marketing by reducingthe alternatives.

Philip Morgan, “Positioining Crash Course,”philipmorganconsulting.com

What are we doing thatmakes sense? Do we have the

right people in the rightseats? How much content

do we really need to create,and how often?— Kristina Halvorson

Marcia Riefer Johnston, “Content Strategy for Marketers: Insights FromKristina Halvorson”contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/content-strategy-halvorson/

Build a process, not a websitePlan accordingly

Share the responsibilityConstituents/contributorsCampus communityLeadership

Building a process, not a website

Always include students in that processUp-frontIn-processPre-launch?Post-launch(Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think)

Building a process, not a website

Evolve from day one

Traditional thinking:

“First create your web-site, then maintain it”

Going

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“We know whoyou are”

Your users are not an audience

“We know who you are”

They’re not your mom“We know who you are”

Writing for your mom :

Start at the very beginning and don’t leave out a thingEmphasize all the best things about youAnd she’ll read every word. Twice.

Start with their situation and get to the pointEmphasize and contextualize what’s important to themAnd they’ll still read as little as possible

Writing for prospective students :

They’re not you.“We know who you are”

Thinking from another perspective

Thinking from another perspective

They’re all that“We know who you are”

Narcissistic, overconfident,

entitled, stunted, and lazy

Ashley Hennigan, The Prospective Student User

Cornell Universitywww.slideshare.net/

ashleyhenn/ux-and-the-prospective-student-user

Millennials in particular…

Nice, accepting, informed but

inactive, cooperative

Josh Sanburn, “Millennials: TheNext Greatest Generation?”

Time Magazinenation.time.com/2013/05/09/millennials-the-next-greatest-

generation/

The “mosteducated

generationto date”

Kate Meyer, “Millennials as Digital Natives: Myths and

Realities”Nielsen Norman Group

www.nngroup.com/articles/millennials-digital-natives/

Millennials in particular…

The “mosteducated

generationto date”

?

What abouteveryone else?

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Everyone can be primary, in their own place

Traditional thinking:

“Establish primary, secondary, and tertiary users”

Going

A place for everyone

Why should we isolate content for different users?

For ME

For EVERYONE

A place for everyone

What should we put there?User-specific content(But not ALL of it)GuidanceFeeds

“[exclusively] Audience-based navigation demands additional cognitive effort

from users”

Katie Sherwin, “Audience-Based Navigation: 5 Reasons to Avoid It”www.nngroup.com/articles/audience-based-navigation/

A place for everyone

User types are defined not only by who they are, but by what they are trying to do

Northampton Community college

Cornell University

HarfordCommunity College

Central CarolinaCommunity College

University ofPennsylvania

University of Tulsa

Harvard University

“We know whyyou’re here”

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Position yourself immediately and meaningfully with prospective students

Traditional thinking:

“Feature your latest activities to keep the content fresh”

Going

What will they

remember if they only stay for a

few seconds?

Positioning by example

(“My dad and his friends on the roof”)

What will they

remember if they only stay for a

few seconds?

Positioning by design…

Is your “Welcome” page really welcoming?Taking in the first personStructuring by org chartJargon/lingo

Making an immediate impression

Making an immediate impression

Focus!“We know why you’re here”

Focus!

Simplicity isn’t a goalunto itselfIt just helps you focus on what’s important.Users come to DO something. Why make them hunt for it?

Getting burned by lack of focus?(ANOTHER CASE STUDY)

Getting burned by lack of focus?(ANOTHER CASE STUDY)

Partonize me >

Tell me what to do >

Congratulate yourself >Alert me about a potential

danger >

(Guess which one had been sued)

Getting burned by lack of focus?(ANOTHER CASE STUDY)

“We have what you’re looking for”

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Lead with the information you know they want

Traditional thinking:

“Provide and organize all the information they might find useful”

Going

Information mostvalued by studentspertains todecision support

“We have what you’re looking for”

(But can you find it?)

Organize by topic, not nameProvide multiple avenuesContextualize

(But can you find it?)

What about the rest?“We have what you’re looking for”

Pick up or create the content called for by the new structure

Traditional thinking:

“Apply existing content according to the new structure”

Going

What about the rest?

What are we going to do with all this content? (ONE LAST CASE STUDY)

“Shouldn’t we start working onthese (80,000) pages?”

Reasons to include certain content

It will engage the peoplewe need in order to fulfillour objectivesAccording to our planValidated through testing

NON-reasons to include certain content

But what do you tell people?“We have what you’re looking for”

What do you tell people?

Appeal to a higher authorityShare the responsibility

What do you tell people?

We have to stick to the plan(You approved it; we’ve been sharing it)Shall we add all this other stuff too?We do have a place for this… (maybe)And my personal favorite…

What do you tell people?

“We’ll have to test that!”

Focus on the people you needBuild a process, not a websiteInclude your studentsWrite for them, not for you or your momMake everyone else primary tooShare the responsibilityStick to the plan and evolve (the exceptions may be your downfall)

The bottom line

“We know who you are, we know why you’re here,we have what you’re looking for, and we’re going to help you.”

Are YOU All-In?

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WEBSITEwww.digitalwave.comEMAILsarah.ailes@digitalwave.comFACEBOOK.com/digitalwavetech

TWITTERtonyroseUXBLOGguestroom.com/tonyroseLINKEDIN.com/in/tony-rose-0804b0

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