This is an example of a great call to action, which also build urgency. It's not just "apply," but do it "now."
Before joining the marketing and communications team at a Central, Pennsylvania college last month, I spent just over three years at leading eCommerce developer, Solid Cactus. My tenure at that company taught me a great deal about best practices in online store design and development, as well as creating, executing and analyzing Internet marketing efforts.
Because the goal of having an online store is to sell product and build a database of fiercely loyal customers, I realized the gravity of having a top-notch, user friendly, trustworthy, properly coded, search engine optimized website. And one that looks pretty sharp, too. If any or all of those are untrue, the competition is just a click away. And believe me. They click away.
A few weeks settled into my new digs and gig, I realized that the web presence of a college is really not so different than that of an eCommerce store. However, it seems as if higher ed has in just recent years really begun to harness the power of everything a website can be for its various audiences – recruiting students and informing the present campus community to name two.
Aside from the trio of years in eCommerce, I’ve spent just as many working in admissions for a career college, where I enrolled nontraditional students at various start dates throughout the year. I take some of those principles and mix them with my eCommerce expertise to evaluate and improve higher ed websites with a focus on prospective students. Let’s take a look at some major factors:
Call to Action
On an eCommerce site, calls to action are everything. Is the “buy” button in the right place? If users aren’t visually guided properly, such as if the “submit order” button is below the fold or blended into the background, they won’t follow through with their original objective. And, what is the verbiage? Is it welcoming like “add to cart”, or is it too salesy? What if people need more information before buying? Is the customer service number displayed in a prominent location? Are there multiple ways to contact you?
Getting the user to take action on a website is usually the goal, whether it’s selling an item, collecting a sales lead or gathering registration information for an event. Otherwise, it’s just a glorified brochure. In higher ed, calls to action are mainly geared toward prospective students. Are you asking people to “Apply Online Now” or “Request a Campus Tour” or “Register for our Fall Open House?” Or, “Make a Donation.” Make those calls to action big and bold. This should follow through to email marketing as well. Always ask for the sale, or the click. Don’t just tell. Make it easy for them to take action, and use action verbs in your messaging.
And most importantly – don’t just put the call to action on the admissions page. Place it in a global part of the site, such as the header so it is top of mind throughout the entire time a visitor is on the website. Do this, and watch requests, applications and registrations increase.
Build Urgency
Building urgency is very similar to my first point. Email marketing and on-site promotional graphics should urge users to buy now. Not later. My former employer developed a fun feature called the Holiday Countdown, which counted down to a specific day a promotion or sale was over. There are many ways to promote these timely savings, but the message is still the same: Do it now… before it’s too late.
On higher education websites, are we showcasing admission deadlines? Are we telling people to register for homecoming now? Liven up your homepages and other important top-level pages with urgency builders. This does many things. It shows there is stuff happening on campus. It demonstrates a well-kept website and, most importantly, reminds the audience that something is due. Soon.
Visuals
In eCommerce, pictures are everything. You can’t touch, smell, feel or see all angles with just a static image. A click-to-enlarge feature is perhaps the most important item page feature for an eCommerce store. And, showcasing multiple angles through use of thumbnail images is even better. Some stores go for all the bells and whistles with advanced display functionality to give customers better viewing options, including 360-degree rotations or “build a room” features. The better a product is displayed on screen, the more conversions the store will have. A hidden bonus is fewer returns because the product wasn’t misrepresented.
When exploring college websites, I’ve seen far too many pictures of building exteriors and posed student shots. What is inside those buildings? How do students really look on campus when they aren’t told to stand still and say cheese? Skimping on good photography is a mistake. Use your images to put the prospective students in the classrooms, the dining hall, the lounges and the dorm rooms. If they can picture themselves on your campus, you’ve already developed a connection with that prospect.
Consistency
Branding is so important. In eCommerce, you work very hard to build the trust of the consumer during the shopping experience, so much so that they decide to buy. But, if that trust is compromised with mismatched templates, especially during the checkout process, good luck getting someone to share their precious credit card information. The same can be said for higher ed websites. Does the school’s distinct brand carry through from page to page? Or, are there mixed messages? Are the logos and taglines consistent? And, is there someone playing watchdog? Larger universities with individual schools and colleges may have a situation where there are distinct identities for those – but within those pages, are they consistent with their own brand and do these sites still fit within the greater messaging of the entire institution?
The biggest problem with lack of consistency is often not having a designated team, committee or department dedicated to upkeep of the website. Or, if departments are responsible for their own pages, are there clear rules and style guides set up? I can recall at Solid Cactus many instances where we removed a website from our portfolio because, despite being handed a beautiful website, clients would go wild with overformatting or inserting third party features that did not jive well with the site’s design, making it confusing and busy. Give people flexibility with their own pages, but at the same time, keep some control so the overarching messaging is never, ever lost.
Navigation
In eCommerce, the goal is to get the user to page where the buying decision is made as quickly as possible. In most cases, this is the item page. However, many online stores with advanced functionality offer the ability to add an item to the cart right from the section page through a quick shopping feature. At Solid Cactus, we developed a featured called Snap Shop that does this, taking a cue from other major retailers that use a similar technology.
Also, for users who don’t know exactly where they want to go—a browser—the menu structure is important. Using cascading menus that display subcategories when hovered over saves a click. Seriously. Do you want to click on Clothing, then Women’s Clothing, then Winter Items, then Coats, then Accessories and THEN, Scarves? What a painful process!
When it comes to higher education, levels can go very deep. Structure is different from institution to institution, but a large university may have Colleges, Schools, Departments, Programs, Majors, Concentrations, etcetera to sift through to finally get to an individual page with information. There has to be a logical way to organize the navigation to get a user to a destination—and to get back. I’ve seen many sites where a school or department has its own page that does not offer a way to get back to the main institution website. Be mindful of how and where users are expected to click. Make it easy – otherwise, they may Google another school.
Site Search
Search is a form of navigation and about 50-percent of visitors to an online store will use the search. There is such an importance in site search that best practices have evolved, suggesting a larger, more prominent search box. Also, advanced search features such a filters, sorting and picking up on typos help users narrow down results. In eCommerce, it is important to name items properly as well as write SEO-rich content so that the store’s pages will come up in search engines when certain items are being searched for as well as show up on the store’s own site search.
The same can be said about college websites. If you have a hallmark program, be sure to use those keywords through your top-level pages. On your individual pages, name them properly (page titles) so that they come up in your site’s search. Think logically. For instance, students may not search for “registrar” when looking for “transcripts.” So, make your page title “(Your College Name) Transcripts – Registar’s Office.” This way, you get the keyword and the official name in. If your internal site search is suffering, a more robust solution should be a priority. These smart naming conventions of course play into the major search engines, too. But, that’s a while other topic!
Conclusion
Websites are becoming the dominant research and communication vehicle for getting information to prospective students. Is your website sending the right message? Consistency, a great user experience, quality content and a welcoming design are necessary elements for a smashingly successful higher ed website. Taking lessons learned from eCommerce professionals and applying those techniques to a higher ed website can take these marketing entities to a whole new level.