The document summarizes market research on redesigning the Tippie College of Business website. An eye-tracking study found that participants could locate the "apply" button and list of majors faster on the TCOB site than a competitor site, though all elements could be improved. Interviews revealed a preference for drop-down menus. Most survey respondents had not visited the site on mobile or social media. The research suggests optimizing the site for desktop use and prioritizing program listings and student life.

1. MARKET RESEARCH: TCOB
WEBSITE REDESIGN PROJECT
WEN QI ONG (HALEY)
BEN OLSON

2. FOCUS
• Scroll bar: the slideshow of images and links at the center of
the homepage
• Apply button
• Drop-down menus
• “Prospective Students” tab
• General website usage patterns

3. COMMON SOURCES
1. Noel-Levitz’s 2014 E-Expectations Report: The Online Preferences of College-Bound
High School Seniors and Their Parents (higher education consulting firm)
2. Emma’s Why We Click: The Simple Psychology Behind A Great Call to Action (email
marketing firm)
3. mStoner, Inc.’s Admit or Die: Addressing Admission Decision Factors on Websites
(higher education digital marketing firm)
LINK: http://www.slideshare.net/mStoner/admit-or-die-addressing-admission-decision-
factors-on-websites
4. Nielsen Norman Group’s “Mega Menus Work Well for Site Navigation” (user experience
consulting firm)
Link: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/mega-menus-work-well/

4. RATIONALE
• Apply button serves as the invitation for prospective students
of any type to move from exploring what Tippie has to offer to
actually making their college selection. Therefore, we need to
make sure it is visible and inviting.
• “Prospective Students” links prospective students to student
life, a “Why Tippie” link, and careers related to majors.
mStoner, Inc., notes that colleges should aim to justify why
students should spend tens of thousands of dollars on their
education in terms of the value of majors and career
opportunities.3

5. RATIONALE
• A scrollbar can provide useful links to current happenings, program
rankings, and images of campus. mStoner, Inc. found that for top-
tier law school students, program rankings are the number one
decision factor students take into consideration before applying.3
• Understanding prospective students’ and parents’ website behavior
patterns will allow web designers to cater the design to this target
populations’ needs.
• Drop-down menus allow visitors to easily see lists of majors and
categories of links. The Nielsen Norman Group notes that, “Mega
menus may improve the navigability of your site. By helping users
find more, they’ll help you sell more.”4

6. COMPONENTS
• 1. Eye-tracking Study
• 2. Interviews
• 3. Qualtrics Survey
• 4. Scrollbar Survey (included as supplemental material)
• 5. Automated Analyses (included as supplemental material)

7. EYE-TRACKING STUDY
• N=26
• Qualitative: Cluster Maps and Heat Maps
• Quantitative: Time to First Fixation
• Goal: Receive design feedback; compare TCOB and UNL
(eduStyle Higher-ed Web Award: Judge’s Choice Best Overall
Website)5

8. TIME TO FIRST FIXATION: TCOB VS UNL
• Timed how long it takes subjects to visually locate the “apply
now” button, a general list of majors, and the “prospective
students” link on both homepages.

9. “APPLY NOW” BUTTON: EASIER TO FIND ON TCOB
SITE BY 0.75 TO 4.07 FEWER SECONDS
COMPARED TO UNL
• # of subjects using front-and-center UNL apply button: 12 out of 26

10. Tippie
Homepage
UNL
Homepage

11. LIST OF MAJORS: EASIER TO FIND BY 14.17
TO 27.75 FEWER SECONDS COMPARED TO
UNL
• Strength of drop-down menu

12. Tippie List
of Majors
UNL List of
Majors
(bottom of
the page)

13. UNL: CASE STUDY OF CONFUSION

14. TIPPIE: CASE STUDY OF FUNCTIONALITY

15. “PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS” LINK: EASIER TO FIND
ON UNL SITE BY 1.17 AND 4.28 FEWER SECONDS
COMPARED TO TCOB SITE
• Blue tabs instead of yellow; bottom instead of top

16. Tippie
Homepage
UNL
Homepage

17. HEAT MAPS
Large concentration of gazes at the
center yellow button on scroll bar
Connection to time to first fixation:
Concentration of gazes on “apply”
button corresponds to the relatively fast
time it takes people to locate the button
in reality.

18. HEAT MAPS
Connection to time to first fixation: Heat
maps show people gaze at “apply”
button, yet it takes people a relatively
long time to locate the button, and less
than half of our subjects even used this
central apply button.
Perhaps the central location causes
people to naturally look at the button,
but the button’s transparency prevents
people from taking action to click it.

19. SCROLLBAR CLUSTER MAPS
• Chose slides from: Kelley, Castleton, Puget Sound, ISU,
Tippie
• Each used different design elements

20. KELLEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (BIG FACE)
• 2015 Trends: Professional, high-quality, custom photography (Thenextweb)6
• Advice: Consider outlining text or placing it below an object of interest (in this case, a
large, high-definition face picture)
Green Cluster:
93%
Yellow Cluster:
96%

21. CASTLETON (WORDS SEPARATED FROM
PICTURE)
• Advice: Consider categorizing pictures and text on scroll bar slides
Green Cluster:
96%
Yellow Cluster:
85%

22. UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND (SCENERY)
• Advice: High-definition scenic pictures give prospective students a feel for environment, but
make sure text is situated in contrast to the picture.
Green
Cluster:
100%
Yellow
Cluster:
96%

23. IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY (FACES LOOKING
AT TEXTS)
• According to Emma, an e-marketing firm, “eye-tracking studies show we’ll follow
images of faces and look where they’re looking (page 8).”2
• Advice: Try to center text in relation to people’s gaze paths in photos
Green
Cluster: 86%
Yellow
Cluster: 85%

24. TIPPIE WEBSITE (MULTIPLE FACES)
• Website slideshows are “an excellent way to display information such as images in an
organized and compact manner” (Smashing Magazine).7
• Advice: Don’t necessarily shy away from using photos with multiple faces, but make sure
text is effectively offset from faces.

25. INTERVIEWS
• Common Themes:
• Want every category on top yellow banner to have a drop-down menu on TCOB website
• Respondents love ICON – highly functional, low on design element
• Overall praise for TCOB homepage
• General UIowa Search Process: Most respondents go to Google.com and type in UIowa
search terms – relatively nobody goes to UIowa home page’s search bar.
• E-Expectations: “With the emphasis students place on academic program information,
campuses must realize that their academic pages need to be optimized for search. Many
students are no longer coming to the home page and navigating to information on
academic offerings, but instead typing in search terms related to programs of study…”1
(page 10)

26. QUALTRICS SURVEY: USER BEHAVIOR
• N=35

27. FAMILIARITY WITH TCOB WEBSITE: SCALE
OF 0 TO 7 (NO FAMILIARITY TO COMPLETE
FAMILIARITY)
• Results: Average of 3.03 (slightly unfamiliar)

28. THREE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES FOR
RESPONDENTS TO SEE ON TCOB
HOMEPAGE:
• The top-two results here (academic
program listings & student life
information) generally mirror results of
2014 E-Expectations Report (Figure 12,
page 10).1
31%
60%
46%
11%
34%
26% 23% 23%
11%
29%
6%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%

29. EASE OF FINDING “APPLY NOW” BUTTON ON
TCOB HOMEPAGE: SCALE OF 1 TO 7
• Results: Average of 4.23 (neither difficult nor easy)
1
5
6
7
9
3
4
0
2
4
6
8
10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

30. HAVE YOU EVER VISITED THE UNIVERSITY OF
IOWA’S OR TCOB’S SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES? IF YES,
HOW OFTEN IN PAST 6 MONTHS?
• 14% YES (5 respondents)
• 86% NO
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
Never Less
Than
Once a
Month
Once a
Month
2-3
Times
a
Month
Once a
Week
2-3
Times
a Week
Daily

31. HAVE YOU EVER VISITED TCOB WEBSITE ON A
MOBILE DEVICE? IF YES, HOW OFTEN IN PAST 6
MONTHS?
• 77% NO (27 respondents)
• 23% YES (8 respondents)
0.00%
25.00%
12.50%
37.50%
12.50%
0.00%
12.50%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
Never Less
Than
Once a
Month
Once a
Month
2-3
Times
a
Month
Once a
Week
2-3
Times
a Week
Daily

32. QUALTRICS RESULTS VS. 2014 E-
EXPECTATIONS RESULTS
• 77% of our respondents have not looked at college site on
mobile device, but E-Expectations finds 71% of students have
looked in this medium (Figure 8, page 7).1
• 86% of our respondents have not visited social media pages,
and E-Expectations finds 94% of h.s. seniors opt for college
website versus Facebook page for information (Figure 3, page
4).1

33. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
• People can find the “apply” button and list of majors much more
quickly than on UNL; People can find the “prospective students” link
more quickly on UNL. (time to first fixation)
• People can find the “apply” button quicker relative to UNL’s, however,
in and of itself, TCOB”s “apply” button could still be made more
visible and actionable: Emma recommends adding “now” to create
urgency, and make the button larger and circular (pages 5 and 7).2
(Qualtrics and time to first fixation)
• “Prospective Students” link should be more visible: use yellow banner
instead of blue. (eye tracking)

34. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
• UNL has an aspirational design aesthetic, but NOT an
aspirational functionality. (time to first fixation)
• Make all the yellow-bar categories have drop-down menus.
(interviews)
• Most prospective students and parents have not visited TCOB
site on mobile device or visited social media pages: focus on
optimizing non-mobile site

35. CITATIONS
1. Noel-Levitz (with OmniUpdate, CollegeWeek Live, NRCUA): 2014 E-Expectations Report: The Online
Preferences of College-Bound High School Seniors and Their Parents. 2014. Accessed through ICON.
2. Emma: Why We Click: The Simple Psychology Behind a Great Call to Action. Accessed through ICON.
3. mStoner, Inc.: Admit or Die: Addressing Admission Decision Factors on Websites. 2014.
http://www.slideshare.net/mStoner/admit-or-die-addressing-admission-decision-factors-on-websites
4. Nielsen Norman Group: “Mega Menus Work Well for Site Navigation.” 2009.
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/mega-menus-work-well/
5. eduStyle: “2014 Winners: Higher-ed Web Awards.” 2015.
http://www.edustyle.net/awards/2014/winners.php#1
6. TheNextWeb: “10 Web Design Trends You Can Expect to See in 2015.” 2015.
http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/01/02/10-web-design-trends-can-expect-see-2015/12/
7. Smashing Magazine: “Slideshows in Web Design: When and How to Use Them.” 2009.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/09/slideshows-in-web-design-when-and-how-to-use-
them/