Prospective students — especially teens — are a prime audience for a college website. But do we really know what teens are looking for when they visit your .edu? We designed, in partnership with mStoner, Inc. and Higher Ed Live, a survey asking teens to share their frank opinions of the college websites they’ve visited. We asked them to tell us what they looked for on websites when they were researching colleges, choosing where to apply, and deciding which to attend. What did they like about the sites they visited? What was the most important content — and when was it important? What were the frustrations they experienced? What were the best sites they looked at? And they didn’t hold back. Next, we sent the same survey to admission staff, web developers, designers, and marketers at colleges who were designing and redesigning websites for this key audience. We wanted to find out what they knew (or thought they knew) about what teens wanted. The resulting presentation will explore where their perspectives converge — and where they differ — and how marketers can leverage this knowledge. What You Will Learn • What’s important, when. Knowing what kind of content students value and when in their college search and choice process they particularly value it helps college and university staff tune up websites and informs content strategy and storytelling. • Where the problems are on .edu websites. Identifying typical problems on college websites helps colleges to ensure that they address those issues on their own sites. • Where to invest your time and resources. You’ll learn what kinds of content prospects value so you can create more of it: If prospects don’t value alumni profiles, why create them? • What college web, marketing, and admissions professionals don’t understand about what teens do on their sites. We’ll highlight significant disconnects between what on-campus professionals think they know about what teens do, and what they actually do.

1. 1

2. • 45 minute webinar + 15 minutes for questions and answers
• Ask questions through the GoToWebinar Control Panel
• Tweet during the webinar with #higheredmyths
• Please fill out the post-webinar evaluation
• Check your inbox early next week for the webinar recording and slide deck
The Plan
#higheredmyths

3. #higheredmyths
Michael Stoner
President, mStoner
Michael.Stoner@mStoner.com
@mStonerVT
Gil Rogers
Director of Enrollment Marketing, Chegg
gil@Chegg.com
@GilRogers

4. #higheredmyths
Myth? Or
Reality?

5. 5
Myths or realities?
#higheredmyths
1. Your website is effective if it isn’t responsive.
2. Teens will think poorly of your college if you have a bad website.
3. Your website is the most important influence in a teen’s
decision to apply.
4. Teens overwhelmingly prefer video and images to text on
college websites.

6. 6
Myths or realities?
#higheredmyths
5. Teens move freely back and forth between social media and
college websites.
6. Teens are eager to engage with your college through a
smartphone app.
7. Virtual tours are way more important to teens than campus
maps.

7. 7
Demographics: Professionals
#higheredmyths
• Work across multiple functions: marketing, communications, web, social
media, admissions
• Institutions: 40 % public, 20% private universities; 33% liberal arts, colleges
community colleges, prof schools
• More than 50% have worked in higher ed for 5-15 years
• 596 responses included in final report

8. 8
Demographics: Teens
#higheredmyths
• 62% high school seniors; 35% juniors
• Most considering applying to public (86%) or private universities (61%) &
51% considering both. 28% considering applying to liberal arts colleges
• 87% had started researching colleges already
• Prospect pool is diverse: 47% Caucasian/White; 24% Hispanic/Latino; 23%
African American/Black; 11% Asian
• 2,346 responses included in final report

9. #higheredmyths
Your website is
effective
if it isn’t responsive.
Myth or reality?

10. #higheredmyths
66%
of teens used a smartphone or mobile
device to respond to our survey

11. #higheredmyths
81%
of teens told us they visited a college website using a
mobile browser in our Mythbusting Admissions research,
conducted in 2015 (mstnr.me/AdmissionMyths)

12. #higheredmyths
70%
of teens told TeensTALK® 2016 that they
use a college website throughout their admission process
(bit.ly/2frJo5e)

13. #higheredmyths
Teens will think
poorly of your college
if you have a bad website.
Myth or reality?

14. #higheredmyths
82%
of professionals said that a bad website
will have a negative impact on teens
opinion of the college

15. #higheredmyths
74%
of juniors agreed that “College websites make a
difference in my perception of the school.”
(E-Expectations 2016: mstnr.me/E-Expect16)

16. #higheredmyths
43%
of teens said that their opinion of a
college would be affected by a bad website

17. #higheredmyths
Kind of jobs I can get
Tuition, costs, aid info
Academic info
Student life info
Admission & app processes
What other students are like
Info re tours, info sessions
Scheduling a visit
0 10 20 30 40 50
Hard-to-use areas
of .edu websites

18. #higheredmyths
Your website is the most
important influence in
a teen’s decision to apply.
Myth or reality?

19. 19
The question we asked
#higheredmyths
“When you evaluate a particular college prior to deciding
whether to apply, how important is the college’s website
in your decision whether to apply or not?”

20. #higheredmyths
80%
of professionals rated the importance
teens placed on a college’s website as 6 or 7

21. #higheredmyths
84.4%
of respondents to NACAC’s “2015 State of
College Admission” attached “considerable
importance” to websites as an undergraduate
recruitment strategy (mstnr.me/2dAAeSn)

22. #higheredmyths
of teens rated the a college’s website as 6
or 7 among sources of information
37%

23. #higheredmyths
Question:
“Which resources did you or
would you use during each
phase of the college application
process?”
data & figure from TeensTALK® 2016; © Stamats 2016 | © Chegg 2016

24. #higheredmyths
Teens overwhelmingly prefer
video and images to text
on college websites.
Myth or reality?

25. #higheredmyths
2.4 hrs
average time teens spend each day watching
TV/DVDs/videos (The Common Sense Census:
mstnr.me/2eko4vY)

26. #higheredmyths
76%
of professionals said that teens prefer
video to text and images

27. #higheredmyths
40%
of teens say they prefer video content
to text

28. #higheredmyths
Content preferences on a college website
what teens say
(n=1902)
what professionals
believe (n=520)
text & articles 64% 17%
photography 60% 74%
charts and infographics 47% 55%
headlines and subject lines 47% 57%
videos 40% 76%
other images besides photography 8% 6%

29. #higheredmyths
Teens click through
to your site
from social media sites
and vice versa.
Myth or reality?

30. #higheredmyths
Click-throughs from a .edu site to a social site*
to Facebook
to Twitter
to Instagram
to LinkedIn
to YouTube
to college search/help
80
44
10
35
25
34
57
69
11
63
39
53
professionals (n=434) teens (n=1349)
*when researching colleges

31. #higheredmyths
Click-throughs to a .edu site from a social site*
from Facebook
from Twitter
from Instagram
from LinkedIn
from YouTube
from Snapchat
from YikYak
to college search/help
78
5
15
35
7
32
23
33
73
20
40
61
58
58
45
59
professionals (n=430) teens (n=1431)
*when researching colleges

32. #higheredmyths
Teens are eager
to engage with your college
through a smartphone app.
Myth or reality?
#AMAHigherEd #higheredmyths

33. #higheredmyths
54%
of professionals said that teens will download
and use a college’s app after they’d decided
which institution they were attending

34. #higheredmyths
72%
of teens said they did not download or use
any college apps

35. updates on admissions info
learn about college-specific info
submit an applicataion
communicate with a college rep
take a virtual campus tour
0 16 32 48 64 80
Half of teens
would download
an app to
communicate …
But: do you offer what they want?
#higheredmyths

36. #higheredmyths
Virtual tours are
way more important
than campus maps.
Myth or reality?

37. #higheredmyths
39%
of professionals said that teens looked at
a campus map when researching colleges

38. #higheredmyths
78%
of professionals said that teens used a
virtual tour when exploring colleges

39. #higheredmyths
67%
of teens looked at a campus map when
researching colleges

40. #higheredmyths
64%
of teens used a virtual tour when
researching colleges

41. #higheredmyths
Teens and your website …
• Your website is important throughout the process, but different parts
are important at different times.
• Your site must be responsive: 66 percent of the teens responding to
this survey used a smartphone or mobile phone to fill it out. In
contrast, 92 percent of professionals used a desktop or laptop
computer.
• Photos are important forms of content. But pay as much attention to
the text on your site as to the videos.

42. #higheredmyths
Teens and your website
• The content about academics/majors is very important. Make it
robust and easy to find. And remember: teens look for both these
terms on your site.
• The campus map is a neglected information resource for teens: they
use it in a variety of ways in addition to way finding.
• Your social media sites are important in creating an impression of
your institution, but teens won’t necessarily go to your site from
Facebook or vice versa.

43. Michael Stoner
President
@mstonervt
312.622.6930
michael.stoner@mstoner.com
Mallory Wood
DirectorofMarketing
@mallorywood
802.457.9234
mallory.wood@mstoner.com
Resources
• Download:
Mythbusting Websites:
mstnr.me/MythB2016
• Mythbusting Admissions (2015):
mstnr.me/AdmissionsMyths
Gil Rogers
DirectorofMarketing
@gilrogers
860.990.2745
gil@chegg.com

44. Questions

45. #higheredmyths
Bonus round:
best .edu websites

46. #higheredmyths
Professionals

47. #higheredmyths
Teens

48. m storytellers, experience crafters, brand builders