Anatomy of an Effective Website Redesign

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Thank you for coming today!
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Sharing today?
@ZigZagJeff
@thePrimacy
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Embarking on website redesign journey
Daunting process
Strategic and tactical
Sprints, in context of marathon
Cross functional teams with competing
agendas

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Common theme:
This stuff is hard!

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Informational
Transactional
Experiential
{
{
{
{

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No other category of
website has a
greater range of
relevant target
audiences than a
college or university.
Feel free to tweet this. 

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Typical Website
Redesign Takes
9-18 Months!
…Once you actually start!

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See your life somewhere in here?
Website not
meeting
expectations
Plan for overhaul
Attempt to
accomplish
internally
Meet with groups
around campus
No one can
agree on
anything
Consider hiring
outside firm
Fight for budget RFP process
Put on hold to
wait for new
incoming VP of
Marketing
New VP hired
VP puts project
on hold to
assess overall
needs
Budget
reallocated to
pressing need
Admission and
Alumni teams
scream for help
with the website
New VP secures
the budget
RFP process
Outside firm
hired

#IGXUC14
See your life somewhere in here?
Website not
meeting
expectations
Plan for overhaul
Attempt to
accomplish
internally
Meet with groups
around campus
No one can
agree on
anything
Consider hiring
outside firm
Fight for budget RFP process
Put on hold to
wait for new
incoming VP of
Marketing
New VP hired
VP puts project
on hold to
assess overall
needs
Budget
reallocated to
pressing need
Admission and
Alumni teams
scream for help
with the website
New VP secures
the budget
RFP process
Outside firm
hired
And
suddenly a
year has
gone by!

#IGXUC14
All too
familiar
result…

#IGXUC14 #igxuc14 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com
Foundation
for Website
Redesign
Where teams
should spend
MORE of their
time
Where
organizations
should spend
MORE of their
time
Where teams
spend MOST
of their time
Where
organizations
spend MOST
of their time
Communication
& Content
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Technology
Visual Design
12

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Disclaimer
3 hours of content
Thought provoking
Not a tutorial

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What is most
important?
Usable
Desirable
Viable

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VIABLE

Executive
sponsorship
Decision-
making team
Advisory
group

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Website of the Future
17
Business
• Admission
• Advancement
• Academic
Reputation
Brand
• Mission
& Values
• Community
• Expanded
Reach
Audience
• Student
Engagement
• Influencers
• Brand
Ambassadors
#igxuc14 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com
Aligned with strategic objectives
and defining attributes

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Strategic Phase
Fact-finding
• Business requirements
• Real differentiators
Vision-
creation
• Strategic view
• Drives a tactical roadmap
Consensus-
building
• Shared objectives
• Ladders to organizational vision

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Digital Roadmap
User Experience Quality and Focus
BrandCohesionandDifferentiation
Today
Phase I
Phase II
Phase III

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DESIRABLE

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Content and
Context Drives
Desire

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Content and Context Drives Desire…

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to spend more time figuring it outDesire
Time Willing to Spend

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www.IGXUC14.com
Offerings
Outcomes
Proof
Points
Nuts and
Bolts
What How
Why
Informational Transactional
Experiential

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USABLE

The problem is there are no simple “right”
answers for most Web design questions (at
least not for the important ones).
What works is good, integrated design that
fills a need—carefully thought out, well
executed, and tested.
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense
Approach to Web Usability
”
“

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More navigation
does NOT mean
more usable

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Often, the structural “bones” are there…
There’s only
so many ways
to name and
organize
these sections

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We’ve forgotten
about the reason
“they” are here.
To consume, experience and
interact with… content!

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…and every page works against itself
Navigation
Contextual
Links
Factoids
and
thematic
content
AKA: “I read
somewhere
about a 3-click
rule, so lets put
navigation
everywhere”
AKA: “We
have added
too many
things and now
the IA isn’t
intuitive”
AKA: “I know
you came
looking for
something
specific but
maybe click on
me instead”

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Vision and
Requirements
Experience
Design
UI Design/
Wireframing
Visual Design

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Usability =
Empathy for the Site Visitor

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Test early, and as often as possible
36#igxuc14 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com

#IGXUC14 37#igxuc14 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com

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Usability is different than like-ability

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LAUNCH-ABLE

Content

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Waterfall
Agile
Watergile

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Project Kick
Off
Client
Provided Data
Stakeholder
Interviews,
Research
Digital Plan
and Scorecard
IA & SEO
Strategy
Wireframe
Development
Functional
Requirements
Visual Design
(Look and
Feel)
Visual Design
(Tier Page
System)
HTML Build,
QA
CMS Build
Application
Development
QA/Testing
Content
Migration
Launch
Process & Context

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High Level Timeline
43
Deliverable M 1 M 2 M 3 M 4 M 5 M 6 M 7 M 8 M 9 M 10 M 11 M 12
Project Planning
Technical
Requirements
wCMS
Recommendation
Research and
Discovery
Digital and Content
Strategy
Design
Content
Development
HTML Buildout
wCMS Buildout
Testing and Go-
Live

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And there’s this thing called: SEO
Page Element
Meta Titles
Meta Descriptions
Site Content
Navigation & URL Structure
Social Media
Sitemaps & Robot.txt
Headers (h1, h2,h3)
Images

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And the oft-forgotten 301 redirects

Content

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MANAGEABLE

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Technology will never
solve an organizational
challenge.
“
”

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The
Governance
Pendulum

Decentralized
No single owner
Organic technology and
procedures
Distributed content ownership
Often the Wild West
Federated
Single owner backed by a ‘central
services’ team
Centralized technology, templates
and policies
Combine Dept. SMEs with
Content and Visibility Specialists
Builds on what’s working in
current state
Centralized
Single owner or cross functional
team owner
Centralized technology, templates
and policies
Centralized content ownership
Too controlling and bureaucratic
to enable participation/usage

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Move to a Modular Framework
52
Balance evergreen and fresh content.

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Shift to content “modules”
53
Utilize a balance of evergreen and fresh content to create
a modular site experience.

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SUSTAINABLE

Preserving the Home page from promotional
overload requires constant vigilance, since it
usually happens gradually, with the slow,
inexorable addition of just...one...more...thing.
― Steve Krug, Don‘t Make Me Think Revisited: A Common
Sense Approach to Web Usability (3rd Edition)
”
“

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Avoid iterating back to the starting point
Starting
Point
Grand
Vision
9-12 months of
blood, sweat and tears

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Less Org Chart.
More Content-Centric.

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Project Management
Process Model
Vision and Leadership
ContentWeb Print
Social

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Subject Matter Experts
and Storytellers

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SME and Storyteller
60
Storyteller
“Service Line Editor”
Marketing Team
Subject Matter Expert
Service Line
SME Name
Subject Matter Expert
Service Line
SME Name
Organization
Marketing
Web Content
Syndication, SEO, Social
Content Direction
Content Standards & Support
Content Development

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1403
Content Strategy[TM]
140 Characters
140 Words
140 Sentences

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1403 Content Strategy
Bite-sized
Mid-sized
Super-sized
• 30-60 seconds
• 1-2 minutes
• 5+ minutes

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1403
Top Level
Deep Level
Bite
Size
Mid Size
Super Size

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CONSUMABLE

Small, digestible chunks of content are most
frequently clicked
Direct headlines resonate with users

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2 minute storytelling

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Pulling in, vs. pushing away

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Pulling feeds in, not pushing away

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Social
Hashboard

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Responsive Design
Content optimized across devices.

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Adaptive
approach

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Anticipating the
next wave
1
Social
2
Mobile
3
Accessibilityhttp://www.theprimacy.com/blog/changes-in-web-accessibility/

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CUSTOMIZABLE

Content is king (queen).
Context is heir to the throne.

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Allow visitors to:
“explore” on their terms
“discover” with your guidance
75#igxuc14 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com

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Geo-Targeted Content

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Aggregated topical content
77
In the topic area
In News
Any other
place in
the site

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Contextually relevant throughout experience
Conveniently, all
wired and ready
to go for DMS

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Using high-value “journey” stages

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Empathetic anticipation

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Audience-focused, high-value navigation
Audience selector
changes links in menu

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Work toward “super-personalized”

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MEASUREABLE

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MEASURING SUCCESS
Identify measures at the outset

Activity-based Measures
Performance-
based
Activity-
based

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It’s not a page.
It’s not a website.
It is a digital platform.
It is the hub for all
communications.

#IGXUC14 #igxuc14 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0
10
20
30
40
50
60 rc/visit
rc/apply
rc/studyabroad
Landing Pages are effective router pages
Road Piece
Vanity URL Visits
New
Users
Ave. Time
on Page
Pages/Visit
Ave.
Session
Duration
rc/studyabroad 1,340 470 0:28 5.8 6:22
rc/academics 274 31 0:25 35.9 5:14
rc/visit 261 112 1:33 2.5 3:26
rc/studentactivities 162 18 0:48 17.4 3:13
rc/apply 94 33 1:17 1.9 2:14
rc/netprice 22 12 0:26 6 5:43
Total 2,153 676 0:49 11.6 4:22
 Users tend to spend little time on the
landing page but navigate to other pages
 Ave. site duration and pages/visit are
high, inferring that users are engaged
passed the initial page
??
88

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Email remains an effective
marketing channel
Source Visits
Bounce
Rate
Pages / Visit
Avg. Visit
Duration
Application Start
(Goal 1
Conversion Rate)
Application Start
(Goal 1
Completions)
Regis University Employees 7,850 49.5% 3.3 04:53 0.04% 3
ruffalocody 3,022 47.2% 3.0 02:01 0.83% 25
Eloqua 3,008 45.9% 4.2 06:47 0.00% 0
visit 1,839 66.2% 2.5 02:54 0.11% 2
Humanities and Social Sciences 1,808 67.6% 2.4 02:47 0.00% 0
apply 1,078 50.8% 4.2 05:31 3.71% 40
Admissions 488 43.7% 4.3 03:48 0.00% 0
hs_email 363 51.5% 3.1 04:46 0.00% 0
accept 235 49.4% 4.6 05:39 0.00% 0
committed_students 114 78.1% 2.0 01:46 0.00% 0
application_started 39 100.0% 1.0 00:00 0.00% 0
January 28th 2014 21 57.1% 1.6 03:24 0.00% 0
regisreport 18 55.6% 4.1 08:49 0.00% 0
SB-CompTIAEB 14 14.3% 6.3 05:14 0.00% 0
survey 14 100.0% 1.0 00:00 0.00% 0
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
Primacy Emails
Delivered: 130,943
Open Rate: 32.4%
CTR: 5.2%
Visits from All Email Efforts: 19,376
WebsiteVisitsfromEmails
89

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Even tangible, dimensional aspects…

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…can drive social initiatives

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Business Objectives
1. Enrollment:
Increase conversion
and *qualified
enrollments
*%enrollments that fulfills financial
commitment
2. Awareness & Perception:
Enhance brand
awareness and
perception
3. Satisfaction:
Increase visitor
satisfaction
Success Definition
 Increase in Task completion
rates by Audience (b)
 Lift in Visitor Satisfaction
ratings by Audience (a)
 Increase in Return Visit Share
 Reduction in exit rates for key
content pages
 Increase in Engagement rate (visit
depth and duration)
 Increase in Enrollments (b)
 Increase in %enrollments that
fulfill financial commitment (b)
 Increase in Application submissions
online
 Increase in Inquiries to main
recruiting number
 Increase in visits to Prospective
Students content areas
 Increase in Website Visits (b)
 Increase in organic branded
search visits (b)
 Increase in overall and
positive social mentions (b)
 Increase in visits from target
geographies
 Lift in NPS score
― (a) = attitudinal (e.g., social monitoring, consumer satisfaction/ visitor survey)
― (b) = behavioral (e.g., Google Analytics, Student database)
― (f) = financial (e.g., Organization)
Digital Scorecard
Data
Sources
‐ Google
Analytics
‐ Student
database
Current
Performance
xx,xxx
enroll
XX%
% app
Benchmark
xx,xxx
enroll
XX%
%app
2015 Target
+10%
+10%
‐ Google
Analytics
‐ Google
WMTs
‐ Social
Monitoring
4.4MM
monthly/ visits
xx,xxx
monthly/ organic
xx,xxx
monthly/ visits
xx,xxx
monthly/ organic
+15%
+10%
‐ Google
Analytics
‐ Visitor
Surveys
XX%
task rate
xx%
visitor sat
XX%
task rate
xx%
visitor sat
+10%
+10%

#IGXUC14
more inquiries – up 13%
more applications – up 7%
more campus visits – up 57%
more deposits – up 42%
great feedback from focus groups
great feedback from parents
great feedback from campus
great feedback from awards shows

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Recap
Viable
Desirable
Usable
Launch-able
Manageable
Sustainable
Consumable
Customizable
Measureable

#IGXUC14
Are you ready and “able”?

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QUESTIONS ?

#IGXUC14
THANK YOU
@thePrimacy
@ZigZagJeff
Jeff.Johnson@theprimacy.com

Anatomy of an Effective Website Redesign

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