Visit the St. Clair College website. Analyze it strictly from a visual marketing strategy perspective targeting Local domestic high school students.
You are to provide three strategic visual enhancement recommendations. For each recommendation:
a) Clearly identify the issue or missed opportunity (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)
b) Propose a specific visual improvement (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)
c) Explain why it would improve recruitment effectiveness (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)
d) Connect it to student psychology and digital behaviour (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)
Missed Opportunity 1
Implement An Academic Reputation Section
High school students are unique individuals but many of them face the same barriers when it comes to choosing a college. A common one is trusting the academic reputation of a school, imagine you didn’t know if the school you were going to yielded real results? Colleges like Fanshawe address this incredibly well by implementing a section on their landing page that discusses graduate satisfaction rate, employment rate, employer satisfaction rate and alumni testimonials. St Clair does not offer anything on the landing page that builds trust like this, we have to remember that at this stage in the consumer journey they are somewhere at the middle of the funnel and they are either interested in going to college or they are ready to make the decision on what college to go to. Without trust building information that solidifies St Clair’s reputation and ability to produce satisfied and employed graduates then the competitors have an advantage. Highschoolers have time to look for the right college and if they can find one that immediately presents them with cold hard facts about success they are more likely to choose them over one that doesn’t highlight these statistics.
Incorporating this visually would be as simple as adding a section in the hero or upper half of the page with bold text that shows the relevant statistics of success for graduates after college. By doing this, highschoolers will immediately be exposed to real results without having to dig through a pile of links. Another way to address this concern would be to implement a scrolling testimonials section with the alumni names and current positions in their field. It would be a small addition that makes a big difference and provides real trust building content.
This improves recruitment effectiveness because as I said before these highschoolers are sitting at the middle of the funnel, they are interested and some want to make a decision. By addressing a primary concern of the schools ability to produce real graduates and give real results. If a highschooler can see cold hard facts that the courses work and nearly guarantee results that is one less barrier to get through the funnel. College is expensive and students put a lot on the line when they decide on a college. Highschoolers care about their future, they want to succeed and trade their academic life for a fulfilling career. By immediately highlighting that what we do works and that they are almost guaranteed a career then it only logically follows they will be more likely to apply.
Missed Opportunity 2
In Demand Courses Section
St Clair’s site does not address one of the biggest concerns of highschoolers “Will I get a job?” and “What courses will get me a job?” By implementing an In Demand Courses section that highlights the top courses where there are more jobs than students to fill those positions. We are talking to highschoolers who are ready to make a decision and instead of making them dig through courses and hoping they don’t land on a bird course St Clair should give them a list of the courses that employers are looking for. By addressing the need for a real career and almost eliminating the search process you create an easy to navigate funnel-pushing system that doesn’t deter highschoolers from the site and bouncing to the next one.
Visually this can be implemented in a carousel format with the name of the course, a brief description, graduate satisfaction rate and an alumni testimonial. Incorporating a photo of a person working in that specific field to detail what the job looks like can help highschoolers visualize themselves in that specific career. Adding a button that will send you to the course page to learn more as a CTA will help simplify the user experience as they will not have to search through the site to find the course.
By implementing this St Clair decreases the time it takes for highschoolers to find a course and keeps their attention. If highschoolers are looking for real results and a career out of college then why is St Clair not immediately giving this to them on the home page? It addresses the need for assurance that they are going to gain something out of going to St Clair. This is a major part of the decision making process for any highschooler and is a major barrier. St Clair can remove this barrier by providing this information immediately and by removing the barrier highschoolers are more likely to take action and apply.
Missed Opportunity 3
Linear Home Page Design
The biggest problem overall is the homepages design. I will use Fanshawe as a comparison because of their successful implementation of this method. The Fanshawe homepage follows a linear format that addresses primary high school student concerns without overloading the user with information in an organized and easily digestible way. When scrolling the Fanshawe page they address concerns one by one, starting with what programs are offered and the ability to find a program that aligns with you, a costing section which addresses the highschoolers need to know how much they are financially investing, a careers section that lets you explore careers with a career coach which addresses the need for career assurance, a graduation statistics and testimonials section which builds trust and authority for the college, a campus life section that highlights the labs, study environments and campus life. At the bottom of the page they have a tour of the campus section. This is all done in a linear format that addresses highschoolers concerns in each section, nothing is hidden and it is laid out in such a way that if a highschooler faces a decision making barrier it is easily lifted. In comparison St Clair has designed the home page with tons of information and very few is relevant to the target demographic. In the hero section they choose to prioritize links over displaying relevant information. It’s full of links to pages that contain information but why would a highschooler take the time to look for information about success rates and career opportunities when they can find it quicker on Fanshawe’s site.
Visually implementing this would mean removing content that doesn’t prioritize the target demographic. Highschoolers want to know what a school offers that’s relevant to them, this means jobs, costing, success rates and college life. By reformatting the homepage to address these four primary concerns the highschooler doesn’t have to feel overloaded with unnecessary information and makes it easier for them to be pushed through the decision making process. In the hero section you highlight the type of programs (full time, part time etc.) and add an in demand courses section that leads to jobs. From there you incorporate a statistics and testimonials section, this creates trust and builds confidence in the school. Add a costing section that links to course costs and highlights the average tuition fee along with a link to OSAP and this will address the concern of price. Finally talk about campus life and offer a virtual tour of the school. By following this linear format instead of cramming a bunch of links into the site you create a more fluid user experience that is designed for the target demographic.
This is the biggest implementation that can improve conversion rates. A user’s time is precious, if they can not find what they are looking for in just a few seconds they are way more likely to find a new site. By removing fluff and highlighting necessary information in a linear format the home page becomes clear and concise. Why are we making the user work for information? They do not earn anything from it and they are the ones who are facing a high risk high reward problem. By immediately addressing in a concise manner the concerns and questions of your target audience you lift barriers of entry and push through the funnel leading to higher conversions. A linear format is the definition of less is more because the less work a highschooler has to do the more likely they will apply for a course.
