Students and members of the TTU Marketing team were both asked similar questions to help us compare exploratory behavior by target audiences - in this case, incoming freshmen.
Specifically, we wanted to know what information on the website was key towards helping (or hurting) making a decision to attend TTU.
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The Devoted had an opportunity to sit down with members of the TTU marketing team to discuss priorities for the website. We asked them three high-level questions and then had them organize and vote for the best responses out of each group. This exercise is a great way to prioritize and visualize any goal you may have and should be repeated at least once a year.
See All Photos from Staff KJ SessionWe asked the TTU team to identify all of the audiences the website needs to serve in no particular order. Then we asked each member to use two "votes" to identify their top audiences in terms of priority. Those responses were:
Top Audiences from Votes
Once we outline who is coming to the site, we need to outline what they do on the site. The TTU identified the top reasons why someone would visit the TTU website and we had them vote again on the top responses. Those responses were:
Top Areas of Interest from Votes
The TTU team wrote out some of the top challenges and opportunities with the current website. We then had each member use three votes to prioritize items that should be addressed first.
Top Site Challenges from Votes
These problems areas can be broken down into Technology, UI/UX, Data and Content.
Our favorite part about doing these workshops in person is getting a chance to speak with students. We spoke with six students on-site at Texas Tech. For these sessions, we ask similar questions but tweak them a little bit to be more relevant to them. It is important to ask similar questions so we can compare the responses and make sure the internal team is aligned with what their students are thinking when using the website. Overall, the staff and the students were on the same page.
See All Photos from Student KJ SessionInterestingly, students indicated they were interested in scholarship information first. This aligns with what we observed in the user testing recordings as well. This is our first indication that the phrase "Financial Aid" or "Tuition" may not be properly catching what students are looking for when they are searching for content. Below is the full list of how the students prioritized their search.
Top Areas of Interest from Votes
When asked the question "what helped" they then described the overall "Cost" to be the key determining factor in what helped to make the decision to attend TTU. Also, Outcomes played a very high role. Students wanted to feel like there was ROI for their decision to attend. For this small sample size "Fit" or "Vibe" was important but did not receive a vote.
Top Factors from Votes
When we asked "What Hurt" in their decision, cost again became the top issue. However, this time "Vibe" became a little more important. While students are making realistic decisions to attend their school, the idea of fitting in is their final gut-reaction. They want to feel good about their next 4 years of school. While other schools may have met the mark, they did not do enough to make sure the student felt comfortable.
Top Factors from Votes
KJ Session Observations
Option to intro the rec content...
The students we were able to speak to (although it was not many), confirmed that their prospective journey was pretty simple.
The students indicated that the many portals and platforms were very frustrating - especially during the “Admitted” process where they were trying to finalize becoming a student. One thing of note that all students repeated is that once they reached a real person, the process was a lot easier. It is also of note that the efficiency of the Admissions process is a huge boon to TTU. Fast decisions clearly help students make an easier decision. Overall, they just want to know.
This may be one of the first times we’ve seen a robot be selected as a top audience but it makes sense. Prospective students and parents today rely on Gemini, ChatGPT and other technologies to give them simple and quick readouts of the information they want.
Getting the exact output without having to scan the entire website is appealing and saves a lot of time. This puts pressure on the marketing team to make sure the website serves the most up-to-date information in a way that’s appealing to people AND robots.
These students were sharp. They understood the concept of a net price but they were more interested in the process of getting to the net price. TTU’s scholarships, especially for in-state, bordering and international students are incredible. Once that formula is figured out for those that qualify, it’s a huge driver.
This was also apparent on the tour during the presentation.
A lot of universities understand the importance of outcomes. Not just going to college for the experience but knowing that there has to be a job at the end of the journey (or a least a high chance of a job.)The TTU students were really interested in outcomes. But it also seems that they took extra steps to verify that by looking deeper into alumni and the jobs they had. The new program pages do a great job of showcasing job and salary data but this is a great opportunity for the other trad. programs as well.
