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wustl.edu 2011 Upgrade rd. 2

July 5th, 2011

On July 1, 2011 the Digital Communications Marketing (DCM) team launched a major update to wustl.edu. This is the third (arguably fourth) significant improvement to the Washington University in St. Louis homepage since we formed the DCM office in January, 2009. The site is 100% created and managed by our internal team.

Research

Since the previous version launched in August 2010, we have been closely monitoring and measuring the site’s functionality. To do so, we partnered with a major market research company to study user satisfaction. The results were, and continue to be, very encouraging. Additionally, the site was recently nominated for a 2011 eduStyle award — the first ever for WUSTL.

We learned that overall, users who first visited the homepage (and landing pages) of wustl.edu were much more satisfed than those who did not. That is, the wustl.edu website makes the experience of other University websites more satisfying for users. It strengthens the Washington University in St. Louis brand.

Tactics

As we prepared for the update we made last week, we learned from research that we could improve our offerings to internal users by providing even faster access to links most searched for by that audience. We were able to rely upon nearly a year’s worth of real data to determine what really is popular versus what was previously guessed to be popular. So, among other tweaks, we created a “trending” feature in the footer that is present on all pages. It provides a list of actual links and sites for which people regularly search and click. Based on analytics and click patterns, we can see already that the trending feature is proving successful.

The most notable recent addition to wustl.edu is the Sights and Sounds section. It features a video produced exclusively for the new site launch, webcams, and the popular photo gallery.

The goal is to show that at WUSTL “what you see is what you get.” The campus is vivid and full of action. It is beautiful. The Sights and Sounds section showcases the distinctive environment in which incredible intellectual achievements occur.

Overall, these additions build upon an already successful website. Our goal was to make it even better based on additional research and feedback from users. Through careful study of site traffic patterns and working with internal and external (third party) research partners, we have documented that the wustl.edu website is heading from good to great.

Final Note

This is my last project with WUSTL and the DCM team as executive director. I am stepping down on July 8, 2011 for a new adventure. It has been a privilege to work with such talented people in DCM, and I will always remember how dedicated they are to advancing WUSTL’s digital communications. I will miss working with the team, and wish them the best of luck in the future. You will continue to make this website great.

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