STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY WEBSITE RESEARCH PRESENTATION
Context
Overriding Objective of the Research The outcomes of the research should facilitate the design and development of a user-friendly website that optimises strategic communications impact
OBJECTIVES Assessing the functionality: To identify: User-friendly obtaining information and the main visitors • • WHO? HOW? communicating? internal and external • What are the issues, problems and barriers? users, when used and • Improvements? frequency of use • WHY? LANGUAGE? The reason for using the site Preference The information needs: Currently available and • WHAT? Faced by web contributors in CHALLENGES? accessible? the various environments Improvements? • What else to include? • New ew proposed ed site e structure e for the e differ eren ent visitors
Research Methodology
OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH APPROACH • A descriptive study of the functionality and trends of defined stakeholders • Research goal and objectives jointly determined with the internal SU team • Both quantitative and qualitative elements • Institutional permission and ethical clearance from the SU Research Ethics Committee: Humanities • 5 phases: QUALITATIVE QUALITATIVE KICK-OFF ONLINE QUANTITATIVE FOCUS IN-DEPTH WORKSHOP ANALYTICS SURVEYS GROUPS INTERVIEWS
KICK-OFF WORKSHOP ONLINE ANALYTICS PURPOSE: PURPOSE: - To flesh out objectives - To understand behaviour of website visitors - To ensure internal core team aligned CONTENT: CONTENT: - Google Analytics - Crazy Egg Heatmaps - Onboarding in terms of SU strategy - Review of inspiring websites - SWOT analysis for SU website OUTPUT: - Crazy Egg tracked visits (71 pages tracked in total) OUTPUT: - Google Analytics, including tracking site search terms - Team alignment and clarity on next steps - Detailed set of objectives/information requirements
QUALITATIVE FOCUS GROUPS QUALITATIVE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS PURPOSE: - Explore stakeholder opinions and perceptions - Provide input into quantitative questionnaires SAMPLE: SAMPLE: - One-on-one interviews - members of SU - Up to 8 respondents per group management - 3 groups – staff users, staff contributors, current - Included members of the Rectorate, Deans and students (internal stakeholders) Senior/Chief Directors ALIGNMENT ROLE OF EFFECTIVE CURRENT SU IMPACT ON CONTRIBUTOR VIEW ON WITH WEBSITE WEBSITES WEBSITE SU BRAND EXPERIENCE GOVERNANCE STRATEGY OUTPUT: - Key qualitative themes and context - Input into design of quantitative questionnaire
Stakeholder Group Population Desired Sample Achieved Sample (N=) (n=) (n=) Web contributors 316 30 22 All academic and 3,450 500 247 PASS environment QUANTITATIVE SURVEYS staff Current students 32,000 1,000 483 Prospective 40,000 500 453 METHODOLOGICAL NOTES: students - Online structured questionnaires Alumni 30,000 100 126 - Stratified sampling General website 100 287 - Descriptive study of trends visitors - High level of consistency across TOTAL 1,618 methodologies - Population sizes - full population or a statistically representative Impact of Covid19 = some desired sample not achieved….BUT portion consistency of responses = confidence in resulting themes. - Desired sample based on: - Statistically significant proportion - Previous experience of low PURPOSE: response rates - To quantify themes identified from qualitative research
Key Findings
From the key findings and their interpretation, 6 key themes emerged Purpose & Structuring of Website : Make the hard decision – prioritise external users Website Design : Brutally reduce complexity User-friendly Functionality & Navigation : If it takes more than 3 clicks, you have lost me A Hybrid Model: Balancing Institutional Standardisation & Environmental Flexibility : Freedom to contribute – but with limits Branding & Consistency : 1 st impression is everything – and lasting impressions require consistency Future Focused & Systemic Implications : Develop with the future in mind
Theme #1: Purpose & Structuring of Website : Make the hard decision – prioritise external users
Internally, some hardly ever use the public site, while others tap into it regularly… Students using My.Sun for everyday needs • Tapped into website when applying • Very infrequent use of public site since then • My.Sun is a far more frequently used and important tool internally. Staff using My.Sun for everyday needs • Occasionally tap in for new or contacts (for example) • Most needs supported BUT – often save or follow links to key information • by My.Sun Public site needs to focus on external Wide disparity of use – some using regularly and some • users and their needs not at all Similar to staff purposes and methods amongst those • who are moderate users – little entry through home page
Users are young and mostly South Africa – with 25% international visitors Country Users South Africa 74.77% Age Netherlands 3.03% User profile fits a Finland 2.53% student profile United States 2.25% France 1.50% Prioritise their needs Austria 1.34% and ensure easy Namibia 1.13% navigation Belgium 1.00% United Kingdom 1.00% Germany 0.96% Source: Google Analytics
Many of the general public visitors to the website are applicants or parents of applicants Quantitative survey: Reasons for visiting the website General P Ge Public APPLICANTS / SHORT COURSE INFORMATION 80% Thinking of applying to study at Stellenbosch University 53% I have applied to study at Stellenbosch University 9% 80 % My child is thinking of applying to study at Stellenbosch University 15% Looking for information on short courses or online courses offered 14% I am interested in news about the university, or events happening at the university 11% I am an alumnus / alumna of the university 6% I am looking to see what jobs are available at the university 6% I am interested in reading about research done by staff at the university 5% I am an academic from another institution 5% I am a journalist / media looking for interesting news or researching something 0% n=287
40% of current students do not use the public site…. and neither do 1 in 4 staff Quantitative survey: Contact sample - usage of the public website Respondents who do not use the site were screened out and did not complete the full survey – they mostly use My.Sun. Staff Students Non users Non users 40% 23% Website Website users users 77% 60% n=288 n=191
My.Sun has by far the highest frequent of usage among students Quantitative survey: Students – Usage (last 6 months) and Frequency of visits to areas of the website Every day / most days 2+ times a week Once or twice a week Every 2-3 weeks Once a month Less often Total users Areas of the My.Sun 60% 12% 12% 3% 92% website that can Faculties 6% 2% 11% 11% 71% be accessed Students 6% 3% 13% 11% 53% from links on the Dates 2% 3% 9% 12% 46% home page Contact us 26% About SU 26% News & media 22% Maps 21% Sport 20% Careers@SU 19% Research 19% Staff 18% Alumni 6% Management 5% Ethics hotline 1% Q. For each area that you visited, please tell us how often you access content in this area
And similarly for staff Quantitative survey: Staff – Usage (last 6 months) and Frequency of visits to areas of the website Every day / most days 2+ times a week Once or twice a week Every 2-3 weeks Once a month Less often Total users My.Sun 39% 16% 15% 6% 82% Faculties 7% 10% 19% 15% 77% Areas of the website that can Staff 14% 4% 21% 12% 62% be accessed News & media 10% 9% 18% 7% 52% from links on the Dates 41% home page Research 40% About SU 35% Students 31% Careers@SU 29% Management 28% Maps 18% Contact us 18% Alumni 13% Give to SU 4% Sport 4% Ethics hotline 4% Donors 3% Other 12% Q. For each area that you visited, please tell us how often you access content in this area
General public show a higher frequency than current students or staff Alumni and General Public: Frequency of visiting the website Google Analytics show General Public 29% that study-related 21% pages are most 14% 14% 12% 10% 8% frequent in top 50 pages More than About twice About once every Once every three to Once a Less often than This is my twice a week a week week or two weeks four weeks month once a month first visit The alumni section of the website is Visit website Visit Alumni website Alumni visited less often 28% 24% 22% than the general 18% 18% 16% 14% 14% 13% website, with many 12% 11% 5% ( 28%) who do not 3% visit it at all About once a week About once every About once a Once every two to About once every Less often I have not visited or more often two weeks month three months four to six months than every the Alumni section six months Q. For each area that you visited, please tell us how often you access content in this area
RECOMMENDATIONS Split into an internal intranet site for staff and current students 1 (My.Sun) – and a public website for external stakeholders Build the website prioritizing the needs of external users 2 Use the internal My.Sun system for most of the specific 3 requirements of the internal audiences (students and staff)
Theme #2: Website Design : Brutally reduce complexity
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