Their website didn’t improve their chances to enroll students or strengthen the bond with current families. How do we get prospective families to know and trust us, and current families to better partner with us?
We did this thing together. CCA staff joined us for a group breakdown of their website. What worked, but could use improvements? What likely caused more than one family to say, “Uh, no thanks.” How smooth was the enrollment process, and what messages were being sent, both literally and figuratively, to people clicking through? It’s not rocket science, but there is a science to it, and we know how to ask the right questions to get to the right solutions.
andculture & CCA took the time necessary to understand the shortcomings of their website, opportunities to improve and what goals we had.
We agreed to have a preliminary splash page at first, then a basic site with space for events and media, and then, for the coup de grâce, a fully functioning site with content management capabilities.
Here’s what’s amazing: Because we listened to what families and staff needed and wanted, we could move forward with confidence as we prioritized and refined potential features. User flows (how you click through the site) were evaluated so we could be confident in the enrollment process. No charter school should lose a potential enrollment because your site hits a dead end or ends up being more trouble than it’s worth. This is where our partnership style shines through. We’re not just plugging things out and churning out the next step. We want to help you solve a problem.
We wireframe (sketch out a rough draft) the main site based on everything we’ve agreed on, and create a design kit with CCA’s newly approved brand, like an emperor with new clothes. VIP pages were custom designed after getting CCA’s approval (noticing a pattern here? Nothing happens with us in a vacuum. You’re right here with us.)
In the meantime, we launched a preliminary website to help Commonwealth Charter Academy shout from the rooftops that they’ve got a new name but the same incredible mission of innovative education for students throughout the state. Even as a preliminary site, we still made sure to include the basic info, media information and upcoming events to make this media friendly (gotta get that buzz going in the news).
Together with our partner, we launched CCA’s full website in May 2016. This included an integrated development platform so CCA can manage content and build new pieces — the keys to the coupe. We decked the platform out with customized features and integrations because that’s what CCA needs to stay current.
What else?
- Mobile-responsive
- Interactive course catalog
- Success stories
- Stats from parent surveys
- Upcoming events
- Digitized enrollment process, from the initial info request through actual enrollment
Everything they need to thrive…because we listened to what our partners needed to solve their problem, and offered an experience to address it. That’s the beauty of design.