If you were browsing through the various degrees offered at North Greenville University on the university website back in 2016, then you would have found that each product webpage (i.e. those highlighting degree programs) looked completely different.
Some included a long description of the degree, the list of course requirements, several photos, track options, and short bios for each professor in the program. Others, on the other hand, featured little more than a short, uninteresting blurb. Pretty much every single one read like it had been plucked directly from the official catalog, though.
So when our Marketing and Communications Office set to work on revamping the university website from the ground up, I knew a major component of that for me personally would include tackling our degree webpages.
Strategy
- Conduct research, such as compiling ideas from other university websites, looking into the most applicable career fields related to NGU’s degrees, and also hosting focus groups with NGU students for feedback on the university website.
- Create a new and improved degree webpage template for all of NGU’s product webpages.
- Collaborate with NGU’s professors and instructors to gather information necessary to promote each degree program with equal detail.
- Reach out to NGU alumni to capture success stories for each degree program to be featured on the degree webpage.
- Refine all collected content for each degree webpage, furnishing more engaging descriptions catered to the target audience.
Example Pieces
Outcomes & Results
- Higher SEO Scores: With more complete information, NGU’s degree webpages on average came out higher in search results due to their better SEO scores, as measured by SEO Review Tools’ SEO Content Score Checker. For example, the interdisciplinary studies (B.A.) degree webpage rose from an SEO content score of 54% in 2015 to a score of 94% in 2019.
- More Page Views: Since the new degree pages tended toward more optimized content, it’s no surprise that page views increased drastically, jumping from average annual page views of 1,506 in 2015 to 5,270 in 2017—a percentage increase of 250 percent.
- Decreased Bounce Rate: With new content in place, NGU’s revised degree webpages experienced an overall decrease in bounce rate. For example, the mathematics degree page dropped from a 67% bounce rate in 2015 to a 30% bounce rate in 2017.
- Positive Anecdotal Feedback: Several current students at NGU have shared with marketing team members that the detailed degree descriptions helped them understand the best major for them and ultimately influenced their decision to attend NGU.
- New Lead Source: Each degree webpage now features two key CTAs, one of which is to fill in an on-page form to request more info. This form generated an average of 30 new leads per month in 2019 alone.
- Significant Revenue Potential: The marketing qualified leads (MQLs) captured in 2019 by the degree page forms represent a revenue potential of more than $20 million—based on the average lifetime value of $56,800* per customer.
Testimonial
- “I would love to say I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, but without NGU and the university’s detailed descriptions of each major, I may never have found my calling. Thank you, NGU, for helping me discover God’s plan for my life!” – Hannah Hyler, NGU student
Notes
*The average lifetime value of $56,800 per customer at NGU is based on the $32,500 in tuition and room and board for a full-time student during the 2020-21 academic year minus the average financial aid package amount of $18,300 for NGU students and then multiplied by four years of attendance.