When it comes to building an enriching environment for students, first impressions are key – in the classroom, yes, but also online. From having easy access to important school-specific and district-wide information, your institution’s website, as well as integrated parent and faculty portals, should be uniquely accessible, user-friendly, and comprehensive.
On the same front, an old, outdated, and clunky website can ruin that crucial first impression, in turn hindering your ability to relay important information to students, parents, and faculty.
According to web credibility research by British university researchers, design, layout, and functionality relate to 96 percent of user first impressions.
As users continue to crave an enjoyable and functional digital experience, ensuring that you have a top-notch design with updated information is critical to your digital success.
By doing so, your institution will build the foundation for a strong platform capable of meeting the needs of your students and parents. This directly relates to increasing enrollment as well as building a positive relationship with your educational community.
In tandem with design, functionality is also crucial to your institution’s success. According to Sweor, 85% of adults think that a company’s website when viewed on a mobile device should be as good or better than its desktop website. By optimizing your design for mobile, you allow users easy access to important information on-the-go.
Users don’t want to navigate a website that is too busy or complex, one that doesn’t allow them to navigate to the information they need or are interested in. By the time they leave the website, they’re left with bad first impressions, an interaction that directly impacts your institution’s enrollment and overall credibility.
To combat these issues of website design and functionality, ensure that your institution’s website is both carefully and pleasantly designed as well as user-friendly. Consider matters of color and visibility, look and feel, and layout and compatibility. Also, be proactive in updating your website – keep a record which information has been freshly updated and which needs to be replaced.
At ONE18MEDIA, we’re here to facilitate the website update process. Contact us today, and we’ll work to build the website that meets your school’s unique design and functionality needs.