Edward Consulting
EDWARD CONSULTING prioritizes improving lives through education by connecting people to the best universities and scholarships in the world.
Students typically visit the website, check out free resources, book free or paid consultations and sign up for the newsletter.
How can we create a platform where users can easily search the website to find resources on what applies to them?
Edward Consulting’s website is used very frequently by users looking to gain admission and get scholarships to Universities abroad.
However, the data shows that a lot of users spend very little time checking out the resources and opportunities available on the website.
Problem Diagnosis
After seeing how many people the company loses on the website, I was determined that the target user would be the prospective or current students.
In order to understand this persona more, I conducted user interviews by reaching out to people that fit the user personas.
Main Users: The students
Time and budget were limited, and I wanted to ensure I got the right users to ensure they represented the individuals that will typically use the website.
I reached out to people looking to study in colleges abroad and to teachers of students preparing to go into college or were enrolled in college preparatory schools to have their students test the current platform.
For these interviews, the audience was broad and spanned both genders in order to represent the individuals who would use the platform.
Competitors
I looked at other websites of popular education platforms to help my research on what could make the website more successful.
Results of Problem Diagnosis
I noticed some issues with the website overall.
The forms were too long for users and had no error states to stop users when mistakes were made.
The gallery pages were not clear to users on what they were looking at.
There was also no hierarchy and priority in how information was presented.
The entire website appeared quite busy and overwhelming.
Main Objective
It was important for me to pay attention to these features in order to relieve the pain points some of the users were encountering especially when it came to maximizing the resources on the website.
Starting with Questions
I came up with some “How Might We” question that would help us understand the problem and solutions better:
How might we provide a platform that is engaging and valuable to our users?
How might we help our users find the resources that are most important to them?
Improving Retention
I wanted to improve retention by making the platform more engaging and valuable to the users and also help them find resources that are valuable to them.
I did a deep dive on every page on the website and deconstructed it to really see the navigational structure and hierarchy of all the pages.
I created mockups in order to quickly pump out some ideas and then get feedback from users.
Results
After testing the mockups and getting feedback, I made some more changes and here are the updates to certain screens.
The home page was updated to have more hierarchy
When a user opens up the homepage, they are shown articles that are important for their application and funding process.
The home page is now less overwhelming to users so its easy to scan and find information that is valuable.
Users also have clearer direction to get to the services provided.
Services page was updated
When users click into the services page, the information is easier to read through and presented in a more user friendly way.
Previously it was designed in a layout that had users having to move back and forth for the information.
Consultation Page was updated to be easier
Previously the consultation page had so many questions for users to fill before they could book time. There were also no error states so important information were left out unknowingly.
I updated the questionnaire and added a simple Calendly button for users to book time. The Calendly form will contain about 2 questions to help the everyone prepare for the call.
Challenges and Compromises
Due to resource and time constraints, I wanted to ensure that I prioritize essential features and functionalities over non-essential ones.
I had to work within budget constraints and had to streamline certain features and design iterations to meet the financial constraints.
My rationale was that focusing on core features ensures a more polished and effective user experience within the available resources.
It was also important to avoid overwhelming users with too much information, as the college application process and scholarship search can be extensive.
Next Steps
So far the updated versions have been well received by stakeholders and user feedback. However, there are still some improvements that can be made. I want users to be able to filter their search on the website even more.
The work done so far has helped lay a good foundation for the website and would inform future parts of the business.