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Education IT

Australian university improves website

By Xinghui Guo | 23 July 2011

Since 2009, Murdoch University, with 18,000 students, has been looking at its website’s user experience to generate leads and school application submission, said Tim Elleston, Digital Advisor, Murdoch University.

“The university realised it needed a more robust and customisable analytics solution to get a clearer view of engagement, conversion, and abandonment,” said Elleston.

Hence, the website is evaluated at least twice a year across the entire site using a number of tools like analytics, segmentation and Adobe Online Marketing Suite.

“We closely watch conversion rates for both campaign and non-campaign traffic.  We also closely watch internal search terms by audience type as they are a leading indicator to what content we should be highlighting,” said Elleston.

“Segmentation is also an integral part of what we look at. We try to segment by lots of different ways, the obvious ones being Staff and Students, but also then our external audiences; parents, teachers, prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students, and so forth. We then look at our conversions by segment to better understand what works and what doesn’t and try to apply what works to the larger segment (those that have not converted).”

Segments are also used to understand user journey across the site and visitors are scored based on their activities.

“Discover and SiteCatalyst really help us when it comes to understanding user behavior, segmentation and visitor engagement, as well, of course, the traditional KPIs such as conversion rates,” explained Elleston.

“When we add new content, such as major sections, we’re very careful where to add them, often looking at the user journey through Omniture, such as pathing to/from content.  When we release new functionality, we monitor it very closely and make minor changes to it to improve things like conversion rates etc.”

Murdoch University has also been using Adobe Online Marketing Suite to test, modify, and target content to distinct audiences for maximum relevance. Using it, Murdoch’s microsite was redesigned to appeal to a broader audience than the younger niche audience [undergrads0 it previously targeted, said Elleston.

“We wanted the site to focus on post grad as well as wide range of audience come across our site.”

Murdoch has also dabbled in social networks.

“We have both Facebook and Twitter accounts and actively engage with our audiences through both channels.  We also monitor social networks using Lithium and are really excited about the new Social Analytics capability announced at Adobe Summit this year.  

We developed our Social Media Guide around 18 months ago, as well as a Social Media Crisis Plan, which helps guide us through any negative commentary which can happen from time to time.  Our guide has been well received across the university and has helped other areas understand how to best engage with their audiences, such as alumni.

We have also surveyed our entire student cohort with a Social Technographic Study, based on the Forester Groundswell model, to better understand their current usage and attitudes towards social media.”

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