alumni card sort debrief final minus appendix

Alumni Website: Card Sort Debrief

Research Lead: Angela BoodooDigital Team

May 2015

Monday 1 May 2023 1

• Participants questioned the number of pages relating to financial donations to Surrey. They did not perceive the University as a traditional “charity” that undertakes regular fundraising and suggested that donations can been generated through facilitating alumni networking

• The benefits of being part of the Surrey Alumni community are not fully realised. Participants described “Alumni Services” including careers support and campus facilities but some thought there was disproportionately more content about “giving”

• Opportunity to increase repeat visits to the site through a “Keep in touch” section. 65% of participants visited the site 1-2 times in the last 12 months mainly to view events and many asked about reunions as a future enhancement to the website

• “Giving back to Surrey” involves both financial and volunteering options. Participants used this label to emphasise the two-way relationship with the University

Executive summary

Monday 1 May 2023 2

The Alumni & Relations team want to optimise their current website to better serve their audiences.

Project background

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Objectives: 1.To create an identity for the Surrey Alumni Network2.Make donor material accessible via digital channels3.Make lifelong relationships (learning, giving, volunteering) easier to manage via the website 4.Use the website to engage an active, vibrant community of Surrey Alumni

This will be achieved through: •Bringing the Surrey Alumni website into a consistent look & feel with the main website •Migrating existing content from NetCommunity to Drupal •Optimising content and navigation structure through application of user-centred design techniques

The user centred design process

Monday 1 May 2023 4

Using Optimal Workshop software we conducted an online remote open card sort. This was a “drag & drop” activity.

Research methodology

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Card sorting is a design research method used to find out how users would organise, prioritise and label your web content.

Having already conducted a content audit, we asked participants to organise and label 70 cards representing the web pages prioritised by the Alumni team.

We chose an open card sort, which enabled us to get better insight into users’ language.

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/card-sorting-how-many-users-to-test/

Participant number/validityAs recommended by Jakob Nielsen, we opted find a minimum of 15 participants to achieve a 0.90 correlation in similarity scores

A total of 26 participants from the Surrey Alumni community were invited to take part

Participants

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11 Male

15 Female

We asked a few pre-activity questions to understand current engagement with Surrey Alumni content

Engagement with Surrey Alumni content

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84% of participants had visited the Alumni website in the last 12 months

77% were recipients of the Forever Surrey Magazine

46% would consider going to the Alumni website to organise a reunion

15% had downloaded the Forever Surrey app

54% of participants use the Surrey Alumni LinkedIn Group

46% of participants use the Surrey Alumni Facebook group

31% of participants use the Surrey Alumni Twitter

31% of participants do not engage with Surrey Alumni social media

What were visitors to the site looking for?

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There were very few problems recalled with using the current website.

This is due to the predominant “browse” behaviour stated on repeat visits to “see the latest news and events”.

The 3 issues raised were:

1.Inconsistent navigation (1) 2.Unable to find pictures of past Alumni events (1)3.Couldn’t change profile photo (1)

38% Events – past & present

23% Latest news / university developments

4% Alumni profiles / update my details

4% Promotions & offers

Results

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The concept of “giving” is interpreted by participants as a financial act. There was some question about the emphasis on “giving money” as a primary call to action.

Participant labels included less direct language: -How your donations help-Giving back to Surrey (this heading included volunteering information also)

Participants also highlighted perceived “services” offered by Surrey: -How we can help you -Careers support -Continuing professional development

Giving equates to money matters

What we found

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Donate£

FinancialSupport

Give us your

money

Fundraising

GIVE

Make a gift

Standardised categories

What we found


Alumni & Community

What we found: participant category labels


News & Publications



Events & Awards



Support Surrey



Keep in touch



Changes to the top level navigation


Based on the content audit and competitor analysis conducted by the Alumni & Relations team.

Revision to the Level 1 navigation based on the card sort outcome

Participants’ indicated that “giving back” to Surrey encompassed both supporting the University financially (donations) and with their time (volunteering).

A clear section on ways to keep in touch was highlighted as a way to facilitate Alumni networking online and generate goodwill, which in turn can translate into financial donation.

User feedback


“What is the purpose of the site? For collaboration and engagement with Alumni - or from the titles I got the impression purely to fundraise”

--Charles B

“It is interesting that the largest group is related to giving with relatively little benefits other than providing information”--Malcolm J

“Why does it seem to be an emphasis on donations and contributions back to the university?”--Lynal L

“I noticed that there may be some duplication of content within the alumni website.”--Dave P

“I feel that what is needed is the creation of an 'eco-system' where alumni can communicate with one another. This can be done via country listings for alumni and their course information. By staying relevant with news updates and arranging gatherings, alumni might feel more attached to the school. Donations and goodwill can be generated from that instead of asking directly for money.”-- Lynal L

Recommendations


• Alumni & Community• This section should include “our history” incorporating Battersea content• Clearly outline the “services” Surrey provides for Alumni• Include details of Alumni benefits • This may be the section that corporate donors may use to learn about the

vision & strategy for Surrey Alumni when considering sponsorship or partnership

• International (although created as a separate group by 4 participants) can be placed here

• News & Publications • News & Events is an equally weighted titled• Consider including Research here

Recommendations


• Events & Awards • This section can include International & Battersea events

• Support Surrey • Donation is used more frequently than Giving• Supporting and how to help are used in more word combinations• Financial & non-financial ways to give back to Surrey should be included

here

• Keep in touch • A section for facilitating Alumni networking & reunions• Consider the importance of nostalgia in generating goodwill and sense of

share community spirit • Could be a section where Alumni look for network mentors

Recommendations


Would still like to see the creation of an email address that will last forever. This would enable continuity and people to remain contactable. To be as professional as possible, using first and last names instead of numbers and alphabets

Similarly to allow the creation of business cards for school ambassadors and country representatives. This gives a sense of identity and recognition in some cultures where name cards have more importance.

Photos taken at past international events can be uploaded, drawing alumni into the website to take a look. At the same time, they might start exploring other parts of the website and might even log in to update contact information etc.

From participant: Lynal L

Future opportunities


• Support Surrey & Alumni & Community are large sections that will need to be verified in the Tree Jack study

• The objective is to refine the structure (number of pages) in order to produce a more streamlined (yet relevant) navigation for users

Next steps: Tree Jack


Appendix


alumni card sort debrief final minus appendix

Documents