Alumni Website: Card Sort Debrief
Research Lead: Angela BoodooDigital Team
May 2015
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• 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
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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
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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
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Alumni & Community
What we found: participant category labels
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News & Publications
What we found: participant category labels
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Events & Awards
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What we found: participant category labels
Support Surrey
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What we found: participant category labels
Keep in touch
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What we found: participant category labels
Changes to the top level navigation
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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
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“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
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• 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
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• 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
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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
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• 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
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Appendix
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