Information Architecture and Content Strategy Consultation

(with Naviscent)

http://www.phoenix.edu/

We were hired to provide University of Phoenix a Usability Consultation regarding their current website. They were concerned about the impact of their navigation structure and the messaging on their site visitors’ experiences. The client did not wish to redesign their website, but wanted to optimize the discoverability and utility of their over-4000 pages of content within their current design.

We conducted Usability Tests against a set of defined tasks and goals; stake holder interviews to understand business objectives and insights; and reviewed website analytics against conversion rates. From this research, we made a series of recommendations regarding content strategy and presentation.

Next, we organized and facilitated a card sorting exercise for 100 participants who aligned with University of Phoenix’s targeted personas. This was an open-style card sort of 85 “cards” representing the significant volume of content. Therefore, identifying the most meaningful and representative cards was critical in order to avoid overwhelming participants, while generating the most meaningful results possible.

This card sort research, in conjunction with the previous research, resulted in a series of recommendations for the client’s information architecture and navigation schema. The client has since implemented most of these recommendations and has seen an increase in conversion rate and time-on-site per visit.