St Clare’s Oxford
Multi-generational appeal to attract new students to this prestigious Oxford college
Optimised for mobile
Reduction of user journey to 3x click maximum
Page speed optimised
“Zest were always available when we wanted to talk with the lead designer or project manager. The team was calm and kept tight control every step of the way; a welcome relief for such a large and demanding project!”
— Alison Bloomfield, Web Manager for St Clare’s Oxford
Objectives
St Clare’s is an Oxford-based college specialising in teaching to students from ages 15 to adults. St Clare’s is one of Oxford’s most established institutions, catering to over 50 nationalities across multiple properties in the city.
St Clare’s approached us to assist with the modernisation of their website design to help to attract new students. The primary challenge was that the students – often in their teens – were the end customer, but their parents hold the purse strings. This generational gap provided a challenge from a design perspective.
The old website lacked functionality, was plagued by duplicate content, and did not convey the visual appeal of a modern Oxford college. Our challenge was to fix these errors and help to streamline the St Clare’s website to make it easier for users to quickly access all of the information they needed.
Strategy
Our planning focused on St Clare’s target customers, identifying early on that the decision to attend the College is a two-stage process. Typically, the prospective student would express their interest, leading their parent to then make the initial enquiry.
Action
Because parents and students usually have different priorities when viewing the site, a decision was made to consolidate the old website into two core areas, catering to these respective priorities: ‘Courses’ and ‘Life’ at St Clare’s.
This two-pronged approach combined the fun and important side of living and studying, whilst addressing any questions from parents and justifying the investment into the educational programme.
Results
The resulting website offers an improved experience for all users across any device. This enables both students and parents to easily attain content relevant to them about the college and its courses in a few clicks.
Growth team
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Ollie H
Head of Client Services
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Louis L
Managing Director
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Agata B
Creative Designer