Literature Review
How User Interface and Website Analysis work to our Favor
The focus of our research was to understand how website layouts and architecture drive a user's understanding and experience of a website. Our search gave us multiple articles that talked about heuristics and website best practices. From our findings we found many resources that helped us develop our own websites analysis, as well as strategies that should be implemented for a positive user experience.
Website Analysis: Users want to see what?
Experts in this field of information science have performed website evaluations to gain a better understanding of how a user interacts when given two different websites to interact with. Discussed by the Davide Bolchini and his colleagues, usability experts at the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, is “we propose is a substantial advancement on the concepts that are put forward by our former work in ‘Value-Driven Design’ (VDD) (Bolchini, 2009). VDD is an elaborated design framework used in web requirement analysis and conceptual design, which separates requirement analysis into two steps: communication analysis and application requirements analysis.” Through this analysis, they have been able to give design suggestions that can directly translate to sustainable design suggestions for the websites studied.
Examples include: “To improve the communication of this key value, various design requirements can be discussed with the stakeholders. For example, assuming that the collection is what it is (and cannot be substantially changed in the short term), more emphasis on the existing collection pieces coming from all over the world should be placed in the design, through richer images, or high impact multimedia galleries.”(Bolchini, 2009). Similarly, Antonella and her colleagues at the University of Manchester, human-computer interaction professionals, have studied similar designed strategies, in which they use the same website to understand how menu-based strategies differ from method-based. They found, “Even though the metaphor-design had superior expressive aesthetics there was evidence of poor graphical design in the usability measures and no difference was found on the interactivity heuristics, although the metaphor design incorporated more interactive effects. In contrast, the metaphor design was rated better on engagement and was preferred when the framing question pointed to younger users and more playful applications.”(Angeli, 2006) Meaning users are more inclined to engage if they are familiar with what the layout is, as if it mimics another existing layout, and if they are able to interact with the information in some way, in this study it was clicking and an animation appeared. Overall, the experts have performed studies that help understand what a user wants to see in a website, and how they can help a recruiter appeal to a younger audience.
Heuristics! The use of them Among Websites
Experts in the field of human-computer interaction suggest better use of heuristics and page design to recruit students and potential employees. Huan Rong, an expert at Uppsala University in the Informatics and Media department found the following during their research saying “New Heuristics works on a special domain and can take care of the characteristics of an online recruiting website. It focuses on the workflow, task support, and the specific functionality of job searching and applications.” (p.26) (Rong, 2020) Stating that it’s important to understand the path that your user is taking to get to the information they are trying to receive. Similarly, Tait Jeffery Martin a former Ph.D. student at the College of Communication at Florida State University focused his dissertation on information processing and college choices students make, they state that “Practitioners should consider presenting relevant arguments in a manner salient to the message perceiver rather than embedding the arguments in the text. In the experimental conditions that listed statistical information about the institution rather than embedding them in the base text, there was a slight increase in a recall by the participants. One can consider listing important information, putting it in text boxes, bolding it, etc. rather than embedding it in the text.”(p.86) (Martin, 2006) This is just one of seven suggestions that Martin made during his dissertation. Overall, heuristics and user design are important to improving all types of recruitment, our team was able to use the criteria from these studies to drive our data analysis.
Website Design at the Center
The internet has provided an easy place for high school students to access information regarding institutions they are interested in. Wendy Ford, an associate professor who researches web design and information systems at the Queensborough Community College, highlights that “because high school students are increasingly using college Web sites to research where they’d like to apply, colleges should think of Web sites not only as sources of information, but as sales and marketing tools” (p. 6). Here we can understand that the university is a product being promoted to a large audience via the internet. A lecturer in the Computer Science Department at the Sardar Bahadur Women’s University, Mirfa Manzoor, similarly wrote that “The website must appeal to the university’s commercial interests, which are primarily the sources of presenting their objectives to the visitors and especially to those visitors who are interested in seeking information. It also aims to facilitate their prospective students and scholars by providing the proper guidelines on the website to help them accordingly” (p. 153). Both Ford and Manzoor agree that while websites are an important marketing tool for students to research schools, those schools need to examine their websites to make sure they are properly delivering information while convincing students to join their institutions.
However, there are still issues to be examined in order to strike a balance between being informative and appealing. Zurida Ishak, who is a senior lecturer at the Management and Science University in Malaysia, states “The website must be designed to be convenient to navigate and always updated with the aim that prospective students keep returning to obtain the latest information about the university” (p. 115). This places the needs of the prospective student at the forefront of designing a helpful website. Ann Pegoraro completed her doctoral thesis on the relationship between marketing tactics and website usability as applied to university websites. Dr. Pegoraro found a statistically significant negative relationship between a website’s marketing and usability score. “In essence, the more usable a website was, the less likely it was that the institution provided the information prospective students expected and/or arranged that information in a favorable manner to cultivate building a relationship with those students. Conversely, if the website scored high for relationship marketing content, prospective students had difficulty finding the information as the site exhibited low usability” (p. 152). Both Ishak and Pegararo clearly define design as one of the key aspects necessary to keep prospective students coming back to the website and consider attending that university.
AI Chatbots
Writing consultants reporting on multiple projects in the field of AI chat services believe that these tools can help aid user experiences. Tasha Yohan, the Assistant Director of PR and Marketing Relations at NSU, one of the top 200 research universities globally says “The beauty of Julie is that it is an integrated bot that has the ability to connect with several systems throughout NSU to provide the correct answers. Using deep machine learning together with sentiment analysis and natural language processing, the AI is able to educate itself based on user interactions, profile information and outcomes from assessments. In other words, it will learn each user's preferences, likes and tendencies - all to better assist in their NSU experience.” (p.1) Yohan and NSU believe that services like Julie can aid the user experience to students, faculty and staff to give them an edge over other schools. Dave Zielinski is a freelance business journalist. As a business journalist, Zielinski is consistently writing about business practices and trends and is knowledgeable in this field. Zielinski states “Mya also responds to queries about company policies, benefits and culture around-the-clock through SMS, Facebook, Skype, e-mail or a browser window called a chat client where people can chat instantly. This saves recruiters from having to field the same inquiries time and again. If Mya is stumped, it contacts a human recruiter and then responds to the candidate with an answer.” Zielinski believes that chat bots like Mya can mutually benefit the candidate and the potential employer by saving time and work through answering FAQ’s and inquiries about company policies, employee benefits, and scheduling interviews. Both Yohan and Zielinski agree that AI chatbots can aid user experience and benefit the organization as well through reduced time spent answering repetitive questions.
Experts in the field of psychology and education believe the effective methods of communication and persuasion can be used to yield better results in recruitment for organizations. Phillip W Braddy, Adam W Meade and Christina M Kroustalis at the North Carolina State University Psychology Department state that "These findings indicate that website design features (e.g., employee testimonials illustrating teamwork), information about organizational policies (e.g., continuing education programs), specific references to culture dimensions (e.g., ‘‘the organization values workers who are creative and innovative’’), and other miscellaneous but relevant website content (e.g., listing of organizational awards won) played an instrumental role in determining what culture perceptions participants associated with the Fortune 500 companies whose websites were used in the current study" (p.16) Braddy et al believe that communications methods can be used to better persuade people to learn more about an organization. Specifically, their study found that stating organizational accomplishment, statistics, and policies can be a helpful form of persuasive communication in recruitment. Scott Secore has worked for over 25 years in performing arts and higher education and is a PhD candidate in educational leadership. Secore states "Effectively communicating to prospective students the benefits of enrolling at a specific institution is perhaps the greatest charge of a higher education marketer." (p.2) Secore believes that effective communication is essential in the digital age to persuade prospective students towards their institution. These industry professionals agree that recruitment through digital media is possible if clever and effective communication is used.
Increasing Social Media Engagement
Experts in the field of philosophy in education and human development, and college media and advertising, asserts that it is beneficial to use social media marketing to college students. Melissa Horvath-Plyman (2018), who's in, program in Educational Communication and Technology, Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology, conducted a research study and found that
“social media is influential on college choice for most prospective students. Although social media was cited as an influential factor on college choice, other sources were seen as more influential including parents, college websites, photos and videos of campus, college visit / open houses, college admissions counselors, and siblings…The findings of this research study show that the most valuable social media type of content for students is the perspectives of other current students. Students also found value in and were most influenced by social media content containing photos, videos, and information about activities and student life…Students are also able to increase their social capital by expanding their social media networks” (p. 196-197).
This assert that although social media in this study does not show that it is more influential than parents, college websites, college admissions counselors, and many more, it shows that it is good to have, because it give a visual of the college life there and it’s also a place where students connect, and learn about upcoming events and deadlines. Bryan Carbone had over 20 years experience in college media, advertising, Out-of-Home media, and also have established one of the countries most innovative college marketing agencies in the U.S. that work with more than 4,000 universities, agrees that social media marketing is important and further adds on and state the most effective social media marketing strategies to engage college students is, “[i]nfluencer marketing. College students crave authenticity when making purchasing decisions…it is paramount for your social media strategy to stretch out across a variety of social media channels…With 68% of young millennials willing to refer brands to friends, building and nurturing an engaging community with college students will vastly expand your brand awareness to consumers of all demographics, backgrounds, and interests” (Carbone, 2020). This talks about how it is important to have a strategy of influencer marketing, multi-channel approach, and building an engaged community in social media marketing. Both of these highlighted that although social media isn’t viewed as a big influential factor, it is still important because it provides authenticity, engages and connects the audience, and delivers the latest news or demands, assuring or reassuring the audience, the prospective or current students of their choice.
Experts in marketing and who know the ups and downs of running a small business both highlighted the idea of how social media marketing needs to have a real and authenticity presence. In order to improve and have this authenticity, Matthew Falls, an marketing associate at DD, an enrolling marketing technology agency that helps the undergraduate, as well as graduate institutions recruit students, suggested many ideas. Falls (2020) writes, “Social media automation tools use software to automate specific tasks, eliminating the need to manage your account on the social media platform itself…HubSpot, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and BuzzSumo are all examples of social media automation platforms…few examples of features or tools you can use within your social media accounts to boster student engagement: An Instagram post might refer the user to”read more at the link in our bio” and provide the user with their LinkTree of links to further engage with your school or brand.” In here, Falls suggested an easier way to manage many social media accounts by using social media automation tools, and also suggested that one can use a feature like LinkTree to link to an event or page that the institution wants the students to click on their social media. Joshua Stowers, an entrepreneur, who knows the ups and downs of running a small business, also addressed some ideas one can take, a few of them being: “Share photos…Be everywhere…Photos speak louder than words, but a video can send a message at the same time” (Stowers, 2021). Stowers asserts that one should share photos of events, and be everywhere and not just only doing one social media, and also highlighted that when advertising, using videos can send a lot of messages because of the short attention span of the younger generations. Both of these highlighted that in order to improve and provide real and authenticity in social media, one can use and utilize features such as sharing photos, being everywhere utilizing the social media automation tools, using videos advertising, using LinkTree of links, to improve it.