SUSS

Singapore University of Social Sciences, or ‘SUSS’, wanted a new website that worked hard to attract applications from prospective students across the globe.

They also needed to bring together over 30 standalone programme microsites to create a unified destination for students.

To understand the research and application journeys of prospective students we conducted a student survey before benchmarking SUSS’s current website experience against user expectations and the approach of competitor universities.

An analytics review of the existing SUSS website provided additional insight into where points of friction, including drop-offs and application abandonment, were occurring and how we could improve the Information Architecture of the site to increase engagement.

Working with Stakeholders from SUSS and using insight gathered from our own research, we reassessed the importance of certain content in attracting students, choosing to shift focus to SUSS’s credibility, uniqueness and student experience alongside its range of leading courses.

We created a new Information Architecture for the website that surfaced information we knew prospective students were seeking. We also improved navigation, ensuring key calls-to-action on every page invited users to learn more about SUSS or begin an application journey.

In the process of amalgamating content from 30+ websites, we streamlined the amount of information being presented, instead trusting mechanisms such as ‘live chat’ and ‘enquire’ to invite users to start a dialogue with SUSS at the right time in their journey.

Adding a more powerful search and filtering mechanic made it easier for users to self-serve programme and course content.

Once hi-fidelity wireframe prototypes for the website had been completed and stress-tested, Mission Agency, Splash Interactive completed the design and development of the website.