As an institution with a growing focus on its online degree presence and a residential campus, each with a distinct target student audience, Abilene Christian University's existing website told a dysfunctional brand story that did not adequately address each student user journey. A new site needed to provide equal emphasis on both target student audiences. What's more, three separate website domains were being managed. One integrated site was needed—one place to tell its brand story; one place to focus its SEO efforts. Finally, after years of using Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as their Content Management System (CMS) and finding it difficult to source development maintenance help with expertise in AEM, ACU desired a new CMS.
With brand story and student user experience goals at the core of its website redesign strategy, ACU knew a psychometrics-based student segmentation strategy would help them move the needle. Following a brand and audience research phase, a singular, unified brand story was woven throughout the design and copy of the new site, with clear user pathways for all primary and secondary audiences. After a content audit and analytics assessment, new information architecture delivered a thoughtful sitemap that integrated all public-facing content into one site on the primary domain. From a technical standpoint, WordPress was selected for its comprehensive capabilities, extensive library of plugins/integration options, and robust developer community. With one hundred entirely new web pages and a phased migration plan for hundreds more, ACU launched a reimagined on-personality and search engine-optimized website
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