Why we’re doing this
User research and internal feedback from our teams highlighted some opportunities for improvements with our existing mailing list and adviser sign-up journeys. For both funnels, users wanted more personalised content, but we didn’t have enough data from the funnels to be able to provide this.
CRM teams also told us that they needed better data consistency, and their analysis showed that generic email content had less engagement. This aligned with our user needs around consistency and personalisation.
Users also found some questions difficult to understand or answer. For example:
- users found it difficult to answer questions about their degree
- users were unsure if they were eligible for the advisers service and what to expect
- international users were confused about how to answer questions about their qualifications and if they were eligible for the advisers service
What we did
We mapped out user research and CRM insights across both sign-up journeys. We then spoke with various stakeholders across Get Into Teaching to share these insights and agree ways we could improve the journey and collect more data in a way that teams could use.
This included:
- introducing a new question to ask users to tell us about their current situation
- updating hint text and other content to make the questions clearer and align across journeys and services
- adding visa and citizenship questions to better understand international candidates and ensure they’re directed to support they’re eligible for
Examples of changes to our 'Do you have a degree' questions
Old (advisers funnel)
New (advisers funnel)
Old (mailing list funnel)
New (mailing list funnel)
Examples of changes to our 'What class is your degree' question
Old (advisers funnel)
New (advisers funnel)
Examples of changes to our 'How close are you to applying' question
Old (mailing list funnel)
New (mailing list funnel)
Examples of one of our new current situation questions
What we learnt
The new question asking users about their current situation was well understood and helped users self-identify more accurately and feel represented.
Triaging users with international degrees to the contact centre reduced adviser workload and meant users were connected with the right support much earlier in their journey.
Users interpreted the questions much more accurately and showed quicker understanding of what we were asking of them as they went through the funnels. They also voiced understanding that the information they were giving would be used to tailor the support we’d provide.
Content on the sign-up completions pages was often ignored, with users exiting the journey after seeing they had successfully signed up.
What next
We’re continuing to monitor drop-off rates, email engagement and adviser sign-ups to assess the effectiveness of the changes. Early insights are positive, for example they show that the additional questions we’ve added are not negatively impacting drop-off rates.
We’re also exploring ways we can improve retention on the completion pages, to encourage users to explore more on the website and tailor the content on the pages more to their situation.