Meeting Millennial Mindsets — Designing Impactful Websites

Satish Jayaram & Smita Parmar

Challenges

In times of digital business models, your website and your social media handles act as your business cards. Inefficiency from redundant technologies, limits current day websites in educational institutions, resulting in unhappy stakeholders and dissatisfied online visitors. Millennial generations get on websites seeking admission updates, clarifying brand dimensions and driving referral online traffic. Meeting millennial mind-sets is imperative when addressing this obvious challenge. As online presence drives students to browse through courses, extensive efforts must be made in elevating any existing redundant standards to achieve millennial brand stickiness.

The implications of using an obsolete technology, can only be felt when traffic is lost. Ever wondered why this could happen? FOMO! on the magical number of course applications, a pre-requisite for any educational operation. Applications not reaching your website, result in missing out the opportunity to engage talent. It is your responsibility to avoid poor applicant interface and inadvertent technological errors. A dissatisfied website visitor will leave when the information is irrelevant. If you don’t have a call to action button, forget about retaining the millennial eyeball.

Redesigning a web experience requires you to address the following issues:

For Applicants…

· Have you redesigned the information architecture for ease of access?

· Have you added the FAQ feature to address multi-layered questions?

· Do you have an interactive call back feature for a credible response?

For Sponsors…

· Have you provided an error free user interface to track vital information?

· Are you guiding the purpose of the visit efficiently without multiple loops?

· Are processes on your website designed to achieve required results?

For Stakeholders…

· Have you used responsive web development to enhance user experience?

· Have you included a user-centric web flow for ease of sharing information?

· Are you using responsive technologies to be at par with industry standards?

Alternatives

Jayaram (2020) identifies design variables that can be deployed to prioritise user experience on websites. It is important to define four terms of reference:

Static — Current redundancy from obsolete technology. Static information needs to be replaced with a new information architecture, meeting stakeholder expectations.

Dynamic — Efficient design interface, creates robust first impressions. User interaction is optimised as functional requirements change rapidly.

Functional — Ability to engage design variables for compliance. When redesigning a website, user experience cannot be compromised for design considerations.

Interactive — Symbiotic architecture which makes the interface — user friendly. Open configurations will satisfy the changing information needs of the user.

The key priorities when redesigning your website are, structuring according to user needs and categorising these by the area of functionality. Much learning can be derived from software, start-ups, entrepreneurship, education portals and customer engagement platforms. Take for example, a popular fast-food brand’s website, which was at the receiving end of negative comments. The inefficiency arose from the inability of handling the huge user database effectively. The website navigation made it difficult for users to identify quick actionable items. The need of the hour was to work on functionality, dynamism and interactive user requirements.

Users as stakeholders are the primary decision making force. A requirement trigger is provided to Marketing teams demanding multiple levels in execution standards. Website design solution providers have to fulfil the responsibilities of being SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) in this process. Once a team of design experts, content writers and decision makers is formed, it paves the way for seamless execution. Follow this 6 step mantra:

The solution design’s team need accurate data and appropriate decisions with stakeholder consensus for effective website redesign.

Solution

Solutions require structured efforts to resolve core issues. Empathy towards user experience comes from usability ideology. Human-centred design begins with empathy and creates experiences that people love. Solutions need to be customised through active research to ensure user satisfaction.

Creating empathy requires identifying with the Why, to determine the What and finally design the How of any solution:

Why — Clarifies user motivation, emotion, and purpose

What — Rationalises any detail required of the structure

How — Analyses methodology and the input for action

Decision makers need to offer flexibility for a high achievement of target group expectations. Emphasis on user interactivity and applying usability principles, is the real deal maker when re-designing websites. The primary aim is to ensure a seamless browsing experience. Win-win solutions can be created by repeated evaluation within strict timelines.

Execution

Perfect execution is the outcome of a structured approach, here are one dozen check points to ensure that you don’t go wrong:

Peak usage and high online traffic must be considered for optimal usage. In an ideal scenario, multiple target audiences, should be able to directly access the information they need. Directed access and bonafide information enhances high brand recall value, while increasing credibility. Millennials are impacted when the information they seek becomes intuitively accessible. Stakeholders driven by conviction and a solution design team, working on a comprehensive project plan, within set timelines is a pre-requisite. Collectively manoeuvring the entire website redesign exercise is an on-going effort. Remember to make substantial noise on social media to invite the right initial traffic. Excellent execution requires finesse, as the intensity of the effort becomes visually palpable.

Are you all set to meet the magical millennial mind-set? Go design now!