Part of the UP Education Group, Australasia’s largest private education provider, NZMA has 11 campuses across New Zealand.

Redeveloping the website as part of a wider brand refresh was critical as it helped NZMA compete more effectively in a market where COVID imposed border closures meant an increased focus on domestic student recruitment. The project goals were to increase leads, conversion rates, and enrolments. Because many of NZMA’s students didn’t complete secondary school or qualify for University Entrance, for the target audience, NZMA’s non-traditional pathway to higher education is often a potentially life-changing option. Also, given NZMA helps kids who might otherwise be educationally disenfranchised, this made the stakes unusually high. By dramatically improving the human experience of the digital enrolment process, NZMA created a digital experience that not only engages the audience, but also empowers them to enrol.

We spent two weeks conducting market research and discovery to identify key project opportunities and challenges, redefining the long-term growth strategy. A five day co-design sprint was held with key stakeholders. The first three days were used to repurpose existing data and analytics for opportunity identification and decision-making. On day four, we created an interactive prototype in just seven hours. Day five, we tested the prototype at an NZMA campus with 28 students, gathering critical feedback. Any negative themes were interrogated and fixed. Testing allowed designers to gather real-time feedback from end-users, and the sessions were all streamed live for NZMA to observe. This user testing provided invaluable insight into user behaviour that ultimately shaped the successful project direction.

The designers used Design-Ops to drive efficiency in costs, quality, and agility. This process allows multiple designers to work on different parts of the website by creating branches, which then require a design review by an Art Director, before being merged into the master design. This process allows for continually validating designs with actual end-users. A new website was designed and delivered within 12 weeks, streamlining the enrolment process and increasing conversions rates, helping potential students discover suitable courses based on their interests and passions, while lowering drop-off rates. Landing pages for courses were made to help increase NZMA’s digital footprint and improve SEO rankings, while social proof from former students was included throughout.

We A/B tested the old site against the new for two weeks. A 32% rise in lead conversions was recorded, a result the client described as “extraordinary.” The new site continues to convert more than 1.5% more effectively than the old one (while this may sound small, it is a very significant increase). Bounce rates decreased nearly 20%, proving much higher user engagement. Average session duration decreased from 02:04 to 01:22, however this is viewed as a positive because it means users can now find information and make decisions more quickly, as shown by the higher conversion rate. Anecdotal feedback collected by the client from existing and potential students has been exclusively positive, with the new site continuing to create competitive advantage.