Ambition
Kenan-Flagler Business School at The University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, wanted to continue attracting the best possible candidates to its programs. It saw its website as a key means of achieving this objective.The web team already had a strong understanding of the words potential business school candidates used when searching. What they wanted to know was the exact words that really mattered once prospective candidates arrived at the website.
- What was the key information that the website needed to provide to potential candidates?
- What was the precise language that needed to be used so that the candidate felt the website was talking to them, not talking at them?
Enter Gerry McGovern's team
A Customer Carewords project was perfect for Kenan-Flagler. It allowed them to identify the Long Neck issues that mattered most to people deciding on a business school education. Customer Carewords involved the following steps:- Drawing up a list of potential carewords for testing. This included phrases such as: Ability to explore ideas with professors; Advance your career; Calendar year schedule; Collaborative environment, etc.
- Carrying out the carewords poll with potential candidates using a customized, road-tested technique.
- Analyzing and presenting the results. Working with Kenan-Flagler to tease out the strategic implications, and providing sound, practical advice on how to develop killer web content from the results.
Value delivered
UNC Kenan-Flagler was able to move beyond conversations and opinion when it came to deciding the content that really mattered to potential candidates. Customer Carewords delivered hard statistics on which words really connected with candidates, and which didn't:- There was an overwhelming Long Neck-a small set of words that got a huge vote from potential candidates. One phrase, in particular, got way more votes than any other.
- UNC Kenan-Flagler could now think more clearly about its webpage real estate: what content should go where, what content didn't need to be there.
- Potential candidates loved the website and its content. A typical quote from a recently enrolled student: "Wow, your site really drew me in. It made me want to read more."
About UNC Kenan-Flagler
The University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School is regularly ranked among the top business schools in the world. It is the only top US business school with a group of research centers dedicated to helping business and Government tackle problems with an impact on society.The UNC Kenan-Flagler community lives by its core values: excellence, leadership, integrity, community and teamwork.
It was one of the first top business schools to place students in teams to help develop abilities to work with and through others, a skill that is key to effective leadership. It began doing this in the 1970s, before it was popular, and is still among the best at it according to hiring companies.
"Gerry McGovern trained us in a methodology and approach that helps us make the best use of the real estate of our website. This has helped us create content that draws people in and makes them want to read further. It is a more rigorous, statistical and customer-driven way of determining the keywords and specific phrases that we should be using."
Leigh Adam, Executive Director, Marketing and Communications
Email Brian Lamb now to explore your needs
Visit the UNC Kenan-Flagler website
Customer Careword approach in greater detail
