Columbia International University
Governance challenges and inward-facing content plagued CIU – until they partnered with us.
55%↑
Number of Site Sessions
46%↑
Traffic via Mobile Devices
Columbia International University, a Christian institution located in Columbia, South Carolina, serves 1,284 online, graduate, undergraduate, and seminary students. Though held in high regard among students and alumni, it was clear the school faced a profound visibility problem in the local community and with broader audiences.
The effectiveness of CIU’s website had been dampened by multiple “rogue” microsites and content that served current, rather than prospective students.
To move forward, CIU needed to strategically leverage its website—transforming it into a vital marketing tool to help stabilize retention rates, reach more students, spur alumni giving, and more accurately showcase campus life.
Stamats was recruited by CIU to improve appeal, functionality, and architecture of its website. This project began with our design and development teams immersing themselves into all things CIU. We toured the campus, attended chapel services, and interviewed scores of students and faculty members in order to craft a website that captured the dynamic spirit of the school.
Throughout the process, we were challenged by stakeholder turnover at CIU and constantly evolving site requirements that necessitated new HTML coding and revised design features.
By proactively responding to each challenge and collaborating with CIU teams to facilitate decision-making, we kept the project timeline on track.
By every measure, CIU’s new website is a resounding success. The number of site sessions, users, pageviews, and traffic via mobile devices have increased dramatically.
Though we anticipated the new responsive site design would engage more mobile users, even those results exceeded our expectations. With CIU’s assistance, we are continuing to monitor growth.
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The Challenge
Columbia International University, a Christian institution located in Columbia, South Carolina, serves 1,284 online, graduate, undergraduate, and seminary students. Though held in high regard among students and alumni, it was clear the school faced a profound visibility problem in the local community and with broader audiences.
The effectiveness of CIU’s website had been dampened by multiple “rogue” microsites and content that served current, rather than prospective students.
To move forward, CIU needed to strategically leverage its website—transforming it into a vital marketing tool to help stabilize retention rates, reach more students, spur alumni giving, and more accurately showcase campus life.
-
The Project
Stamats was recruited by CIU to improve appeal, functionality, and architecture of its website. This project began with our design and development teams immersing themselves into all things CIU. We toured the campus, attended chapel services, and interviewed scores of students and faculty members in order to craft a website that captured the dynamic spirit of the school.
Throughout the process, we were challenged by stakeholder turnover at CIU and constantly evolving site requirements that necessitated new HTML coding and revised design features.
By proactively responding to each challenge and collaborating with CIU teams to facilitate decision-making, we kept the project timeline on track.
-
The Results
By every measure, CIU’s new website is a resounding success. The number of site sessions, users, pageviews, and traffic via mobile devices have increased dramatically.
Though we anticipated the new responsive site design would engage more mobile users, even those results exceeded our expectations. With CIU’s assistance, we are continuing to monitor growth.
