| |OCTOBER 20248By Dan Bocchino, Director, Web Services, Saint Peter's University, Jersey City, NJKNOWING THE UNKNOWN: HOW TO BETTER UNDERSTAND BEHAVIORS OF A WIDE-RANGING DIGITAL AUDIENCEAuniversity's website serves many purposes--or at least it should. Whether launching a campaign, marketing the latest campus-wide event, or driving interested students to an enrollment page, a school's site must excel in various roles. Perhaps more than in any other industry, a higher education web experience should be a versatile player in the digital ecosystem--a site that adapts to any position with skill while instilling confidence in its users.This, of course, presents challenges, with the primary one being understanding who is visiting your site and what they aim to accomplish. While the saying "content is king" may still ring true in some contexts, for website management and UX strategy, the user is royalty.With a diverse audience visiting a university site, how does a web professional better understand their users? While it's easy to identify core groups like prospective students, families, and current students, what about the less obvious users? For example, a public-facing site might need to include content relevant to employees, even if a dedicated intranet exists. Though the strategy may focus on prospective students, guidance counselors, teachers, coaches, and other support staff also need consideration. We can use common sense and existing knowledge to get a basic understanding of our user IN MY OPINION Dan Bocchino is the Director of Web Services at Saint Peter's University (Jersey City, NJ). He has overseen a web presence in various industries, including not-for-profit, e-commerce, and higher education. With over 20 years of experience in editorial, content management, and UI/UX, Dan focuses on user experience, UX best practices, and back-end content management and governance.Dan Bocchino
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