Providing your target group with the right information at the right time
Imagine. You are choosing a study programme and Maastricht University is at the top of your list. What courses do they have on offer? Or you are a student at UM and you would like to embark on a PhD after graduation. How does that work exactly? And what if you would like to work at the Netherlands’ most international universities? Ideally, you will be able to find the answer to all your questions in just a few clicks. How do you ensure your target groups can find the right information at the right time on a large website? And how do you stimulate your target group’s interest so that they explore your website further?
To improve online user experiences on the corporate website.
An impressive optimisation, with a new homepage, main landing pages and sub landing pages design, new navigation, new and rewritten texts in two languages and a more appealing look.
About Maastricht University
Maastricht University (UM) is the European university of the Netherlands. People from all over the world and from all disciplines study and work there. Students from Europe and beyond come to Maastricht because of the university's unique Problem-Based Learning to work together to build the world of tomorrow.
A blended approach for the best results
Our shared goal was clear: to optimise the layout, design and functionality of the corporate website. In order to ensure that the different target groups find the right information faster and easier. Before the optimisation process started, UM had already carried out its own strategic exploration. Pain points were identified and the expectations and goals of the corporate website optimisation could be established. Our blended team, with strategists, UX and UI designers, content specialists and content managers, got to work, together with the project leaders, editors, Drupal developers and UM stakeholders.
New navigation and designs for improved user experience
A good website starts with clear navigation. Our UX and UI designers know all about that. The Maastricht University website originally consisted of 7 menu items, with several submenus. The first 3 levels were included in the scope of this project.
The result of the UX and UI exercise is impressive: the main menu has been reduced from 7 menu items to 4. The underlying content has been restructured and is therefore much easier to find. The navigation is tighter and more relevant and contributes to a large extent to the goal of this project: Making the right information easier to find for the different target groups and thus creating great user experiences.
And that's not all. Our UX and UI experts redesigned the homepage, main landing pages and sub landing pages. On the one hand, to make the structure of the pages clearer, on the other hand to make the website more visually attractive so that visitors stay and click on.
New and optimised content
In order to do justice to the new design and align it with the new navigation, iO's content specialists, in close collaboration with UM content managers, restructured and rewrote a large part of the content, in Dutch and English. New content has also been created for a number of pages.
Subsequently, our content managers built hundreds of pages in Drupal, UM’s preferred CMS, according to the new design and placed the optimised and new content in them. Hundreds of pages were migrated directly to the new design. The content managers worked together with Drupal developers from UM, so that they could switch quickly where necessary. This flexible collaboration enabled us to keep our momentum so that we could deliver the website on time.
Do you want to learn more about this case?
Danny van Steijn - Client Director & Content Strategist
Result: an improved online experience for Maastricht University
Our content specialists and managers tackled 600 pages. The website has new navigation, and the most important pages have been given a new design. The reactions from UM were positive. We celebrated the success of this optimisation process together as a team. During a meeting with the most important stakeholders, we thanked all colleagues from both UM and iO for their joint efforts and look forward to future projects together.
How we helped Maastricht University improve the online experience
Do you also want to improve the performance of your website?
Then contact Danny van Steijn. He will be happy to discuss your challenge to discover growth opportunities.