Hobsons, Inc. is a global provider of education technology solutions and services. Following a recent rebranding effort, I worked with the company to re-align two of its stand-alone offerings – Naviance and PrepMe – as products within Hobsons’ K-12 technology arsenal.
Working closely with the Hobsons’ team the process started with defining the re-aligned goals and requirements for each site. We’ve also defined and targeted the two primary types of customers – students and school representatives. A new informational architecture was developed to help achieve those goals by highlighting important user paths and funneling sales leads.
The visual design, while following the guidelines set by Hobsons’ rebranding, manages to maintain an individual tone, appropriate for effectively communicating with Naviance’s and PrepMe’s target audiences of school counselors, district administrators, and students.
A user-friendly content management system was implemented and fully customized to meet the needs of each site.
All individual components were redesigned to match the new aesthetic and improve overall usability and conversion rates.
To complement the new marketing efforts, I designed and developed a vocabulary quiz Facebook game. It promotes social game-based learning among students while helping them practice for the SAT. Through the use of gaming mechanics, the app elevates brand awareness and viral impact.
We were very pleased with Lucian’s ability to help us balance our many objectives for the site while delivering a simple, user-friendly experience that engages our audience. The new site allows us to better educate customers and prospects about the Naviance product, and provides them with a clear path to additional information and resources from the greater Hobsons portfolio of solutions.
Websites that work well for both the company’s B2B audience and their B2C customers and a streamlined user experience dramatically decreased the volume of customer support calls and gave Hobsons the flexibility to evolve as their business grows.
The Facebook game drove significant traffic back to the PrepMe site and provided healthy dose of social media buzz.
