Innovation in Education

University of Phoenix

As a subsidiary of Apollo Education Group, Inc., University of Phoenix (UoPX) serves a diverse student population, offering associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs from campuses and learning centers across the U.S. as well as online throughout the world.

When students initially engage and start coursework at UoPX, but do not continue through completion, the school faces a negative investment and risks the quality of its standing with various legislative bodies. UoPX engaged MSPC to create a digital content series designed to provide current students with the resources required to successfully complete their coursework.

Solution 

To support student retention, we created an editorial content initiative that nurtures the student’s experience with logistical and lifestyle assets in multiple formats. Content is utilized to affect behavior at “trigger moments” along UoPX’s contact strategy, such as a bad grade or a missed class.

We redesigned the student experience sitemap and content organization to better serve students’ needs and interests, including:

  • Actionable content presented in accessible ways
  • Simple experience
  • Evergreen content, both logistical and lifestyle
  • Content presented in metacategories
  • Priorities assigned to content based on recency, popularity or promotion
  • Multiple options for help and clear CTAs
  • Important resources in permanent focus
  • Search capability for retention-related content only
  • FAQ

20%

Increase in shares on social media platforms

88%

Increase in comments on social media

61%

Increase in user engagement on social media

Results 

The program successfully launched in late 2016 and has led to additional content for the Student Hub and beyond in 2017.

As part of the content creation process, MSPC involved current students and alumni to inform four crowd-sourced articles. The questions that were posed generated enormous engagement on Facebook—in fact, they garnered the most words per engagement of the entire year. Crowdsourcing questions posted on social exceeded monthly engagement averages.

Other results have been equally impressive. In just one month:

  • Direct visits increased 101%
  • Overall visits to our content increased 51%
  • Visits from eCampus portal users (who are likely students—the audience segment we want to read our articles) increased 92%
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