Client: British Council
Industry: Education Services
Services: CX Strategy & Design
Business size: Medium and Large Enterprise
Project Summary
The British Council, a leading organisation committed to spreading British culture and values worldwide, recognised the importance of expanding its digital footprint to maintain relevance in today’s digital age.
With a storied history, it operates in over 100 countries and impacts 650 million people each year, establishing a robust reputation.
For an entity of this scale, prioritising customer engagement is particularly important, especially with a global audience. Catering to such a vast number of users poses challenges in delivering personalised experiences.
The solution lies in adopting a universal communication approach, using compelling visuals and intuitive website design.
Facing challenges, the British Council sought a technology partner to revamp its IELTS promotion website.
The existing site suffered from a lack of core functionality and responsiveness, resulting in user dissatisfaction.
Furthermore, the proliferation of unofficial test materials was harming its brand reputation.
Collaborating with Computools, the organisation aimed to develop a user-friendly, structured solution to streamline the test preparation process.
The council’s team focused on improving its user experience strategy, making the platform more intuitive and easier to navigate to meet the growing demands of clients worldwide, especially the younger audience.
Additionally, the team aimed to address resource consolidation by creating a comprehensive space that gathered all information necessary for test preparation in a single location.
Following the implementation of the solution, the British Council successfully automated workflows, gained valuable insights from data, improved visibility and saw a significant rise in platform users.
Key Challenges
Before starting the development process, the Computools team conducted a thorough business analysis.
The goal was to pinpoint the primary challenges of the organisation and create a strategic plan to address them.
Through this analysis, the team identified three critical issues that required immediate attention.
1. Maintaining brand reputation
As a leading force in global education, the British Council places great importance on its reputation.
The Council took action when its IELTS testing website, known worldwide for evaluating English proficiency, encountered issues with unofficial test preparation resources damaging the brand.
These measures were aimed at ensuring the IELTS test continued to be globally recognised.
2. Consolidation of IELTS test preparation resources
To build a comprehensive collection of IELTS test materials, the Council looked for an efficient approach to gather, organise and streamline diverse resources.
It aimed to establish a unified and user-friendly repository, including materials like PDF files and webinar videos available to test-takers worldwide.
3. Lack of clear guidance on test preparation, progress and readiness
To draw more students to its platform, the client recognised the need to revamp its web portal to boost user satisfaction and provide clear guidance on students’ test preparation progress.
This initiative aimed to optimise the portal’s responsiveness across different devices, enabling students to prepare for their tests anytime and anywhere.
The overarching objective was to establish a user-friendly and efficient environment that aligns with the expectations of contemporary users.
Development Process
To create the client’s strategy for platform optimisation and enhanced customer experiences, the Computools team took a comprehensive approach to understanding the organisation’s core needs.
This approach led to the creation of a structured and concise web portal which now functions as a one-stop shop for IELTS English proficiency test preparation.
Here’s how we achieved it.
Responsive Design
First, the team focused on developing a responsive design to ensure a smooth user experience across multiple devices, including both desktops and mobiles. Additionally, we optimised landing pages to enhance load times and boost user engagement.
User-Friendly Navigation
To simplify access to educational materials for users, the team developed, secured and hosted a user-friendly WordPress platform. This decision streamlined navigation, improved the editing of resources and made learning materials more accessible to test takers.
SEO Implementation
To boost the visibility and accessibility of the platform, the team actively implemented search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques for a wider audience reach.
User Analytics Integration
Integration of user analytics into the platform allowed clients to generate comprehensive reports, offering valuable insights into user behaviour and preferences.
Notification System
Finally, to enhance communication with the students and provide timely updates, we introduced an email notification system.
Cooperation Outcomes
By leveraging Computools’ industry expertise and combining it with the client’s vision, the project resulted in a comprehensive and innovative platform designed to provide users with an outstanding experience.
This collaboration enabled the British Council to increase the number of tests taken globally to over 5 million in 2022, up from 3.5 million in 2018, marking a 42% growth.
Our ongoing partnership and support have led to the automation of 60% of processes through a well-structured and efficient web portal.
Improved user analytics and SEO optimisation have strengthened marketing efforts, complemented by an email notification system, resulting in a remarkable revenue increase of over 45%.
The optimisation of the British Council’s educational portal has not only maintained its prestigious reputation but also solidified its position as a leading educational institution, providing exceptional services to students worldwide.
To learn more about this story, read our case study for further insights.
WHAT OUR CLIENT SAID
If you want to know how to enhance your online presence with Computools’ expertise, contact us at info@computools.com.
Computools was selected through an RFP process. They were shortlisted and selected from between 5 other suppliers. Computools has worked thoroughly and timely to solve all security issues and launch as agreed. Their expertise is impressive.