Best Colleges– Research

BestColleges.com is a resource for prospective college students. The company’s mission is to strive and help students make an educated choice about their future. Through the use of student surveys, faculty surveys, independent research, ranking systems, and the input of highly credible and authoritative sources, the site creates a database of schools to help students and their families learn more about their best options for higher education.

Objective

To gather qualitative and quantitative research that would help benefit the business and design team and gather data/discoveries and findings to evaluate and use to bring the product further.

Affinity mapping

Brainstorm and collect ideas for the rankings:
• How can we establish a competitive advantage?
• What does a competitive advantage look like in the rankings space with our direct competitors?
• How can we engage students with rankings?
• How might rankings need to change to provide more student value?

Competitive Analysis

Identified competitors, evaluated current and potential competitors, and applied SWOT analysis

Qualitative research

Recruited and interviewed participants via usertesting.com and asked questions to understand their experience searching for colleges and application process.