Full Service Marketing for Higher Education & Healthcare
Full Service Marketing for Higher Education & Healthcare
Sandra Fancher
March 6, 2025
Mid Michigan College faced a common problem: their website did not represent their brand promise. While full of information, it wasn’t effectively guiding prospective students. It was hard to navigate, and key details were buried. The college knew they needed a change, so they partnered with Stamats to build a better online experience, one focused on a guided pathway system they already had in place academically.
Guided pathways are like career maps centered on areas of interest, which help students who are unsure of their career goals explore different options. At the same time, some students already know exactly what they want to study, and their goal is to quickly identify whether the college has their program.
The challenge was to create a website that delivers answers and options for both populations, quickly and easily.
After an extensive audit to identify priorities and build their roadmap, Stamats and Mid teamed up to redesign their user experience in the Cascade CMS by Hannon Hill. Starting with factual content, the new site created a more streamlined user experience and conversion paths to support the needs of site visitors.
Based on user behavior data, the redesign took a fresh new look. Innovative site features to help prospective students get where they need to go, while making it easier for Mid to make governance updates on the back end.
The first step was to study how students used the old site and what information was most important based on user behavior. This research showed how students typically searched for programs and where they were getting off track in their quests for information.
That data informed the guided pathway strategy, from design through content creation and development. Mid and Stamats developed several key solutions for sure and searching prospective students.
Students can explore programs by interest area (the pathways) or search directly for the program they want. The new website strategy puts prospective students at the center of every interaction.
These content hubs give students a broader view of different career fields, such as related programs a student might not have considered. Across the board, Mid’s content uses simple, straightforward language so students can easily understand how to use the guided pathways and how they can benefit from them.
The program content was redesigned to be easy to read and highlight what students will learn and where their degree can lead them. Related-program crosslinks are included in every program, with links to similar pathways, so students can easily discover more options. To improve governance and ease of maintenance, the team implemented a flexible structure using bricks (one of the first sites to launch this feature).
Mid’s site now visually supports the brand with a clean, modern, and welcoming vibe. Cascade’s user-friendly components allow Mid’s team to tell stories more effectively and gives users clearer knowledge and conversion paths designed to make it easy to find what they’re looking for.
The new website has been a huge success. Mid has seen increased student interest and improved search rankings. Best of all, the admissions team is thrilled!
Looking at pathway data, we can clearly see that program pages are a key part of the journey, especially for first-time visitors.
Mid Michigan College’s website transformation demonstrates the power of user-centered design, clear communication, and strategic planning. By prioritizing the student experience and making guided pathways a core part of the site, Mid has created a valuable resource for prospective students and positioned themselves for continued success.
Before Redesign
After Redesign
Ready to discuss a guided pathways strategy for your website?
