About the client
Blue Ridge Community and Technical College is a dynamic college offering a vast mix of workforce and professional education programs that help students with pathways toward earning a higher degree. However, the college required content that effectively communicates about the courses and their benefits. This case study discusses how Blue Ridge Community and Technical College revamped its home page to improve conversion rates with effective copywriting.
The challenge
Blue Ridge CTC faced a few challenges concerning the home page copy:
1) Clarity and focus: The current content lacked a crisp and clear message that guides users to enroll in the course.
2) User engagement: Lack of clear, crisp information led to less user engagement.
3) Conversions: Lesser user interactions mean fewer conversions. Also, the home page lacked CTAs in the right places.
Objectives
The ultimate goal was positioning Blue Ridge CTC as a leading community college with effective copywriting. My objectives were clear:
1) Ascertain the voice and tone: Set the voice and tone that resonate primarily with prospective students based in the US.
2) Precise and clear: Create clear, crisp, and engaging content speaking the brand voice and describing the programs, outcomes, and benefits effectively.
3) CTA placement: Strategically plan CTA placement on the homepage.
4) Action-driven CTAs: Craft compelling CTAs nudging users for positive action.
The approach
To address the above challenges, a content revamp was implemented strategically:
1) Briefing phase: Conducted interviews with Blue Ridge’s team and benchmarked with the competition to understand the target audience.
2) Crafted compelling hero banner copy: The hero banner is the first impression for users when they land on the home page. It also leads users to the child pages.
3) Banner CTAs: Created banner CTAs that strategically lead to child pages.
4) Header news ticker: Crafted web copy guidelines for the news section.
5) Copy for the header menu: Curated crisp and clear copy for the header menu options signals users to explore the various pages based on their needs.
6) Simple copy for the program: Wrote simple and easy-to-understand web copy for the educational programs offered by Blue Ridge. Also, the benefits of the course were highlighted effectively.
7) Strategized CTA placement: CTA placement is key to discoverability and user experience within Blue Ridge’s website.
8) Highlighted the benefits of choosing Blue Ridge CTC: The USP section tells readers why a brand is unique and different from others.
9) Created and modified existing testimonials: This is important as the proof of the pudding is in eating!
10) Improved navigation with quick links: Blue Ridge CTC offers a wide mix of programs, to help students navigate easily, quick links are important for a better user experience.
11) SEO optimization: It was lacking earlier. SEO makes the page discoverable in SERP.
Key deliverables
Here is the implemented effective copywriting for Blue Ridge’s home page:
1) Banner copy: Kept it simple for easy understanding. The new web copy, “Begin Your Educational Journey at Blue Ridge CTC,” is simple and invites applicants to embark on their educational journey to complete higher studies. booking an appointment and application page respectively.
2) Banner subtext: Crafted crisp and clear text explaining the headline further. The focus was on the wide scope that students get from different areas of interest after completing Blue Ridge’s courses.
3) CTAs: Crafted action-driven CTAs for the banner and other sections leading users to the respective child pages.
4) News ticker format: Recommended and implemented 1 liner text for the new ticker section in the following format. For example: If it is about announcing admissions – “22nd – 30th July, Admissions Alert: We are open to applications for various courses.”
5) Copy for the top menu: Created menu headers that aptly describe different pages in just 1 or two words wherever required.
6) Header tab for customized home page: Blue Ridge has various target audiences like new students, current students, investors, and employees. To present each target audience with a customized home page, Blue Ridge needed a menu header with a dropdown showing the various target audiences. So, created the web copy: “I am > (dropdown) > New student > Existing student > Partner > Employee.
7) Program highlights: Created easy-to-understand copy highlighting the main features and benefits of different programs.
8) Highlighted the USPs: Optimized content showcasing the unique value proposition for the students applying for the different programs of Blue Ridge CTC.
9) Refined testimonials: Rephrased the testimonials that looked professional and highlighted the benefits of choosing Blue Ridge CTC.
10) Keywords implementation: Researched and implemented primary and LSI keywords collaborating with Blue Ridge’s internal Marketing Team.
Impact
The revamped web copywriting is full of positive outcomes:
1) Engagement: Home page bounce rates dropped by 12% and traffic footfall increased by 20% as visitors engaged more with the streamlined content. Child pages witnessed traffic growth by 22%
2) Inquiries: Enrollment-related form submissions increased by 10% within the first three to six months.
Conclusion
The collaboration between Blue Ridge CTC and Crafted by Sandip led to a content revamp for the home page that talks about the institute and highlights the unique value proposition. Blue Ridge CTC is now enjoying improved traffic footfall, a reduced bounce rate and established its brand authority within its industry with effective copywriting.
Are you ready to revamp your content or copy for more engagement and conversions? Let’s tell your story today, let’s connect!