1. Alumni Website: Card Sort Debrief
Research Lead: Angela Boodoo
Digital Team
May 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015 1

2. • Participants questioned the number of pages relating to financial donations to
Surrey. They did not perceive the University as a traditional “charity” that
undertakes regular fundraising and suggested that donations can been generated
through facilitating alumni networking
• The benefits of being part of the Surrey Alumni community are not fully realised.
Participants described “Alumni Services” including careers support and campus
facilities but some thought there was disproportionately more content about
“giving”
• Opportunity to increase repeat visits to the site through a “Keep in touch” section.
65% of participants visited the site 1-2 times in the last 12 months mainly to view
events and many asked about reunions as a future enhancement to the website
• “Giving back to Surrey” involves both financial and volunteering options.
Participants used this label to emphasise the two-way relationship with the
University
Executive summary
Tuesday, September 15, 2015 2

3. The Alumni & Relations team want to optimise their current website to better
serve their audiences.
Project background
Tuesday 15 September 2015 3
Objectives:
1.To create an identity for the Surrey
Alumni Network
2.Make donor material accessible via
digital channels
3.Make lifelong relationships (learning,
giving, volunteering) easier to manage
via the website
4.Use the website to engage an active,
vibrant community of Surrey Alumni
This will be achieved through:
•Bringing the Surrey Alumni website
into a consistent look & feel with the
main website
•Migrating existing content from
NetCommunity to Drupal
•Optimising content and navigation
structure through application of user-
centred design techniques

4. The user centred design process
Tuesday 15 September 2015 4

5. Using Optimal Workshop
software we conducted an
online remote open card sort.
This was a “drag & drop”
activity.
Research methodology
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Card sorting is a design research
method used to find out how
users would organise, prioritise
and label your web content.
Having already conducted a
content audit, we asked
participants to organise and label
70 cards representing the web
pages prioritised by the Alumni
team.
We chose an open card sort,
which enabled us to get better
insight into users’ language.
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/card-sorting-how-many-users-to-test/
Participant number/validity
As recommended by Jakob
Nielsen, we opted find a
minimum of 15 participants to
achieve a 0.90 correlation in
similarity scores

6. A total of 26 participants from the Surrey Alumni community were invited to take part
Participants
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11 Male
15 Female

7. We asked a few pre-activity questions to understand current engagement with Surrey
Alumni content
Engagement with Surrey Alumni content
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84% of participants had visited the
Alumni website in the last 12 months
77% were recipients of the Forever
Surrey Magazine
46% would consider going to the
Alumni website to organise a reunion
15% had downloaded the Forever
Surrey app
54% of participants use the Surrey
Alumni LinkedIn Group
46% of participants use the Surrey
Alumni Facebook group
31% of participants use the Surrey
Alumni Twitter
31% of participants do not engage
with Surrey Alumni social media

8. What were visitors to the site looking for?
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There were very few problems
recalled with using the current
website.
This is due to the predominant
“browse” behaviour stated on repeat
visits to “see the latest news and
events”.
The 3 issues raised were:
1.Inconsistent navigation (1)
2.Unable to find pictures of past
Alumni events (1)
3.Couldn’t change profile photo (1)
38% Events – past & present
23% Latest news / university
developments
4% Alumni profiles / update
my details
4% Promotions & offers

9. Results
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10. The concept of “giving” is interpreted by
participants as a financial act. There was some
question about the emphasis on “giving money”
as a primary call to action.
Participant labels included less direct language:
-How your donations help
-Giving back to Surrey (this heading included
volunteering information also)
Participants also highlighted perceived
“services” offered by Surrey:
-How we can help you
-Careers support
-Continuing professional development
Giving equates to money matters
What we found
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Donate
£
Financial
Support
Give us
your
money
Fundraising
GIVE
Make a
gift

11. Standardised categories
What we found
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12. Alumni & Community
What we found: participant category labels
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13. News & Publications
What we found: participant category labels
Tuesday 15 September 2015 13

14. Events & Awards
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What we found: participant category labels

15. Support Surrey
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What we found: participant category labels

16. Keep in touch
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What we found: participant category labels

17. Changes to the top level navigation
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Based on the content audit
and competitor analysis
conducted by the Alumni &
Relations team.
Revision to the Level 1
navigation based on the
card sort outcome
Participants’ indicated that “giving back” to Surrey
encompassed both supporting the University financially
(donations) and with their time (volunteering).
A clear section on ways to keep in touch was highlighted
as a way to facilitate Alumni networking online and
generate goodwill, which in turn can translate into
financial donation.

18. User feedback
Tuesday 15 September 2015 18
“What is the purpose of the
site? For collaboration and
engagement with Alumni - or
from the titles I got the
impression purely to fundraise”
--Charles B
“What is the purpose of the
site? For collaboration and
engagement with Alumni - or
from the titles I got the
impression purely to fundraise”
--Charles B
“It is interesting that the largest
group is related to giving with
relatively little benefits other
than providing information”
--Malcolm J
“It is interesting that the largest
group is related to giving with
relatively little benefits other
than providing information”
--Malcolm J
“Why does it seem to be
an emphasis on
donations and
contributions back to the
university?”
--Lynal L
“Why does it seem to be
an emphasis on
donations and
contributions back to the
university?”
--Lynal L
“I noticed that there
may be some
duplication of content
within the alumni
website.”
--Dave P
“I noticed that there
may be some
duplication of content
within the alumni
website.”
--Dave P
“I feel that what is needed is the
creation of an 'eco-system' where
alumni can communicate with one
another. This can be done via
country listings for alumni and their
course information. By staying
relevant with news updates and
arranging gatherings, alumni might
feel more attached to the school.
Donations and goodwill can be
generated from that instead of
asking directly for money.”
-- Lynal L
“I feel that what is needed is the
creation of an 'eco-system' where
alumni can communicate with one
another. This can be done via
country listings for alumni and their
course information. By staying
relevant with news updates and
arranging gatherings, alumni might
feel more attached to the school.
Donations and goodwill can be
generated from that instead of
asking directly for money.”
-- Lynal L

19. Recommendations
Tuesday 15 September 2015 19

20. • Alumni & Community
• This section should include “our history” incorporating Battersea content
• Clearly outline the “services” Surrey provides for Alumni
• Include details of Alumni benefits
• This may be the section that corporate donors may use to learn about the
vision & strategy for Surrey Alumni when considering sponsorship or
partnership
• International (although created as a separate group by 4 participants) can
be placed here
• News & Publications
• News & Events is an equally weighted titled
• Consider including Research here
Recommendations
Tuesday 15 September 2015 20

21. • Events & Awards
• This section can include International & Battersea events
• Support Surrey
• Donation is used more frequently than Giving
• Supporting and how to help are used in more word combinations
• Financial & non-financial ways to give back to Surrey should be included
here
• Keep in touch
• A section for facilitating Alumni networking & reunions
• Consider the importance of nostalgia in generating goodwill and sense of
share community spirit
• Could be a section where Alumni look for network mentors
Recommendations
Tuesday 15 September 2015 21

22. Would still like to see the creation of an email address that will last forever. This
would enable continuity and people to remain contactable. To be as professional as
possible, using first and last names instead of numbers and alphabets
Similarly to allow the creation of business cards for school ambassadors and country
representatives. This gives a sense of identity and recognition in some cultures where
name cards have more importance.
Photos taken at past international events can be uploaded, drawing alumni into the
website to take a look. At the same time, they might start exploring other parts of the
website and might even log in to update contact information etc.
From participant: Lynal L
Future opportunities
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23. • Support Surrey & Alumni & Community are large sections that will need to be
verified in the Tree Jack study
• The objective is to refine the structure (number of pages) in order to produce
a more streamlined (yet relevant) navigation for users
Next steps: Tree Jack
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24. Appendix
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