UB’s top-level Web wins CASE Gold

UB revamped its top-level Web presence in 2011 as part of the Digital Communications Transformation, a partnership with UB Information Technology and the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to vastly improve UB’s digital communications.

The new University at Buffalo website was several years in the making, and was preceded by extensive benchmarking of peer institutions and research on consumers of digital information.

In selecting UB for the Gold award in a field that included 66 entries, CASE lauded the meticulous thinking that went into developing UB’s top-level Web presence.

UB was awarded Gold for what the judges called “an impressive, comprehensive rethinking and redesign of its top-level website. The site’s content, architecture and research-based approach are absolutely award-worthy.”

A CASE representative said the bar had been raised much higher for the 2012 Circle of Excellence competition.

“The best quality websites had to be impressive under the hood. Did they gracefully cater to all audiences? Was it evident that extensive user testing had occurred? Were calls to action, social media integration and navigation created in a way that was clean and intuitive? And did the Web site clearly represent the institution’s brand and mission?”

UB’s redeveloped website has led to a sharp decline in bounce rates—to 37 percent from 75 percent—while directing more visitors than ever to the university’s admissions Web pages.

A number of units across campus have experienced similar results after undergoing the Digital Communications Transformation process.