ACCESS assists prospective college students from Boston in finding financial aid to achieve dreams of higher education. ACCESS provides a wide range of information for students, their families and the community in an effort to encourage educational opportunities for everyone. Since conception, it has helped nearly 40,000 students secure tens of millions of dollars in grants, loans and scholarships.
The Challenge:
ACCESS needed a site that successfully targeted multiple key constituent groups - students, parents, schools, and partners - while providing a fun and exciting feel that brought visitors to key information in three clicks or less. ACCESS also wanted their staff to be able to update all of the site content in house and allow for future modifications in a cost effective manner.
"We bonded with the ACCESS team on day one. We believe wholeheartedly in the organization's mission and people and are happy we were able to build a Web site that reflects the quality of both. "
- Darrin Samaha , Client Services Lead
Here's how we did it:
Created a captivating blend of youthful design with relevant content and calls to action
Installed and customized a robust content management system (CMS) with over 120 pages of content
Integrated their new site with Salesforce CRM application to capture new applications and information requests, and allow easy management of data by ACCESS staff
Set up a Google Analytics account to monitor site traffic and specifically, ACCESS campaigns
Created a dynamic 10 question quiz for visitors to test knowledge on financial aid
Setup a calendar that allows for easy categorization of events and also allows for fine tuned event searching
Setup a third-party video streaming service and integrated it within the Web site, so that multi-hour videos appear to be a part of the Web site and are available for viewing at a moment's notice.
Results:
Since its launch in April of 2008, ACCESS has assisted numerous students and families gain helpful information and financial assistance towards higher education.
