Background

The Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) is a UK-wide charity dedicated to supporting academically talented but disadvantaged students to achieve their potential. Key campaigns of SMF include the Aspiring Professionals Programme (APP) and the Employer Index.

Challenge

SMF's digital presence was not in line with the youthful audience they were targeting. The existing website was outdated and suffered from common issues associated with Wordpress sites, such as slow loading times, excess plug-ins, and inconsistent theming. Over time, as different campaigns were initiated, the website had morphed into a patchwork of pages and sub-sites, creating a management nightmare. 

Campaigns they ran faced significant challenges. Surge in applications during certain periods couldn’t be handled, and the application process had grown complex over time, posing difficulties for both students applying and the staff reviewing and scoring the applications.

The Work

We embarked on a comprehensive digital transformation journey for SMF, resulting in a fully redesigned digital brand and CMS website. The project included the following key activities and features:

Co-Design and User Testing

Involving students throughout the design process, Yalla conducted co-design groups to ensure a human-centred design. Rounds of user testing were conducted to validate the design and user journeys.

Technical Audit and Design

Yalla performed a technical audit of SMF's digital ecosystem, which led to a recommended technical design that catered to both immediate and future needs.

Design Thinking and Tech Training

Yalla provided Design Thinking and Tech training to the SMF team, ensuring full stakeholder engagement and equipping them with the skills to continue managing and developing the website in the future.

Service Journey Mapping

Existing service journeys were mapped to identify pain points and opportunities for digital enhancement. This exercise also helped in building a Product Digital Roadmap for the charity, facilitating sustainable planning.

Visual Language and Prototyping

We built together a new visual identity, translated into iterative wireframes and prototypes that were reviewed and validated with users. A new Design System meant the charity could now have a consistent digital brand identity across all platforms.

Development Sprints and Testing

Yalla conducted a series of development sprints, with automated, internal, and client testing integrated throughout.

CMS Website and Salesforce Integration

A new CMS website was built, featuring a brand identity co-designed with SMF. All campaigns were consolidated under one coherent visual identity. A new form builder was introduced to manage campaigns and applications more efficiently. Salesforce was directly integrated, streamlining SMF's entire CRM process. The application process was automated to assist admin.

Impact

The digital transformation significantly improved search performance, with improved ranking, unique visitors, and click-through rates. Key campaign moments translated into clicks from search and direct visits/referrals, demonstrating the capability to produce well-structured and fast-loading pages in-house and measure effectiveness.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the quality of inbound leads via the new partnership page has improved, with employers gaining a clearer understanding of how they might work with SMF.

The team has reported much less admin in managing campaigns, such as APP, and feedback of the process from applicants has been hugely positive.

The design system and components are now in place to inform all future digital content creation, and the team have said they feel upskilled in the design principles we used. 

You can view the website at https://www.socialmobility.org.uk/