How Do Montclair State Alumni Perceive the University's Alumni Website?

Study Title:

An exploratory UX research study on Montclair State University’s alumni relations website (MONTCLAIRconnect)

Study Goals:

• To identify the information that Montclair State alumni are searching for on the MONTCLAIRconnect website

• To describe how the MONTCLAIRconnect website makes Montclair State alumni think and feel

• To determine how Montclair State alumni expect the MONTCLAIRconnect website to be organized

Key Contributions:

• Conducted a competitive analysis

• Co-led user testing sessions

• Co-presented the findings to the client

Methods:

• Affinity mapping via Figma

• User testing via semi-structured Zoom interviews

• Card sorting via Qualtrics

• Competitive analysis of 12 universities

• Wireframing via Figma

Participants:

• 12 alumni of Montclair State University participated in user testing

• 28 alumni of Montclair State University completed a card sorting activity

Findings:

• The majority of participants were interested in alumni perks (67%) and finding an event to attend (67%).

• User feedback highlighted that information density on individual webpages overwhelmed participants.

• Participants reported difficulty navigating the menu, noting that abstract icons and non-standard page categorizations hindered their intuitive understanding.

Recommendations:

• Condense information using bullet points.

• Replace large sections of text with images.

• Focus on key, actionable words for links and headings.

• Prioritize user interests (events, alumni perks, volunteering, and staying generally connected and informed).

• Simplify the navigation menu by grouping related pages and deleting redundant links.

Future Research:

• Collect and analyze Hotjar data to see exactly how and why visitors interact with MONTCLAIRconnect.

• Assess additional aspects of the website beyond the MONTCLAIRconnect, Get Involved, and Home Pages.