A strategic blueprint

We interviewed stakeholders, surveyed alumni, and reviewed other alumni websites. This research helped us create a strong strategy that’s all about making the alumni experience engaging and inspiring.

Increasing alumni engagement

To increase alumni engagement, we recommended centralizing scattered content, expressing clear alumni benefits, and inspiring the Lehigh community with a strong vision for future.

Reducing confusion and creating a seamless experience.

By consolidating information into a user-friendly hub and enhancing the donation process with intuitive features, we aimed to make navigation easier.

Welcoming users with valuable benefits and services first

Alumni want to know what’s in it for them. We recommended four areas of focus: (1) lead with the benefit to alumni by highlighting the array of valuable offerings, (2) use conversational language that resonates with the campus community, (3) create tailored pathways for young alumni (4) simplify event discovery with a centralized and easily sortable event page.

Telling a story that inspires and motivate users

Communicating a clear vision is crucial to inspiring alumni to engage. So, we recommended promoting this vision by sharing recent accomplishments and future aspirations while emphasizing alumni’s critical role in achieving this vision. We also suggested enhancing donor engagement by presenting fundraising impact through compelling, data-based infographics.

A nod to nostalgia

To appeal to our younger audience, we incorporated punchy colors to make the site more modern and vibrant. To maintain a sense of nostalgia, we kept Lehigh’s traditional brown and white colors as well. We also introduced a collection of candid images that showcase alumni success.

Backed by data

Data from the university’s previous sites showed that visitors frequently update their contact information or order transcripts. So, we designed the homepage banner to allow alumni to find the actions they need most. We also included an engaging section for alumni to self-select the resources they are most interested in.

Cultivating connections

Through our research, we found that one of the biggest audience desires was to connect with other alumni, especially for professional networking. We structured the site to include professional alliance pages that would be easy to edit and maintain for a diverse array of professional and geographic groups.

Fueling the future

When planning the site content, we continuously asked ourselves “How can we show the vision and impact of Lehigh in a way that inspires alumni to give?” Ultimately, we made sure that engaging impact stories and impressive student outcomes data were front and center in the new Impact & Progress section.

Giving made easy

Let’s face it: asking anyone for money is a difficult task. And it’s made even more challenging when the process of donating is unclear. We consolidated multiple sections of the old site into a new straightforward Ways to Give page that makes it easy to give back.

Simplified navigation

The Connect menu makes it easy for alumni to see available networking opportunities.

Timesaving menus

The Services menu provides quick links to some of the most pressing alumni needs.

Nice branded moments

We created social media marketing assets like branded Instagram highlights, stories, and posts.

Engaging post templates

We designed social media post templates that inspire alumni to stay engaged to Lehigh and share their experiences.

Perfect for Print

The brand is easy to apply to any promotional material, digitally and in print. We mocked up examples of print use cases, like a Alumni Magazine feature or a donor thank you card.

I’m beyond thrilled that our new website more accurately reflects all the great programs and activities that connect Alumni back to Lehigh!

Jennifer Cunningham, Assistant Vice President for Alumni Relations, Lehigh University

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