Blog
Announcing the Course Navigator: A Seamless Student Journey Solution
Claudia Reiners Head of Strategy
We are thrilled to announce the Course Navigator — our latest product launch.
It’s a simple profiling tool that helps Marketplace users find their perfect matched course across our suite of websites. You can check it out here.
This latest addition was born out of an innate desire to create a more valuable experience for Marketplace users.
At Candlefox, we’re always thinking of new ways to streamline the student journey. Substantial industry changes call for innovative student solutions. And as our business grows, we’ve capitalised on the opportunity to diversify our product offerings.
Help students find their perfect course — without the manual combing
The Course Navigator is designed to help students navigate the hundreds of courses across our Marketplace network. Users can launch this funnel experience at various points across our websites.
Targeted questions narrow down the choice for users in an easy-to-navigate journey by focusing on understanding their unique preferences. Prospective students are then led to a personalised list of course choices based on their specific education needs.
Our new tool makes it easier for visitors to navigate through and narrow down their choices. They’re even able to save their results to come back to later.
Why we built the Course Navigator
As we grow as a business, we’re more committed than ever before to being a leading education marketing company.
We’ve learnt a lot about the education ecosystem over the years from working with some of the best education providers in the biz.
Education delivery methods are fast-evolving, with website visitors searching for more guidance when embarking on their learning journey. Students want to be more informed when simplifying their choices.
To streamline this journey based on evolving student needs, we established some key themes when building the Course Navigator:
We know that prospective students are at various stages of their research journey when they reach our Marketplace. Our Course Navigator creates a seamless, intuitive experience for visitors, no matter where they are in their research journey.
The benefits for prospective students
Product development is at the forefront of our innovation strategy.
The Course Navigator is a perfect example of how we build solutions to cater to the market and drive value.
Site visitors landing on our homepage are more engaged than ever before
Those who interact with our Course Navigator are better informed and more qualified in their journey. These students are more inclined to submit enquiries after entering the Course Navigator experience.
Users are more engaged
Through UX features such as a progress indicator, trust markers and testimonials, students are provided with an immersive experience. They are committed to the process, so when they reach the end of their journey, they’re more likely to convert.
A data-driven approach
Data helped us understand where areas of friction were when prospective students were trying to find their course of choice when building the Course Navigator. It also influenced where the experience should launch from our websites.
This solution facilitates data collection of our Marketplace users and enables us to make better, data-driven decisions. By fuelling the student journey with researched-backed findings, we enhance our Marketplace experience.
This then flows on to prompt more informed and qualified student enquiries, and providers reap the benefits.
We will continue to optimise the experience as we collect more network data, but we feel confident that the Course Navigator will empower as many people as possible across our network in their student journey.
How we built this tool
Our Course Navigator went through various iterations before going live on our Marketplace.
Before building this solution, extensive user testing and research across our various territories was a must. We wanted to create a product that could be versatile across our network, no matter the country.
Comprehensive project planning and prototyping were also key considerations prior to development.
Upon launch, we undertook rigorous A/B testing to understand performance and user impact, and then rolled out the solution to our sites.
The Course Navigator is still in ‘optimisation mode’ as we continue to test and improve the experience.
It’s not enough for us to go to market and then move onto something new. Product launches and new functionalities are comprehensively tested and iterated over time so that we can gather feedback and work on continuous optimisation.
Product development is continuous. We’ve recently bolstered our Product & Development capacity so that we can continue to build innovative solutions across our Marketplace.
We want to ensure that prospective students have choice and can make informed decisions around their education future.
We look forward to sharing more news and updates about our Course Navigator in the future.
