Your Higher Education Marketing Link of the Week… Imperial College London: Strategic Planning Survey… 17 March 2023

Strategic Planning Starts with High Visibility Survey Invite on Imperial College Home Page

Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonMost colleges and universities have periodic forays in strategic planning. A successful plan requires buy-in from as many in the university community as possible. Wide spread buy-in depends in no small part on maximum participation right from the beginning.

Imperial College London gets that, starting with a high visibility “Strategy consultation” link at the top of the home page. As the home page opens you can’t miss the simple message: “We need your help to shape our vision. Take part in our consultation for Imperial’s new 20-year strategy.”

That link takes visitors to a “Strategy Consultation” page that opens with another clear message reinforcing and expanding on the original: “We need your help to shape our vision. All our staff, students, alumni and external partners will have a chance to share their insight.”

Imperial College LondonPeople have 3 ways to participate:

  • An online survey
  • “Internal discussions” hosted by the president
  • Focus groups

Blessedly brief time line: Imperial now is in Phase II that runs until the end of March. The concluding Phase III starts in April and ends in October when the president is scheduled to announce the new strategy.

Special note: The survey is open to everyone, even members of public with no formal affiliation to the college. If you’re reading this you can visit to see what’s being asked in the survey.

Follow the Link of the Week…

If you want maximum participation in a strategic planning process think about adopting the Imperial College London approach that starts with high visibility on the home page.

Speed on mobile… 2.5 seconds to first view, 4.2 seconds to full interactivity

Google PageSpeed Insights measures the time to first view of the “Strategy Consultation” page on a mobile phone at a fast 2.5 seconds. Time to full interactivity also beat the recommended 5 seconds or less at 4.2 seconds. Excellent results that surpass most other higher education websites.

The home page itself was also better than most at 2.4 seconds for first view and 5.1 seconds for full interactivity.

The first step to improving home page mobile speed was to: “Properly size images.”

Website Carbon Calculator… 85% “Hurrah” rating

Thanks to Gerry McGovern and his efforts to reduce “world wide waste” for the referral.

The Imperial College London rating of “cleaner than 85% of web pages tested” is near the top of higher education websites.

Does your website help or hurt the climate? Test your website pages at “Website Carbon Calculator.”

Recommend a future Link of the Week

Always eager to get recommendations of websites that dare to be different… or just do something ordinary in a special way. Write a comment with link here or send me the link at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com.

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