The Intensive School of English (ISE) website gives an overview of the services delivered by the English academy. The front page contains tabs to: the resources of the company (host families, social events etc..), the varieties of courses offered, fees, ‘home’ and ‘book now’. Therefore, the website is a tool by which users can compare prices of the different courses with their respective duration.
The continuous requirement of English proficiency for its ‘lingua franca’ recognition, has led to many English academies to establish in Brighton. The huge competition leads to the delivery of an excellent website. Two competitors can be EF Brighton and EC Brighton.
The initial page of the academies shows how ISE Brighton values social media, opposed to EC Brighton that allocates the social media accounts at the end of the webpage and EF Brighton who does not include links to them.
The importance of social media is addressed in this article: The importance of Social media in Business
Also, Hyeongjin, Chihyung & Juwon (2018) argue that website features such as ‘informativeness’ and ‘design’ have a positive impact on purchases. In this case, EF Brighton and EC Brighton possess better designed websites with plenty more information. For example, both competitors use the whole space of the screen to write content and upload images; whereas, ISE Brighton only utilises roughly half of the space. Moreover, EC Brighton offers the best information for users in the front page when, for example, includes various information about ‘social activities and workshops’ as well as in-depth reviews of pupils who have spent time in the academy. ISE Brighton also offer similar content; however, it is not found in the front page and it is also less detailed.
Customer segmentation
ISE Brighton website seems to be directed to young non English native individuals (18-25) mainly, who wish to spend a period of time in the UK learning English. Another customer segment would be older individuals (parents 40-60) who intent to let their child attend a programme to improve their English.
Now, we will create two generic personas who are to access the website to find some fallacies that could occur.
Marta:
- 19 years old from Venice (Italy)
- Has recently graduated from high school in Italy, but wishes to attend University in England. She holds a B1 and she wishes to bring it up to a C1 to access University
- Relies on her parents for funds, therefore she wants to find the best deal when comparing cost/quality
Angel:
- 43 years old from Madrid (Spain)
- 40k a year
- Wishes to let her 15 years old daughter Daniela study 2 weeks during summer in Brighton
- Wants to find the best deal as Marta when considering cost and quality but is also concerned about his child’s safety
From these two personas, we will now analyse and critically comment the website.
Online Customer Experience
Gentile et al. (2007) argues that ‘long lasting competitive advantage’ can be achieved if companies focus on customers and their experiences. Therefore, we will attempt to create two customer journeys with the personas identified above.
Marta:
- Initial Page
- Courses
- IELTS
- Pay (to check the prices)
- Goes to competitors
- Comes back and Pay
Angel:
- Initial Page
- Summer School for young learners
- Goes to competitor
- No purchase
After looking at competitors, we see how Marta decides to buy the classes and Angel no. Why? Marta was looking for a good quality/price rapport and found what she wanted, whereas Angel was more interested in finding the best academy for his teenager. Did the quality of the website influence Angel’s choice?
REFERENCES
Gentile, C., Spiller, N. and Noci, G., 2007. How to sustain the customer experience:: An overview of experience components that co-create value with the customer. European Management Journal, 25(5), pp.395-410.
Hyeongjin, H.L.; Chihyung, M.O. & Juwon, C., 2018. Destination marketing organisation website visitors’ flow experience: an application of Plog’s model of personality. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 25, pp.397-409
