Lightspan Study Shows MBA Program Websites Fail to Provide Most Important Information for Prospective Students
CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifty-nine percent of MBA programs' websites use third party ranking data as their main proof of reputation, although surveys show prospective students primarily look for quality of faculty and employment data when choosing a program.
Only four percent of the top 100 U.S. MBA programs show employment percentages on their websites' home pages, yet prospective students see this as the second most important factor in their choice of business school.
The study conducted by Lightspan Digital, a Chicago digital marketing company, looked to measure how many of the U.S News & World 2014 Report's 100 MBA programs have home pages that show information which prospective students need the most.
The 2014 mba.com Prospective Students Survey Report shows quality of faculty and percentage employment upon graduation to be the top two most important criteria for prospective students when choosing a school. The Lightspan study showed that of the top 100 schools, only 24 percent show faculty accomplishments on their home pages and barely four percent quote employment or job offer percentages upon graduation.
"It's a shame that these top programs can teach but can't do. We even found a loudly visible typo on the front page of one of the top 30 MBA programs, 'renowned' was spelled as 're-knowned,'" said Mana Ionescu, President of Lightspan Digital.
"A common MBA term, 'the value proposition,' is missing from a majority of these 100 websites. Website visitors are not only looking for the 'what's in it for me' factor, they're also looking to find that information 'fast and easy,' and these sites are nowhere close to fast or easy," Ionescu added.
The schools ranked 20 through 49 quote rankings most frequently. Seventy-five percent quote at least one ranking data point and some will mention rankings multiple times on their homepage, at the detriment of other supportive arguments.
Stuart Flack, The CEO of Best Match, a non-profit website that provides comparison data for MBA candidates to get local and lifestyle information on institutions with MBA programs, argues that focusing too much on rankings data, "trivializes an important decision that should be made in far more nuanced and deliberate manner."
Ionescu added, "In the words of playwright David Ives, 'lists are anti-democratic, discriminatory, elitist, and sometimes the print is too small.' It appears this focus on lists is indeed making these business schools' marketing print very small, quite indistinguishable from each other, where a mere four percent stand out." She concluded, "It's time schools stop obsessing with where they rank, and start focusing on what their future students actually want."
Lightspan Digital is a Chicago Digital Marketing company with the mission to bust digital marketing myths and focus on marketing done with purpose. The full study results can be found on the web, at lightspandigital.com/blog. For more information, call Lightspan Founder and President, Mana Ionescu at 312-593-4085 or Email. You can also find Mana on Twitter @manamica.
Contact: Mana Ionescu
Phone: 773.442.2448
Email
Website: www.lightspandigital.com
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140918/147170-INFO
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140918/147171-INFO
SOURCE Lightspan Digital
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