The Invisible Conversion Killer on Higher Ed Websites

Let’s all say it out loud: higher ed is in a weird place. Between the federal government making loans and aid harder to get for some programs, young people actively being discouraged from college, and lower population numbers, enrollment targets can feel tough. When you have to convert a higher number of leads on your website, get them to apply, and all the way through a degree program, it’s not a normal conversion challenge. You know potential students are visiting your website, but they’re not filling out forms or scheduling visits. Before you hire a company for website auditing services, know that there are deeper things killing your conversions.

Digital accessibility barriers.

When potential students land on your website, they have to be able to use and understand it. Most website audits look for SEO mistakes that keep you from getting found. What they don’t do is find the literal roadblocks that stop students from converting at all.

You may have a leaky funnel that loses prospects as soon as they land on your website. The best way to fix it? Getting a comprehensive website audit that shows you exactly what’s causing people to drop.

In this article, we’re going to break down the most common leaks in a higher ed funnel, accessibility barriers preventing conversions, how an accessibility audit helps find those issues, and what to expect from a real, comprehensive website audit.

Tell me if this sounds like you. A good portion of your marketing budget goes towards paid ads, trying to get in front of the right potential students. You get clicks, decent traffic, and you feel like you should be getting conversions, but people rarely fill out your lead forms.

What’s keeping them from going from an ad they liked enough to click on to doing nothing about it?

You have a disconnect. Where you send people after they click on an ad matters; those landing pages need to align perfectly with the ad. You could have a messaging issue, haven’t optimized the keywords, or have unclear content, but you could also have an accessibility problem.

I see this a lot. Marketing teams spend their time and money on ads, but they forget to check the landing page they’re using. What do people see when they click on that ad? Is the page super easy to navigate and understand? Can they see the full benefits? And can they even fill out that form or make a purchase?

What a lot of even great marketers tend to forget is that when someone clicks on an ad, they’re not fully sold – they’re just interested. Think of an ad like swiping right on a dating app. You like the initial glimpse at the person, but talking to them for 5 minutes can make you block them quickly.

Your landing page is that initial dating app conversation. What are you telling people about what it’s like working with you? If your pages are hard to use or even fully inaccessible to some of your audience, you’re telling them you don’t really care about them at all.

Not the message you want to send people.

So, how do you figure out if accessibility errors are part of what’s killing your conversions? You need professional website auditing services that can help you pinpoint exactly where prospects are getting turned off.

One of the biggest misunderstandings about web accessibility and WCAG compliance is that it’s some sort of checkbox thing. The ADA and Section 508 require you to meet certain standards, so your IT department or web developer should take care of all of that for you.

Right?

Eh, not at all. Digital accessibility is required by law, yes. You do need to be compliant. But it’s really about user experience. If someone using assistive technology gets frustrated using your website, everyone probably does.

There are several places that user experience best practices align with WCAG standards, but let’s break down some of the most common conversion blockers.

You love how those two brand colors go together, but is that white text actually legible on your blue?

All too often, what we think “looks nice” could be impossible for anyone with color blindness or low vision to read. If the contrast is too low between your font and background colors, your prospective students may not be able to see the text in your Apply Now buttons at all.

Have you ever tried to navigate your website using only the keyboard? Not everyone can or wants to use a mouse, but so many higher ed websites are hard to get through without one. If you have high school students who can’t use keyboard shortcuts to get through your website, they may leave and never come back.

You know that not everyone is ready to enroll when they first visit your website. So you offer them resources, visits, and other incentives they can grab in exchange for an email. But are those forms difficult to use?

If you remove labels and use only light placeholder text within the field, not everyone may be able to see what that field is. If your error messages are not super clear about what’s missing, they may not be able to fix the issues to submit. When a form is difficult to use, people leave.

Perhaps most important of all – many of your prospective students care a lot about your school’s values. Do you care about the kids that are spending thousands of dollars to come learn with you? Show them with an accessible website.

At the end of the day, accessibility is about inclusivity and showing every single one of your students, donors, and community members that you care about them. Spending a bit of extra time to ensure they can all use your website easily sends a huge message about your institution’s culture.

A lot of marketers misunderstand web accessibility audits. They think we are just going to find a list of errors, tell them how to get compliant, and that’s the only benefit. What’s actually happening is that a web accessibility audit is a revenue driver.

Want to know why web accessibility improvements tend to have a 100:1 ROI? Because you’re making your website better through and through.

If you don’t quite believe me, let’s take a look at how it improves every step of the funnel.

When someone is just meeting you, you have to work hard to get their attention. ADA-compliant websites have cleaner code. Not only does this make them load faster (great user experience), it also improves your technical SEO (improved rankings). And because AI search looks at your website the same way classic search engine bots do, you’ll improve your GEO, too.

Using clear headings that hit on benefits and include search phrases help people skim through your website. This helps them find the information they need much faster, keeping students and parents on the page longer. It also helps them understand exactly how you stand out from the 10 other schools they’re researching.

Accessible websites help more people move through your funnel, but it helps them take that last step to convert, too. Clean, accessible forms, easy applications, and clear scheduling calendars remove barriers. This means more students can easily submit applications or request appointments with admissions counselors.

Nothing in marketing gets you an ROI like accessibility. That’s because you’re removing friction not only for prospective students with disabilities, but you’re making the entire process easier for 100% of your website visitors.

I know you’re starting to see how a web accessibility audit can identify key risks to your conversions, but what does a great audit actually look like?

Before you start searching for website auditing services, you need to know they’re not all created equal.

A great audit will include:

• Automated scans to catch the “easy” fixes
• Manual testing to test how a student navigates the website
• Screen-reader testing to find hidden issues
• Identification of your greatest risks and how to fix them
• A prioritized action plan

You could get back a standard accessibility VPAT and that will help you find your compliance issues. But a great web accessibility audit goes beyond what’s wrong, helps you make the changes you need to fix those errors, and shows you where to start.

Don’t set your ads budget on fire and stop driving traffic to a website that prevents students from converting. It’s time to get your accessibility barriers fixed.

An accessible website converts, helps everyone navigate through your sales funnel, and signals your campus culture. This may be exactly what’s killing your enrollment now, even if you think you’re doing OK on compliance.

Ready to figure out what specific barriers you have on your website? Our specialized web accessibility audit services don’t just protect your institution from ADA risks. We’ll help you optimize your entire user journey to turn browsers into future students.

Schedule your web accessibility audit now to get started.