New Zealand School of Tourism

A New Future for Tourism Training

Our Work

The New Zealand School of Tourism works with industry entrants to help train them for an exciting and fulfilling career in New Zealand and International tourism.

In strong need of a refresh, both in front end design and back end technology, Apolinar worked closely with NZST as its trusted digital partner of choice right through the process to design and implement the new site.

Impact Story NZST - Vertical Carousel 01

01

Through integrating the website with the Student Management System, NZST were able to streamline the enrolment process.

02

Through continually validating designs with real end-users, the new site identified and catered to the different Course and Campus user journeys.

03

Social proof from former students was included throughout the site, building trust and brand credibility.

01

Through integrating the website with the Student Management System, NZST were able to streamline the enrolment process.

Impact Story NZST - Vertical Carousel 02

02

Through continually validating designs with real end-users, the new site identified and catered to the different Course and Campus user journeys.

Impact Story NZST - Vertical Carousel 03

03

Social proof from former students was included throughout the site, building trust and brand credibility.

The Results

125%

Lifted conversion rate

13.37%

Decreased bounce rate

132.14%

Lifted average session duration

Taking the strategic decision to undergo a brand refresh and build a new website at a time when the industry is facing significant challenges, NZST is helping position itself for a positive future.

Anecdotal feedback collected by the client from existing and potential students has been exclusively positive, with the new site continuing to create competitive advantage.

“Really good layout and easy to access all areas. It looks really appealing and inviting.”

Internal Staff | NZST

How we did it

Working closely with NZST as their trusted digital partner, we took them through designing to implementing the new site by:

Conducting internal stakeholder interviews to identify the key project opportunities and challenges.
Ran a 5-day Co-Design Sprints to align stakeholders, explore potential solutions with design thinking and create a new website prototype in a single day.
Completely redesigned the structure and design of the site for a more compelling Human Experience (HX) of the brand.
Tested the prototype with students to validate assumptions and help refine the design.
Ensured course availability and potential placements are displayed accurately and in real-time.
Helped develop and cement NZST’s offering of paid internships both in New Zealand and offshore.
Developed a modern Single Page Application (SPA) using React with SSR, ensuring the ability to be accessed on any device.
Delivered a new flexible content authoring experience for the marketing team, using Contentful, a modern headless CMS (Content Management System).
Launched an Agile Release Train (ART) using Scaled Agile (SAFe 5) to deliver the new website through to go-live.

Tech Stack

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