“It’s Not Just a Website.”
The following blog article is produced with kind permission from Rachel Eastwood Cox and Rachael Nicholas of The Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited.
“We thought a consultant could solve our problem; what we really needed was confidence.” With that admission Rachel Cox, Director of Strategic Operations at the Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC), opened her Digital Excellence talk on rebuilding the charity’s web presence.
Founded in 1964, CRAC supports more than 160 higher-education institutions through the Vitae programme with a focus on profession and career development of researchers. By 2023 its site was a textbook case of ‘digital debt’: unsupported CMS, labyrinthine navigation and page after page of unprioritised content.
The team’s goal was bigger than a facelift – they wanted to prove value, surface impact data and streamline internal processes all at once.
When Expert Advice Falls Flat
CRAC’s first step was to hire a UX consultancy to create personas and wire-frames. The work looked slick – but it didn’t resonate with staff or members. “The deliverables went back in the cupboard because we couldn’t explain them to anyone,” Cox admitted. Rather than blame the supplier, CRAC paused the project and enrolled two core staff on Deloitte’s Digital Connect programme delivered by the Centre for Accelerating Digital Technology. The course demystified user-centred design and, crucially, taught the team how to challenge jargon-heavy proposals.
“Upskilling ourselves was the pivotal moment,” said Head of Innovation & Services Rachael Nicholas. “Once we spoke the language, we could write a brief that actually matched our strategy.’”
Focusing on One Persona
Armed with new skills, CRAC zoomed in on a single target persona – early-career researchers – and interviewed just five users, the saturation point the team had defined in advance. Those conversations revealed that 80 per cent of navigation pain stemmed from the same three dead-end pages. Deleting or rewriting them freed hours of staff time and gave members a clearer path to content.
Leveraging Peer Networks
A micro working group of member volunteers acted as a sounding board and, later, as launch champions. External networks such as the CAST Digital Leads forum provided thermal imaging of ideas from outside the HE bubble.
Choosing the Right Partner Second Time Round
Having learnt from the false start, CRAC selected a new agency whose values – openness, collaboration and transparency – matched its culture. Budgets still mattered, Cox acknowledged, but alignment mattered more.
Results Six Months Post-Launch
- A cleaner, searchable site went live in January 2025 (the reduction in organic search due to ‘AI overview’ is driving CRAC to think differently about content, which is borne out by the analytics).
- Early analytics show time-on-page for flagship resources up 42 per cent.
- The website is now seen as Phase 1 of a wider digital roadmap that includes content strategy, better impact metrics and new member services.
Reflections for Senior Leaders
- Capability is risk mitigation. Investing in staff skills reduces supplier dependency and improves procurement quality.
- Persona discipline curbs scope creep. Solve for one archetype; you can scale later.
Collaboration creates political capital. - Member champions defuse resistance and amplify launch messages.
- Being small is an advantage. Decision paths are shorter, cross-team buy-in is easier and staff can become visible digital leaders .
Board-level question
- Have we allocated learning budget alongside capital spend, or are we assuming the supplier will do the thinking for us?
