Meet the Client
For the past 20 years, Watermark has been helping thousands of colleges and universities spend less time collecting data and more time learning from it. A pioneer (and giant) in the EdTech industry, Watermark continues to develop innovative technologies that empower institutions and support real-world assessment practices and use better data to drive meaningful improvements.
Our Relationship Through the Years
2016: The Foundational Website
Our initial website project began in 2016 when Watermark was known as Taskstream. Unbeknownst to us or the client, a major acquisition would require a rebrand only a year after Taskstream.com was redesigned and launched. All the same, we plunged into the project, first exploring the hiccups for users within the current website. From highly-detailed SEO and content audits to user flow testing and focus groups, we spent our time developing a meticulous strategy for the website to not only covert higher ed audiences but showcase key industry resources the client churns out on a regular basis.
In hindsight, the investment we put into strategy (and flying to NYC a few times) really paid off considering we’re still iterating upon the same website foundation today. The flexibility of both the design and development of the site allows us to allocate budgets to user testing, ongoing initiatives, event/solutions microsites, and messaging updates.
Maintenance & Hosting
2018: New Brand. Same Website
A few years back, Taskstream merged with Tk20 and LiveText. The three leading providers of assessment management technology combined to form Watermark. Looking to make a splash in EdTech at institutions across the world, Watermark needed to update its digital properties. While a typical website lifecycle is about three years, Taskstream’s website (and web of landing pages) were built with extremely flexible blocks and content options so a full redesign from the ground up wasn’t necessary. Working closely with Watermark’s newly combined marketing teams, we updated the website to reflect the new brand and expanded assessment solutions.
Ongoing Optimization
With the redesign launched, we began testing user engagement and building campaigns. We explore not only how users are interacting with the website and digital properties but also how users are finding the site through search and brand engagement. No stranger to data, Watermark’s team was able to move quickly and spin up campaigns based on our ongoing growth recommendations which we consistently test and adapt each month.
Annual Event Microsites
Each year, Watermark hosts a conference dubbed Engage. Basically, four days of university peers rubbing elbows and learning from higher ed thought leaders from around the world. To adequately inform and register the thousands of attendees to Watermark Engage, each year we put together a microsite dedicated to the conference.
More Mergers Require Smart Consolidation
Digital Measures and EvaluationKIT are the newest members of the Watermark family, supplying innovative technology and a wealth of resources to the already robust selection. Similar to the last acquisition, Watermark required a strategic SEO approach to consolidate a wealth of content and redirect domains without sacrificing domain authority or link equity.
2020: New Solutions. Same Website
With all these new offerings and resources added to Watermark’s portfolio over the years, it was time to reevaluate how key audiences are interacting with the website. We plunged into strategy again to restructure the sitemap, content prioritization, and surface additional paths for key audiences to self-guide once they land on the site. We were able to build new blocks and redesign key landing pages, while also updating the look and feel for ADA compliance, all within the same foundational site shell from four years ago.
Results
2.5 million
. . .redirects from Taskstream alone.
33 million
. . .unique pageviews since 2016.
+60%
. . .engagement on key conversion pages.
Our Thoughts
“When I think about what the perfect partner looks like, I think about a partner who treats us like we are a part of their team and values the work we do for them as much as we value working with them. This is Watermark. Over the last several years they have been great to work with, they are strategic, they listen, they give constructive feedback, and they are kind. You can't ask for anything more in a client partner.”
“This group is truly passionate about their industry and dedicated to constantly evolving to serve their customers. From start to finish, the Watermark team has been confident in their ability to understand their customers and industry while allowing us to bring our recommendations to life—which makes for a dream partnership! ”
“Through strategic mergers and acquisitions, the Watermark brand emerged to put a crater in the higher education software industry. Watermark worked with us through a successful consolidation of its various websites and analytics properties to maintain its growth.”