The Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) is a UK-wide charity dedicated to helping academically talented but disadvantaged students achieve their potential. Their key initiatives include the Aspiring Professionals Programme (APP) and the Employer Index. SMF were looking for a partner to help lead their overall digital transformation. This included understanding their users across all their services and translating this into a coherent user-centred, digital ecosystem.
SMF's digital presence was not in line with the youthful audience they were targeting. The existing website was outdated and suffered from common issues associated with Wordpress sites, such as slow loading times, excess plug-ins, and inconsistent theming. Over time, as different campaigns were initiated, the website had morphed into a patchwork of pages and sub-sites, creating a management nightmare. The APP, in particular, faced significant challenges. It received a surge in applications during certain periods, demanding a reliable website and forms that could handle the scale. The application process had grown complex over time, posing difficulties for both students applying and the staff reviewing and scoring the applications.
Involving students throughout the design process, Yalla conducted co-design groups to ensure a human-centred design. Rounds of user testing were conducted to validate the design and user journeys.
Yalla performed a technical audit of SMF's digital ecosystem, which led to a recommended technical design that catered to both immediate and future needs.
Yalla provided Design Thinking and Tech training to the SMF team, ensuring full stakeholder engagement and equipping them with the skills to continue managing and developing the website in the future.
Existing service journeys were mapped to identify pain points and opportunities for digital enhancement. This exercise also helped in building a Product Digital Roadmap for the charity, facilitating sustainable planning.
After establishing an initial visual language, Yalla created iterative wireframes and prototypes that were reviewed and validated with users.
Yalla conducted a series of development sprints, with automated, internal, and client testing integrated throughout.
A new CMS website was built, featuring a brand identity co-designed with SMF. All campaigns were consolidated under one coherent visual identity. A new form builder was introduced to manage campaigns and applications more efficiently. Salesforce was directly integrated, streamlining SMF's entire CRM process. The application process was automated to assist admin.
The digital transformation significantly improved search performance, with improved ranking, unique visitors, and click-through rates. Key campaign moments translated into clicks from search and direct visits/referrals, demonstrating the capability to produce well-structured and fast-loading pages in-house and measure effectiveness.
When we asked the client about what made this experience unique for them this was their answer: The culture at Yalla is definitely the most impressive and unique thing. They have an incredible way of making everyone feel supported and on the same page. Yalla bring you into their family and go above and beyond to meet any needs. Yalla has excellent project management. All deadlines were met. What was most impressive was their ways of working; they managed our online working relationship excellently. Yalla created clear and effective ways for us to work together in a hybrid manner and constantly meet all our needs.
You can view the website at https://www.socialmobility.org.uk/
The team are experts in the methodologies that create strong foundations for product development. They quite simply excel on the products too: pushing our definition of possible, keeping us to brief and always being delightful to work with. This was all underpinned by a shared belief that design thinking and digital can help create a better world. I highly recommend their services