Why universities must build a joined-up digital experience
In this article, we explore how fragmentation across digital platforms can erode user trust, particularly for universities. We examine what “disconnected user journeys” look like, why they damage perceptions and conversion, and present a high-level framework to reduce journey breaks.
In a follow-up article (Part 2), we’ll build on these ideas by showing you how to measure, monitor and repair trust leaks: key metrics, dashboard setups, real examples, and a practical checklist you can apply.
Students in Higher Education don’t think in silos. They expect consistency, clarity, and one clear path from browsing courses to clicking apply. But university websites and digital systems often tell a different story.
From separate faculty sites and outdated application forms to a maze of portals, disconnected platforms make life harder and cost you students.
What are disconnected user journeys?
Users often jump between course pages, news sections, application portals and support systems. A journey fractures when transitions fail to carry over context. Filters or selections disappear. Menus change. Tone shifts. System state is lost. Each break forces users to pause, rethink and question whether they can rely on the path.
-
Context is lost (filters, previous choices, selections forgotten)
-
Navigation, UI or tone shifts abruptly
-
Messaging is inconsistent or contradictory
-
Users hit broken links, redirects, or missing content
-
No shared session / no single sign-on across systems
Each break forces the user to reorient, increasing friction, frustration or abandonment.
Why disconnections erode trust
Trust in a digital brand rests on coherence, predictability and clarity. When journeys splinter, those foundations crack.
If parts of your site behave and feel very differently, users may assume your institution is similarly fractured. When a user’s filters vanish or previous steps are forgotten, control feels lost. Repeated broken links or redirects erode confidence. Over time, those micro-breaks chip away at trust, not just in your site, but in your brand.
Digital trust frameworks view trust as layered: trust in technology, trust in operations, trust in the interactions users have with systems. The Measuring Digital Trust model from the World Economic Forum gives organisations a way to assess maturity across those dimensions. Research in UX and HCI reinforces that consistency, transparency and reliability are key to perceived trustworthiness.
Common trouble zones in university digital estates
Universities juggle many stakeholders, legacy systems and distributed control, which gives rise to frequent failure modes. For example, departments or faculties might run their own CMS instances, navigation logic or template systems without alignment. Application portals, CRMs or older tools often fail to preserve session state or share filters. Messaging or tone may shift sharply across site zones, such as prospective, student or alumni areas. Transitions are sometimes left unmanaged, for instance when users move from course browsing into application tools. Differences in device or browser support also disrupt consistent journey flow.
Each issue alone might seem small. Combined, they undermine coherence and sow doubt.
Framework to reduce fragmentation
To prevent journey breaks, continuity needs to be designed in from the start, through design, architecture and governance.
Shared systems and context: Every transition should carry the user’s thread forward. Shared navigation, persistent sessions, APIs that remember filters or selections and unified search all help maintain a sense of flow and reliability.
Consistent design and messaging: Visual and tonal shifts damage trust. A shared design system, consistent writing style and reusable templates keep content aligned. Every new page or platform should be checked against existing journeys to make sure it feels part of the same experience.
Governance and ownership: Even the best architecture fails without someone responsible for keeping it consistent. A central digital team should take ownership of cross system coherence. Assign journey leads for key pathways such as prospective students or alumni. Schedule regular audits to find weak points and make sure IT, marketing and academic departments work together to fix them.
Real-world example from higher education
One of the UK universities we’ve worked with was struggling with exactly this. Their existing platform was fragmented across departments, and content was managed inconsistently, making it difficult for prospective students to find what they needed.
We helped them unify their content structure, introduce shared components across faculties, and integrate systems in the background. At the same time, we gave comms teams more control and flexibility.
The result was a simpler, more consistent user journey and far fewer barriers between research and application.
From diagnosis to action
In this article we’ve looked at what disconnected user journeys are, how they damage trust and how to start reducing fragmentation.
Part 2 takes this a step further. It focuses on how to spot problems early, measure the health of your user journeys and keep them on track. We’ll cover practical metrics, dashboards, examples and a hands-on checklist you can use to monitor and protect trust.
Find out more about the work we do here.
Your student experience starts long before enrolment
If your digital platforms confuse, frustrate, or slow students down, they’ll likely go elsewhere. But that’s not inevitable.
We help universities build connected digital ecosystems that feel simple on the outside, even when they’re complex behind the scenes.
Need a clearer digital roadmap?
Let’s have a chat about how we can help you align your systems and create better experiences for the students you want to attract.