A website secret shop on any budget to reduce enrollment friction

In a time of increased enrollment pressure and limited budgets, many institutions know their websites aren't converting as effectively as they could, but aren't sure where to start. This session walks through a practical, repeatable "website secret shop" model that schools can run on any budget to uncover enrollment friction and prioritize meaningful improvements. We'll begin by grounding the work in data. Using GA4 and form abandonment reporting, we'll identify a discovery-to-action journey (or multiple journeys) and determine where prospective students are dropping off. We'll discuss how to use audience demographics and device data to understand who your primary audience is and how they're accessing your site — ensuring your secret shop reflects real user behavior. From there, we'll set up the shop. You will learn how to:

• Recruit students or internal participants who are not closely tied to the pages or content being shopped.
• Develop realistic enrollment-focused scenarios.
• Structure both quantitative and qualitative research questions.
• Incorporate proven usability principles into the evaluation framework.
• Conduct moderated or asynchronous shop sessions (kept under 30 minutes).
• Ensure participants verbalize their thoughts throughout the process.

We'll explore both paid UX research platforms and scrappy alternatives using tools you likely already have. Finally, we'll focus on synthesis and action. You'll see how AI can help sort qualitative themes, cluster friction points and draft prioritized recommendations. We'll discuss how to build a custom GPT or structured prompt workflow to repeat the analysis consistently across future shops, without replacing human judgment. The session will close with guidance on:

• Identifying clear KPIs before implementation and working with enrollment and other adjacent groups.
• Building a small/medium/high effort roadmap.
• Measuring post-implementation lift.

Youo will leave with a clear, step-by-step framework for running a structured website secret shop that blends analytics, UX research and AI-supported insight, designed specifically for higher ed enrollment journeys.