Kara Clark Designs
There’s always a venue open on campus—now it’s easier to find out where.
Kara’s Role – Content Strategist providing opportunity brief and channel map, and UX Designer
Current Situation
Cal Poly Campus Dining has over 25 venues across campus. Business hours are amended for seasonal and academic holidays, however, as a service to the campus community, at least four venues are open at all times. While most retailers would avoid sending a customer down the street to a competitor, these venues recommend one another as they all participate in one freshman dining plan. Communicating amended hours is a laborious project due to the manual distribution on numerous channels: the Cal Poly mobile app, Campus Dining’s website, email, social, and printed versions on venue doors and brochures—to name a few. These updates occurred 12-15 times per year.
Solution
Campus Dining centralized data input via Google Business—the most logical portal to improve customer experience as well as decrease time spent for distribution. The information is now entered once and automatically distributed to all channels. Venue managers can update information in real time rather than waiting for developers and graphic designers to edit data on all of the digital and print channels.
Results
- Operational benefits: 87% reduction in cost and time spent for content distribution; reduced margin of error in data entry
- Customer benefits: improved user experience, with reduction in complaints on social media due to inaccurate data; increased exposure on Google Search, with alerts to restaurants open nearby on campus; positive feedback campus-wide, including praise from Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong.
“My compliments — I was pleased earlier today to see an email reminding me of the food venues that are open. Thanks for all you and the Corporation are doing!”
– Jeffrey Armstrong, Cal Poly State University President
VP/Director of Marketing & Communications: Ellen Curtis
Developer and Engineering road paths: Lauren Barker
