Turn traffic to your think tank website into citations, subscribers, and donors.
Do these problems sound familiar?
- “Our scholars can put hundreds of hours of work into a single research paper that quickly gets buried in our website after it’s released.”
- “Reporters call me for basic information, things they should see on our website. I worry that other reporters get discouraged and don’t even bother to call.”
- “Search on our site is so broken, scholars use Google to find things they’ve written for us.”
- “Email newsletters drive about 20% of our traffic, but our subscriber numbers are shrinking.”
- “Other think tanks are growing their online donor base, but we’re still focused on direct mail because our website doesn’t convert.”
Imagine a new reality:
Now imagine academics finding relevant research on your site quickly and easily and using your site as a regular resource.
Imagine your site giving journalists the quick takes on topics of the day they need, along with easy access to scholar bios and contact information.
Imagine policymakers bookmarking your website as their go-to for breakdowns of complex policy ideas.
Imagine inspiring donors to give on their first visit.
What if there was a clear path forward for making these improvements to your website?
It’s Possible Through Good UX Design
We can help you turn your website into an intuitive research tool that builds citations, attracts subscribers, and encourages donations.
We do this by conducting a User Experience (UX) Audit. Our process starts with a kick-off call to learn about your organization, its goals, and your audience. We’ll read your board report, learn about your programs, and develop user personas.
Then we go to work reviewing all the major elements of your website. Our reviews are informed by broad-based usability studies from industry-leading researchers. This replaces opinion and assumption with empirical data collected by observing real website users.
In 15 to 20 business days, we’ll produce a detailed report including best-practice implementation examples from leading think tanks, comparisons to relevant competitors, and a step-by-step guide for improving your site’s usability.
You’ll be able to hand off this plan to your web team, an outside contractor, or hire us to implement some or all of the changes we recommend.
Schedule a free 20-minute consultation to
explore things more fully
If you’re ready to increase citations, subscribers, and donors, schedule a free 20-minute consultation with us today to see if a UX Audit is a good fit for your think tank.
Don’t worry, this phone call won’t be “salesy.” Our call will be focused on learning about your web strategy, your goals, and the problems you’re facing. We want to determine if doing UX Audit makes sense for you and why.
Book a free 20-minute consultationKind words from clients
Good communication and trust are the two most important things to me. Unlike other agencies, I’ve always felt I can trust Tallest Tree and I’ve never felt neglected or ignored. Getting a frank assessment of the costs and benefits involved in web development has helped me and my team set priorities. The process of working on our website has gone from frustrating and disappointing to feeling totally comfortable.
Fordham Institute
When we consider a project, we consider cost and the likelihood of good results. Tallest Tree Digital helped speed up our mobile load times, increase our overall web traffic, and increase our newsletters subscribers by 750%. If you’re looking to build your audience, working with Tallest Tree Digital can be very profitable.
Frequently asked questions
“Why shouldn’t we do this internally?”
The biggest value we bring to this process is speed. UX Audits are time-consuming, and most think tanks don’t have the bandwidth.
We also have decades of experience working with dozens of think tanks, so we know how usability affects citations, subscribers, and donations.
As a third party, we can also be more objective. We’re not emotionally invested in your design or the content decisions you’ve made. We can look at your site with new eyes, something your team cannot do.
“When are we done with UX design?”
Just like you’re never really done learning about an area of policy expertise, you’re never done learning about how to improve user experiences.
But we recognize that budgets and time are limited. That’s why we start with a comprehensive audit that generates a list of improvements. That allows you to establish a baseline usability of “pretty good” and then steadily improve over time by consulting analytics data and exploring user testing.
This approach makes UX similar to processes you might use to improve other assets like direct mail, email newsletters, or publications.
Why work with Tallest Tree?
Tallest Tree founder Cord Blomquist has been in the think tank world since 2005, when he was a Cato intern. After a brief stint as a hill staffer, Cord went on to lead the communications team at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and build the digital team at the Mercatus Center.
Cord then partnered with web development expert Einar Jóhannsson to create Tallest Tree Digital, a consultancy focused on making public policy research more accessible and user-friendly.
This unique background and specialization means that we understand the core problem think tanks face: communicating complex public policy ideas in a world where people have more and more options for high-quality information.
Availability is limited
Ideally, a Tallest Tree client:
- Has an established budget for marketing efforts
- Has a goal in mind for what their marketing effort should accomplish
- Is ready to collaborate with Tallest Tree to reach that goal