Bond Global is an embedded recruitment agency that works with innovative CleanTech, DeepTech, BioTech and Enterprise organisations to transform the planet with new technology. Their unique subscription model for recruitment provides scaling businesses rapid access to the best talent.
They challenged us to deliver a new brand strategy and identity, and create a slick new website to attract new business.
- Lead time:
- 20 Weeks
- Sector:
- Recruitment
- Target Type:
- B2B & B2C
- Website Goal:
- Reposition the business & attract new clients
- Services:
- Branding, Web Design, Web Development, Marketing Strategy, SEO, Copywriting
- Scope
- Brand Strategy
- Customer Persona Development
- Key Messaging Development
- Brand Identity
- SEO Strategy
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- WordPress CMS
- Copywriting
- Resource
- 2 x Marketing Strategists
- 1 x Digital Strategist
- 1 x Brand Designer
- 1 x Website Designer
- 1 x Website Developer
- 1 x Quality Assurance Tester
- 1 x Project Manager
- 1 x Copywriter
The challenge
Bond Global is a dynamic and innovative recruitment agency that works with some of the best global talent, however this wasn’t reflected in their existing brand or website. They challenged us to update their website design and messaging to resonate with their target clients. They were ready to reposition themselves in their market and set themselves apart from other recruitment agencies.
Alongside their rebrand and website redesign, they commissioned us to deliver an SEO strategy that would improve their rankings in search engines and enable new clients to discover them organically.
The brand strategy
Using insights from stakeholders in the business, we created a brand strategy that is faithful to Bond’s values and attracts highly aligned clients. Their new strategy provides the central thread that connects the reason that Bond exists and the reason that their client companies exist. For example, Bond’s new key messages include bold statements like “We’re here for the visionaries” and “There’s no planet B”. These statements speak directly to their clients who work in renewables, clean energy and environmentally positive technology companies that are innovating to clean up the planet.
Bond’s refreshed messaging aligns with their target clients, reflects their USPs and provides their team with a framework of how to speak about the business and communicate in their marketing.
The brand identity
We evolved Bond’s existing brand identity in line with the new strategy and the businesses that they wanted to attract. The use of dark base colours with vibrant pops of colour represent their key brand themes – technology, futuristic, environmental, big picture mindset.
The final visual brand achieves a technical and futuristic feel that resonates with Bond’s clients and the work they do.
The website
Our website team created a fresh new website design that incorporated the new brand and messaging. The primary goal of the website is to attract and convert new clients, opening up a new channel of lead generation for the business.
Our digital marketing specialists created an SEO strategy that focused on increasing Bond’s search engine visibility for high value search terms, enabling them to be found by businesses looking for their services. We built and optimised the site around the SEO strategy, laying the foundations for continued growth and visibility.
Bond’s new brand identity combines colour, typography, shape, form and imagery to deliver an impactful and unique experience.
The new website design is fresh and utilises white space to heighten the impact of copy.
Bond’s new messaging framework sets them apart in their market with a clear and emotive style.
SEO strategy
Prior to the new website launch, the only keywords that the website ranked for in Google were very specific brand terms and a couple of broad terms that were buried deep into page 4 of the search results.
We focused on specific areas of Bond’s recruitment offering to secure new rankings for highly aligned keywords. This enabled them to gain greater visibility for specific terms that would generate new business without wasting resource chasing after competitive and less relevant broad terms.
+
1
425
%
Increase in search engine visibility since launch
In the chart above, blue bars represent positions 1-3 in Google and green bars represent rankings on the rest of page 1.
You can see that rankings immediately rose in the week following launch and that page 1 rankings continued to grow over time.
“We worked with P&P to rebrand and build a website from scratch. We have been inundated with positive feedback on the look and feel of the Bond brand. The project management side of things and communication was first class. P&P are able to respond to passionate involvement from a client”
Related work
Delcon specialises in the construction of luxury residential, retail and commercial properties. They challenged us to deliver a new brand and website that reflected the quality of their work.
- Lead time:
- 12 weeks
- Sector:
- Construction
- Target Type:
- B2B & B2C
- Services:
- Brand Identity & Website
The challenge
The Delcon team identified that their customers were using the appearance of their website and brand to infer the quality of their construction work. With a dated website design and user experience that didn’t reflect their high quality and precise work, Delcon was ready to invest in their site to connect with their customers and reflect their position in the market.
Our approach
Delcon wanted to retain their reputation as an exclusive business that operated almost exclusively on referrals. Their new website needed to reflect their quality and exclusivity while converting referrals into enquires.
As per the brief, we took an image-led approach to the website design and used imagery to reflect Delcon’s design style. The design pairs raw construction elements with refined finishes, focusing on small and detailed touch points such as sleek loading animations and interactive elements.
Dynamic design
We created a website design with subtle movement and interaction that produces a premium feel. These interactions include parallax animations where elements on the page scroll at slightly different speeds. We also created an expansion and narrowing effect on the screen as the user interacts with the page. This directs the user’s attention and signposts the user journey.
We introduced ambient video footage into the design to create depth and visual interest.
The development
We developed the website using WordPress to provide a flexible content management system for the Delcon marketing team. The new site gives them a high level of customisation while also enforcing their new brand guidelines.
Image showcase
The site is designed to show glimpses of Delcon’s work and materials, while maintaining client confidentiality which is required on the majority of Delcon’s projects.
Team
An interactive component was created to showcase the Delcon team.
Balance
The new website harnesses the balance between form & function, and between raw & refined. These concepts are at the heart of Decon’s brand.
The brand
We evolved the Delcon brand, creating a new colour palette, typography and image guidelines. The brand was rolled out to the new website and portfolio ‘look book’ and was prepared to be implemented on hoardings and on-site materials.
Related work
The National Zakat Foundation (NZF) is a UK based charity that helps Muslims in need by collecting and distributing Zakat payments to a variety of causes. Zakat is a compulsory annual donation that is given by Muslims and is a proportion of their total wealth.
NZF challenged us to increase donations to enable them to help more people. They also wanted to increase the level of control that donors have over how their Zakat is distributed.
- Lead time:
- 10 Weeks
- Sector:
- Not For Profit
- Target Type:
- B2C
- Website Goal:
- Increase donations, Empower donors
- Services:
- UX Design, Web Design, Vue.js, Laravel, WordPress
- Deliverables:
- Website, Web App
- Scope
- User experience workshops
- Adobe XD wireframes
- Adobe XD designs
- Comprehensive engagement tracking
- Eazy Collect & Secure Trading payment gateway integration
- QA and testing
- Laravel development
- Vue.js development
- WordPress
- Resource
- 2 x UX Designers
- 1 x Project Manager
- 1 x Front-end Developer (Vue.js)
- 2 x Back-end Developer (Laravel)
- 1 x Quality Assurance Tester
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
The challenge
To enable NZF to increase donations, we delivered a new WordPress website and donation flow.
The unique way of donating Zakat and the mandatory nature of donations meant that user data needed to be reviewed carefully to build an optimised user flow that would increase donation value.
Zakat calculator
We developed a Zakat calculator to help individuals calculate the Zakat they owe. This tool increases NZF’s visibility in the search engines and increases their brand awareness.
The donation flow
The Zakat calculator seamlessly leads into the donation process and carries the donation values into the donation flow, encouraging the user to donate their Zakat with NZF.
Donation allocation
Donors are able to allocate their donations to the causes that they care about most.
A branded experience
The donation flow has been designed in line with the NZF brand and incorporates interactive elements to provide a superior user experience.
Our approach
We ran a number of workshops to explore the Zakat donation flows with the NZF team. Our goal was to create a useful and seamless donation process that would maximise the value of donations. To do this, our UX team designed a simple user journey with options to round up donation values to whole numbers and add additional donations. We designed the donation flow across a number of key pages to provide a user friendly and manageable donation process.
Managing the user experience
As a compulsory donation, Zakat donor behaviour can greatly vary and the donation flow needed to accommodate for all users. For individuals who want to distribute their own Zakat, the NZF donation flow has been designed to enable donors to give to the causes that they care about most. However a streamlined donation process is available for individuals seeking a swifter donation flow.
BCB Group is the global leading provider of business accounts and trading services. Having recently secured investment, they were rapidly scaling and required a slick, cutting-edge website that reflected their position as a major player in the global Fintech arena.
- Lead time:
- 12 Weeks
- Sector:
- Fintech
- Target Type:
- B2B
- Website Goal:
- Deliver a market leading website, enable the BCB team
- Services:
- Web Design, Web Development
- Scope
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- WordPress Development
- Interaction Aesthetic
- Accessible to AA Guidelines
- Gated Content
- Microinteractions
- Content Curation
- Resource
- 1 x Project Manager
- 1 x Web Designer
- 1 x Front-end Developer
- 1 x Back-end Developer
- 1 x Quality Assurance Tester
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
The challenge
The BCB team challenged us to deliver a website that would position them as the industry leader. They needed a high quality site that would help them to deliver on their ambitious roadmap by enabling their team and providing a strong foundation for growth.
Loading animations
We created animations and interactive touch points to engage users and create a premium feel.
User journeys
We curated high quality user journeys to build trust and increase conversions.
Accessibility
We designed the website to AA Accessibility guidelines.
Our approach
We delivered an interactive website that would stand out in the crypto market. The new WordPress website provides the team with flexible content management and enables them to continue to innovate as part of their digital roadmap.
We worked closely with BCB’s existing SEO agency to execute a change of domain strategy, ensuring that all of BCB’s marketing equity accumulated on their old domain was successfully transferred to their new domain.
Mobile
One of BCB’s biggest pain points with their existing site was the lack of mobile responsiveness and the poor user experience provided on mobile devices. We created mobile designs to represent the mobile user journey and highlight how components and interactive touch points would work responsively.
Related work
Powerleague is one of the UK’s largest booking platforms for sports pitches. Their focus has primarily been football pitches, however they also provide other facilities, pitches and courts, as well as venue hire, parties and events.
They were ready to take their business to the next level and invest in their digital customer experience.
- Lead time:
- 10 Months
- Sector:
- Sport & Leisure
- Target Type:
- B2B & B2C
- Demographic
- Sport Players, Parents & Corporate
- Website Goal:
- Increase Bookings & Consolidate Business
- Services:
- UX Design, UI Design, Mobile App Development, Web Design, Web Development, WordPress, Digital Marketing
- Scope
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- WordPress Development
- React Native Development
- API Consultation & Mapping
- Complex API Integrations
- Website & Booking Flow
- Mobile App
- Multi-territory & Multilingual
- SEO Strategy
- Resource
- 1 x Creative Director
- 2 x UX / UI Designers
- 1 x Technical Lead
- 2 x WordPress Developers
- 2 x Backend Developers
- 3 x React Native Developers
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
- 2 x Quality Assurance Testers
- 1 x Technical Project Manager
The challenge
Powerleague challenged us to consolidate their 2 websites into a single site, making them the largest pitch booking website in the UK. Our brief was to combine the sites while improving the accessibility of information and the overall user experience. The new website needed to be scalable, automated, and drive performance improvements – increasing the number of bookings and delivering a market leading design.
Powerleague identified the opportunity to launch a new mobile app that could be used alongside the website. They wanted a fresh design and intuitive user flows that were consistent with the website to showcase their offering and increase bookings.
The new website and app needed to integrate with Powerleague’s booking software and dynamically pull information into the interfaces. The project would move Powerleague towards an omni-channel offering that seamlessly combines multiple user touch points and interfaces while providing a consistent user experience and data.
Our approach
We started the project with a research phase where our UX team explored complex booking flows within and outside of Powerleague’s industry. We focused on flows that had complex search and booking requirements and managed large amounts of data. Our goal was to gain insight into how other businesses managed their user flows.
Using insights from the research phase, we created a comprehensive set of website and mobile app designs. Our team transformed the designs into clickable prototypes for the client to test and review.
We developed the new website and mobile app, automating as much information as possible by integrating with Powerleague’s booking software. We dynamically pull information from the booking software into the website and app based on the user’s search, keeping load speeds high while streamlining the user experience. Our approach enabled us to offer dynamic search results where users only see results that are available for booking, reducing the cognitive burden and increasing conversion rates.
The search
The new search function uses IP detection to search for pitch booking venues near the user, reducing the steps required to find a pitch. It automatically pulls the 2 most similar venues alongside any selected venue, enabling users to compare within a single booking flow window.
Powerleague has a different booking flow and available booking horizon for each type of booking and location. The website and app incorporate these tailored flows, guiding users through the requirements and availability for their booking. For example, Powerleague only accepts football pitch bookings up to 10 days ahead and this is reflected on the football booking flow and calendar view.
Managing the data
Powerleague’s website needed to manage a colossal amount of data, with millions of potential combinations of venues, pitches and time slots.
Finding the best time slot
Customers can easily compare time slots, availability and pricing.
The booking flow
We display pricing in a calendar view that enables users to see the cost of different time slots and select the best deal for them. The majority of bookings are made for peak time slots so we automatically show these first.
To encourage repeat business, users are able to block book during the checkout, increasing the value of the booking for Powerleague and simplifying the booking process for users.
API consultation & integration
To deliver the strongest user journeys, the booking software API needed to be customised. We planned the website functionality and created a brief outlining the endpoints that needed to be delivered by the booking software team.
We collaborated with Powerleague’s software team to develop new endpoints and ensure that information was seamlessly passed in both directions between the app, website and booking system.
The brand
We extended the brand for digital use, creating shape form and animations that can be used across the site.
API & cache
The website is cached to deliver fast results and the cache is updated every 2 hours to ensure data is current.
The menu
The mega-menu was structured to combine the key content from both websites, ensuring that the user journey is smooth and content is accessible.
Map view
Visitors can use the map search to find a venue near them.
Going Headless
We delivered Powerleague’s project using a headless approach. We utilised their backend booking system as the backend engine for the site data and WordPress as the ‘head’. WordPress gives Powerleague a very high level of customisation and content management while the backend booking system enables us to effectively manage data and bookings.
This approach moves Powerleague towards an omni-channel offering, where the mobile app and website have distinct user journeys, functionality and user interfaces but pull data from a consistent data source. This enables users to have a consistent experience across devices while benefiting from different interfaces.
The headless solution enables us to maintain rapid load speeds and a high level of security, despite the large amount of data being handled.
Multi-territory
The new website includes content for 2 territories, the UK and the Netherlands, and the website is available in English and Dutch.
Our developers coded IP detection to direct users to the appropriate content based on their location, and our technical SEO team have optimised the website to ensure that the correct website content ranks in regional search engines.
Powerleague have ambitious expansion plans and the new website sets them up for future growth and launches in new territories.
The mobile app
A ginormous amount of data needed to be available to customers via the mobile app, including venue details, availability, variable pricing and event information. Handling this information on a small mobile screen was a challenge. We needed to ensure that the user experience was simple and intuitive, while also delivering the full range of functionality.
In the research phase, we explored complex mobile booking experiences across a range of industries including travel, hospitality and entertainment. We focused our research around search functionality, search results, filters, and content hierarchy, which enabled our design team to combine innovative mobile design with industry best practice to deliver a tremendous amount of data and functionality in an intuitive way for Powerleague’s customers.
Our team developed the app in React Native and integrated with Powerleague’s booking software to present users with the data they needed as part of their booking experience.
New mobile functionality
Powerleague’s new mobile app hosts additional features that are exclusive to the app.
Football Leagues were introduced alongside a Player Marketplace where football players can apply to join teams, and teams can place ads for players then manage applications and rate their performance.
Marketing
Powerleague were keen to move towards a campaign based marketing strategy and needed a website that would provide the dexterity to create new content in line with campaigns. They needed full content control and the ability to move quickly.
We delivered the website on WordPress which enables their team to manage and create new content independently.
SEO
Our team delivered an SEO strategy that was used to create and optimise the new website, setting Powerleague up for keyword growth in search engines.
“1st big leap forward in terms of digital transformation at Powerleague with many more steps to come. Exciting times and of course all about making our customers lives easier and giving them quick and easy bookings with a host of leading edge enhancements to follow. ⚽️⚽️⚽️”
Related work
Burns Sheehan is a recruitment agency in London that works in the tech industry. They focus on creating value within the tech community, regularly hosting events and providing opportunities to upskill.
The team was ready to take their website to the next level by developing their marketing strategy and undertaking a full redesign process.
- Lead time:
- 10 Weeks
- Sector:
- Recruitment
- Target Type:
- B2B & B2C
- Website Goal:
- Improve user experience & represent brand values
- Services:
- Web Design, Marketing Strategy
- Scope
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- Customer Persona Development
- Key Messaging Development
- Design to Development Hand Over
- Resource
- 1 x Website Designer
- 2 x Marketing Strategists
- 1 x Project Manager
The challenge
Burns Sheehan challenged us to redesign their website by transforming their stakeholder vision into an engaging website with a community feel.
To best serve their audience, Burns Sheehan recognised that they needed to refine their marketing and communication strategy. Collaboratively, we defined their audience personas and created a key messaging strategy for each customer type.
Our approach
We collaborated with the Burns Sheehan team to define their target audience personas and create a key messaging strategy. We used the strategy to guide the new website structure and improve alignment with their target audience.
Our designers created an interactive new website design that positioned Burns Sheehan as the leader in their sector. We handed the completed designs over to Burns Sheehan’s development team, briefing the team on the animations and interactive elements throughout the site.
Marketing strategy
Working closely with the Burns Sheehan team, we created battle cards to represent the goals, challenges and key messages for each customer persona. This enabled Burns Sheehan to consolidate their understanding of their clients and create an effective communication strategy for each customer.
The battle cards act as marketing cheat sheets to facilitate effective and consistent communication across the team when creating and posting content. Burns Sheehan also introduced the battle cards into their onboarding process for new starters to bring them up to speed with their clients and the ways the business helps them achieve their goals.
Job search
We created a dynamic job search that uses a sentence structure to help candidates find job opportunities.
Brand implementation
We worked closely with the Burns Sheehan marketing team to faithfully represent their brand in the new website designs.
Building a community
We created a content hub and event showcase area on the website to support Burns Sheehan’s marketing strategy.
“We came to Plug & Play looking for help designing and rebranding our website at Burns Sheehan. They educated us through every stage of the process from wireframes, to SEO optimisation, to helping us produce audience personas for copywriting. They were always on hand to take on board our feedback and iterations and we’re really pleased with the end result.”
Related work
Give A Grad A Go is the UK’s top graduate recruitment agency. They challenged our team to completely overhaul their digital infrastructure and marketing. They had ambitious plans for their website and broader online ecosystem.
- Lead time:
- 28 weeks
- Sector:
- Recruitment
- Target Type:
- B2B & B2C
- Demographic
- Employers & Graduate Candidates
- Website Goal:
- Increase pool of employers and graduates, improve Google rankings, enable marketing team
- Services:
- Branding, Digital Marketing, Web Design, Web Development, eCommerce, WordPress, Laravel
- Scope
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- WordPress Development
- Laravel Development
- Website & Portal
- Multi-territory
- International SEO Strategy
- Brand Identity
- Resource
- 1 x Lead Designer
- 1 x UX Designer
- 1 x Brand Designer
- 1 x Technical Lead
- 1 x Laravel Developer
- 1 x WordPress Developer
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
- 1 x Quality Assurance Tester
- 1 x Project Manager
The challenge
The Give A Grad team wanted to launch a sector leading website that would showcase their offering and attract graduate employers and job seekers. To become the recruiter of choice, Give A Grad knew that they needed to overhaul their brand identity and provide an industry leading user experience.
In addition to delivering a new website, Give A Grad wanted to create a recruitment portal that would enable them to start offering self-service recruitment alongside their existing managed recruitment offering. They challenged us to create a portal where employers could manage career vacancies and applications, and candidates could apply for positions.
Our approach
We created a digital strategy to improve Give A Grad A Go’s search engine rankings. This informed the new website structure and user journeys to ensure that new users could discover the website and land on the appropriate content.
Our brand team overhauled Give A Grad’s brand identity, creating a flexible visual toolkit for the marketing team to apply across their marketing and literature. Our website designers implemented the new brand within a fresh new website design and our WordPress developers coded the site to optimise performance.
Alongside this, our UX team created the user experience for the new recruitment portal, building user journeys to reduce friction and maximise engagement. The portal was built using Laravel, providing a flexible framework with plenty of scope for future growth.
Job search
As the powerhouse of the new website, it was critical to innovate when it came to the job search functionality. The ease of browsing jobs would impact the number of graduates searching on the site, which in turn would impact the number of employers posting jobs.
We introduced a number of new features to provide a seamless and engaging user experience.
- We created a split screen view, with the list of job ads on the left and a preview of the selected advert on the right
- We designed an optimised text layout for the job specs and utilised emojis to increase the skim-ability of text
- We implemented a tagging structure to highlight key job benefits
- We introduced a map view on the job search to visually represent the location of roles
Multi-territory targeting
The new website launched with 2 territories available: the UK and Australia. Each territory hosts its own content and SEO strategy that is tailored to the regional audience. Our multi-territory WordPress approach maximises SEO opportunities and enables Give A Grad A Go to adapt their services and strategy for each location. Give A Grad also have the option to create additional territories in the future.
‘We’ve had a brilliant experience working with Plug & Play — I wouldn’t have trusted this project to any other of the agencies we initially spoke to.’
SEO
Give a Grad A Go already had an established digital footprint in the UK and Australia, appearing highly in search engines for a variety of high value keywords. Our team delivered an SEO strategy that would take their search engine rankings to the next level by growing existing rankings and expanding their keywords to include new targets.
+
1
51
%
Increase in UK search engine visibility following launch
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1
42
%
Increase in Australian search engine visibility following launch
The chart above shows Give A Grad A Go’s keyword rankings following the new website launch. The blue bars represent positions 1-3 in Google, green bars represent rankings on the rest of page 1, and purple bars represent page 2 rankings.
Resource hub
We increased the accessibility of article content by grouping articles into user friendly guides. This provides a relevant and continuous user journey that encourages content consumption and keeps users on the site.
Design style
We created a playful website design that would appeal to Give A Grad’s target demographic.
A multi-platform experience
We overhauled Give A Grad’s digital ecosystem to provide a consistent and engaging user experience.
Contact us UX
Give A Grad’s ‘contact us’ user flow was complex and heavy, with a wide range of content, contact details and FAQs to communicate. We implemented an effective filtering system to guide users to the relevant content.
Developing the brand
Give A Grad’s old brand was looking dated and no longer reflected the business size and position in the market. They needed a new brand identity that would provide greater flexibility to their marketing team and could continue to grow with the business.
As a brand that targets graduates, Give A Grad challenged us to create a playful and bold brand that also looked trustworthy and reliable to employers. Balancing the two main audience types was critical to producing a successful brand.
Jobs portal
We delivered a brand new jobs portal for Give A Grad which enables employers and candidates to manage job ads and applications. The goal of the portal was to open up a new self-service recruitment offering to employers, enabling Give A Grad to capture a greater percentage of the recruitment market.
For candidates, the portal needed to provide a seamless transfer to and from the website, and a smooth application process. The success of the portal was dependent on the ease of use compared to competitors in the market.
We constructed optimised UX designs and user flows to deliver a high performance portal. Our developers coded the portal using Laravel which provides Give A Grad with a flexible framework that can be expanded as the business need grows.
Related work
Cole & Son is a luxury wallpaper company that produces unique high end designs for their customers. They came to us during a period of change, when they were restructuring their distribution channels and starting to sell direct to consumers in a number of key territories. They needed an elevated eCommerce store that would rival their offline customer experience and showcase their beautiful designs. The website needed to support their ambitious growth plans and push the boundaries of what had been done in their industry.
- Lead time:
- 20 weeks
- Sector:
- Luxury Interiors
- Target Type:
- B2C
- Demographic
- Affluent & Design Driven Consumers
- Website Goal:
- Sell Direct to Consumers, Increase Revenue, Enable Cole & Son Marketing Team
- Services:
- Digital Marketing, Web Design, Website Development, Headless Shopify
- Awards
- Best Cross Border Campaign - eCommerce Awards
- CSS Design Awards, Awwwards
Post-launch website results
The new website has delivered significant increases in average order value and revenue.
x
1
10
ROI on PPC spend
+
1
101
%
Revenue increase
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1
193
%
Average order value
- Scope
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- Headless Shopify Development
- WordPress Development
- Multi-territory
- SEO Strategy
- PPC
- eCommerce
- Resource
- 1 x Lead Designer
- 1 x UX Designer
- 1 x Technical Lead
- 1 x Shopify Developer
- 1 x WordPress Developer
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
- 1 x Quality Assurance Tester
- 1 x Project Manager
The challenge
Cole & Son had an existing eCommerce store that was built on Shopify and had experienced some success. However, the site was suffering from some typical Shopify challenges and wasn’t able to scale in the manner that Cole & Son required to meet their growth targets.
These challenges included:
- Slow site speed
- Lack of design flexibility
- Limited functionality
- Limited control of SEO factors
- Restricted international capabilities
Cole & Son challenged us to find a solution that would enable them to internationalise the business and drive growth.
Headless Shopify Development
We implemented a Headless Shopify solution to overcome the challenges that Cole & Son faced on the existing website. The client liked Shopify’s interface but their existing solution was holding them back. Our Headless Shopify solution enables Cole & Son to maintain their existing eCommerce management system while gaining a new frontend website interface that provides greater flexibility and performance.
We decoupled the frontend and backend of Cole & Son’s eCommerce website, retaining the backend eCommerce management in Shopify and replacing the Shopify frontend with a WordPress ‘head’. The WordPress CMS provides the client with a user friendly interface to manage their website content while also while achieving a custom website design, enhanced SEO performance, user engagement, site speed and website security.
Headless proof of concept
To select the best headless solution for Cole & Son, we rigorously tested a number of options during a proof of concept process. We started by defining the client’s success criteria for their Headless Shopify website. We selected 8 potential CMS options and reviewed the documentation to score each one on a predefined rating scale.
We created a proof of concept for each of the 3 highest scoring CMS’s and tested the Shopify integration and key functionality. Based on Cole & Son’s requirements, WordPress was selected as the best CMS for the headless solution.
The design
With established roots in the fashion world, design is an integral part of Cole & Son’s business. We created a unique and editorial feel with the new website design. We created a flexible user interface that enabled Cole & Son’s marketing team to curate content throughout the site and fully showcase their collections and products.
On-page roll calculator
Purchasing wallpaper can be a complex process. Customers must consider the wall width and height, but also pattern repeats and pattern size. To simplify this process, we created a roll calculator that is available on every wallpaper product page. It is pre-set with the relevant product information so users only need to enter their wall dimensions to calculate the number of rolls required.
This feature increases customer satisfaction and removes a barrier to purchase.
Editorial design style
We created an editorial style design that connected the Cole & Son website with the brand’s roots in fashion.
On page roll calculator
We implemented an in-page roll calculator to enable customers to calculate the number of rolls needed with minimal effort.
Maximum flexibility
We created a flexible CMS that enables the Cole & Son team to curate pages around their products.
International expansion
Cole & Son’s previous website only sold to consumers in the UK. During the web build, they were in the process of changing their distribution model so they could sell directly to consumers worldwide, reducing their reliance on distributors.
Our challenge was to create and implement an international marketing strategy that would increase Cole & Son’s market penetration in target territories and enable customers to find the website and purchase products in their local currency.
We delivered 7 territories on the new website, with the flexibility to expand to additional territories in the future. Each territory was optimised for regional search engines, enabling local audiences to find the Cole & Son website and the content that was relevant to them.
Upon launch, Cole & Son rapidly experienced increases in sales and rankings, going from no footprint outside of the UK to having an established presence in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden and Norway.
The international campaign won the Best Cross Border Campaign at the eCommerce Awards. Read about the full campaign strategy here.
International SEO growth
Our team generated huge global SEO growth for Cole & Son for a series of high value search terms.
Cole & Son’s rankings grew across all 8 target territories, increasing their search visibility by up to 2081%.
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1
2081
%
Increase in UK search engine visibility
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1
1210
%
Increase in New Zealand search engine visibility
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1
523
%
Increase in US search engine visibility
SEO
Using WordPress as the CMS gave us greater dexterity when it came to optimising the site for SEO. We conducted extensive SEO research as part of a broad digital strategy and implemented an optimised landing page strategy.
Our global SEO strategy increased the breadth of keywords targeted and increased the specificity of content on the site to create new entry points from search engines in 7 geographical areas.
PPC
Our team launched a number of PPC campaigns for Cole & Son, opening up a new revenue channel for the business. The PPC has been extremely successful, generating a 10x return for every £1 spent with Google Ads.
Related work
Diffusion is an international PR agency with offices in the UK and US. They represent tech-driven brands that are transforming the world for the better. Their clients are exacting, professionally demanding and expect results.
Diffusion had experienced a period of growth and needed a new website to reflect their maturity and scale. Having just undertaken a rebrand, Diffusion challenged us to deliver a modern website design that would align with their core audience, engage prospective clients and generate awareness and leads in the UK and US.
- Lead time:
- 16 Weeks
- Sector:
- Public Relations, Marketing
- Target Type:
- B2B
- Website Goal:
- Executives, Marketing Professionals
- Services:
- Digital Strategy, Website Design, WordPress Development
- Scope
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- WordPress Development
- Hubspot Integration
- Multi-territory content and SEO
- SEO Strategy
- Art Direction
- Content Curation
- Resource
- 1 x Lead Designer
- 1 x UX Designer
- 1 x WordPress Developer
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
- 1 x Quality Assurance Tester
- 1 x Project Manager
Post-launch website results
The Diffusion PR website has become a lead generation powerhouse for the business. It combines high end design and user experience with performance.
+
1
15
%
New business leads generated in the year following launch
-
1
27
%
Bounce rate
+
1
3045
%
Average search visibility in the UK and US
Our approach
We created a new website that is structured around an in depth SEO strategy and uses best practice conversion design principles. In this way, Diffusion’s new website is primed to rank more highly in Google and convert more visitors into new business leads.
The web design is dynamic, drawing on video content and interactive animations and touch points to guide the user journeys and reflect the dynamism of the Diffusion PR team.
We delivered the website using WordPress using ACF fields to develop custom reusable components. This enabled Diffusion PR to manage their UK and US content on an ongoing basis with ease.
Dynamic design
We created a feeling of quality and refinement by focusing on how the page loads and moves
Interactivity
The website uses interaction design to create a high quality look and feel
SEO landing pages
The website is structured around an SEO strategy to generate new high quality traffic and enquiries
UK / US Location Detection
As an international business, Diffusion PR needed a website that would generate business in their UK and US territories. We implemented a range of multi-territory and multi-lingual strategies to increase market penetration and generate leads.
The outcome was a website that ranked highly in both territories and generated a 15% increase in high quality leads for the business.
SEO results
The chart above is from an SEO tool called Moz which tracks keyword positions in search engines. Blue bars represent positions 1-3 in Google, green represents the remainder of page 1 in Google, and purple shows page 2 listings.
As you can see, the SEO strategy implemented as part of the new website delivery resulted in significant ranking improvements.
+
1
3045
%
“We had a lot to say and convey to a broad range of audiences and we needed to do that in a way that put the visitor first and made it a joy for them to learn about how Diffusion can support them. Plug & Play got that instantly. They married razor-sharp design & usability with SEO wizardry and a flawless project management approach to deliver a site that is delivering on our primary goal of reaching and representing more of the world’s most exciting brands.”
Related work
Dynavics specialise in the delivery of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and are a trusted Microsoft partner.
Their website had become increasingly complex over the years and the poor structure was causing a confusing user experience. They challenged us to create a streamlined user journey that clearly demonstrated their service offering.
- Lead time:
- 12 Weeks
- Sector:
- Technology
- Target Type:
- B2B
- Website Goal:
- Generate New Leads, Improved Look and Feel
- Services:
- Web Design, Digital Marketing & Brand Identity
- Scope
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- WordPress Development
- SEO Strategy
- Brand Identity
- Resource
- 1 x Website Designer
- 1 x Brand Designer
- 1 x WordPress Developer
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
- 1 x Quality Assurance Tester
- 1 x Project Manager
Our approach
We created a new brand identity and website for Dynavics, delivering a fresh look that would stand out in their market. The new website was built with performance in mind and with a digital strategy at the heart of all decisions. This approach has enabled Dynavics to grow their search engine rankings and increase their lead generation via the website.
Content architecture
The existing Dynavics website had a complex content structure that made it difficult for users to navigate and find content. We restructured the website to improve the user journey and accessibility of content
Our digital strategy work identified key landing pages and website entry points so we could create optimised user journeys that ended with a conversion.
Brand
The Dynavics brand was dated and easily overlooked when presented side by side with competitors. They challenged us to create a new look and feel that would stand out in their market and attract new customers.
We completely overhauled their brand identity including their logo, colour palette, typography and imagery. We also introduced shape and form to add depth and visual interest to the brand, creating a distinct ‘Dynavics’ look that was recognisably theirs.
Dynavics design style
The website has a distinctive look and feel. It uses the new brand elements to deliver a recognisable branded design.
Dynamic assets
We created dynamic brand assets to elevate the website design and provide an engaging user experience.
Signposting
We used colour cues to help signpost user journeys throughout the site.
Digital strategy and SEO
We undertook a detailed SEO and competitor analysis process to recommend key actions that would improve the performance of the new website. We used the data to inform the new content structure and recommend which pages should be created or removed from the new site.
We assigned realistic keyword targets for the Dynavics website, enabling them to grow their rankings.
Thanks for your hard work guys… you’re all awesome! 👏
