Exponential-e
We recently worked with one of the leading ICT companies in the UK - Exponential-e.
Our Client
Exponential-e has a three-pronged approach to market. They offer affordable premium grade Internet and other ICT services suitable for single-site SMEs; on the other end of the scale they offer bespoke complex WAN solutions for Enterprises; they also go to market via Channel partners and Carriers who resell their services.
Exponential-e came to us for a redesign to take their existing site to the next level and we were more than happy to win the pitch for the project.
Their existing site was looking tired and really was in need of a complete overhaul.
Their Aims and Objectives
The primary aim of the website is to gather leads through the download of whitepapers, datasheets and videos. Another main aim is to educate prospects on the range of services available.
They also wanted existing customers to increase their usage of the website, specifically to see what other services are available and for Exponential-e to be able to cross sell more effectively.
Their Audience
The target audience of this site is highly technical. Exponential-e sell to IT Managers and IT Directors in companies ranging from £2m to £200m turnover nationwide.
Their ‘Look & Feel’ Brief
The new website was essentially a re-write and scaling back, streamlining and simplifying their existing website.
They were looking for the site to be eye-catching, clean and uncluttered with an emphasis on ease of navigation.
They wanted to increase the use of images and icons to make the site more visually stimulating and they gave us some very clear ideas on the style of the home page with the large rotating carousel feature with calls to action.
The colours to be used throughout needed to match their corporate blue and they were in the process of phasing out a series of brand imagery that had been used in previous campaigns. This was also taken into account with the new design allowing a gradual reduction of these images over a specific period of time.
Functionality
Exponential-e had some very clear ideas on the functions they required – namely:
- They wanted a variety of page layouts to use across the site which was to accommodate a multi-tiered navigation system.
- Different layouts brought different bespoke functionality to each main section of the site that had to be accommodated with the CMS.
- Every section of the page was to be CMS driven, including the calls to action, and associated content held in the varying right hand column section.
- As well as content, the CMS was to capture and report on site download metrics.
- Several data-capture forms with easily editable (by the administrators) data capture fields were to be made available using the CMS.
Technical Specification
The brief also required the following technical points to be taken into account:
The company does not allow outside parties access to their servers so all files had to be downloaded at our end, amended, repackaged and sent back for them to be able to upload at their end.
They initial requested a Drupal CMS on Apachi/Linux to be used to create the website as they were familiar with this software. In the end however, we convinced them to take our core sCMS system and allow us to build bespoke features to allow them full control over every aspect of the site.
They also wanted the website to be written to support Search Engine Optimisation.
The Resulting Site
Visually we and the client were all very happy with the redesign, feeling we had progressed the opverall professionalism with the site and were reflecting the stature of Exponential-e within their market place, and were standing out from the crowd.
The clean and simple to navigate site features a multi-tiered drop down navigation to make accessing the varying levels a breeze. For such a large site, the content flows and is easily accessible. The user knows where they are at any time and can get from any position to another page on site with ease.
The site highlights all areas of the business and service offerings, and has a wealth of information and knowledge with datasheets, whitepapers and videos all integrated, to name but a few.
There are more details in the portfolio after the jump
The CMS runs the entire site, from the frontpage news to the downloads available to the content for every page and manages the calls to actions.
As well as the site management, the CMS works as a reporting tool for the leads generated by the enquiry forms and also the downloads. Users have to give up their credentials the first time of trying to download any of the whitepapers or datasheets for example. This information is broken down in the backend to show the companies and persons downloading along with what they download and when. These are then very useful warm leads for the Exponential-e sales team to act upon knowing exactly the are of interest the potential customer has.
The site is built in the LAMP environment and features a full and bespoke content management system to allow the client to fully manage the site themselves going forward. We used XHTML 1.0 and CSS 3 along with jQuery, PHP and MySQL.
We went live with the site in January 2011 and this is what the client had to say:
Testimonial
“I was very impressed with the way Addictivity approached our web design project – they listened closely to what we wanted to achieve from the site and delivered on all counts, all for an extremely competitive price. Each person we had contact with was very accommodating and, thankfully, very patient with our ever-evolving brief. We have had very positive feedback on the new site and I would certainly recommend them to anyone looking for a reliable and creative web design company.”
Sarah Newcomb – Head of Marketing, Exponential-e
