Rebuilding the user journey to grow engagement and lead generation

With an outdated and bloated WordPress site, Essential Living were reliant on others to make even the smallest of changes to their site and wanted to take back control.

Looking to create a site that would support increased lead generation and provide a user-centric experience, Kentico recommended IDHL as an agency that could deliver their objectives. We worked on a collaborative basis with the Essential Living team to ensure a seamless project from day one.

Essential Living’s site was overloaded with extensions and plug-ins, creating a complex system that required a developer’s input to make changes. The team at Essential Living were unable to implement any changes themselves which prevented reactivity. An enterprise solution geared towards user behaviour, engagement and lead generation was a must. We knew Kentico Xperience 13 was the perfect platform for their needs. During our discovery phase, we took a deep dive into their audience, technology and business through interviews, usability reviews and audits. Collating our findings, we presented their team with two design concepts, working together to hone the perfect one. Working closely with Essential Living, we reacted fast to project changes during the build. Even when multiple change requests were made such as an interactive commute calculator, original timelines were not impacted, and the project was completed a day ahead of schedule.

Our discovery phase allowed us to understand Essential Living’s audience, pain points and requirements. With lead generation and user engagement as top priorities, we knew that a platform with best-in-class integrated marketing solutions was a must. Kentico Xperience 13 was ideal for the job.

A key objective was to enable Essential Living to create persona-driven content, allowing them to deliver a personalised experience for their users. Kentico’s EMS functionality allowed Essential Living to up the ante with their data, enabling the collection of anonymised user data. This data could then be used to personalise content per user, offering a unique experience to repeat visitors. For example, when a user looks at an apartment and returns to the site at a later point, the EMS will recognise this. Content such as banners or blogs will then be in line with their previous visit to deliver a more seamless, intuitive and relevant experience.

The Essential Living team were also looking to take back control of their templates and components so they could manage, duplicate and flex content without further development. With most components globally applicable, the team can now reiterate the site making it fresh and inclusive for new users.

Using and maximising on-site forms was an integral part of the project. We integrated Kentico forms with HubSpot so all forms could be funnelled, allowing Essential Living to qualify leads before they come into the CRM for effective and immediate use. The integration also means they can keep a backlog of potential interest in specific apartments, creating a one-in-one-out process.

Continuing with a focus on user experience, we integrated Instagram with their site, so they can showcase their latest Instagram posts on the homepage. This includes a clickable thumbnail image, a description and a like count to encourage engagement. A custom code was used with Kentico's task scheduler to import the posts regularly alongside custom tables to store the data.

We also made use of Kentico’s integration capabilities with Cloudinary, a media management system that enabled Essential Living to deliver a better user experience. Images, video and media are automatically enhanced and optimised for every user. This also means the site has a lighter load to help pages load faster, reducing abandoned searches and bounce rates.

The website launch has achieved each objective. The team now have a faster, more personalised and interactive site that’s geared for future success. Since the new site launched, Essential Living has experienced an increase in leads thanks to the personalised user experiences and HubSpot integration.

Kentico’s EMS solution is already integrated with the platform and the team are learning how to use it to improve and implement their marketing efforts. With this tool in their armour, Essential Living can build communities with the website and market to prospects through a multi-channel approach.

Possibly best of all, Kentico’s features have produced a website the team are in full control of. Whether it’s using components to effectively alter the site or creating an interactive user experience to encourage the user journey, Essential Living has more freedom and flexibility to be reactive.

A successful and harmonious partnership, we are now discussing continuing our work with the team and building a new site for one of their other brands.