If your website has been around for years, there inevitably comes a time when technology starts to sputter. Or when your website no longer reflects the essence of your organisation, like after a repositioning.
That was the case with FEB (Federation of Enterprises in Belgium). For the renewal of their online approach and website, they were looking for a partner who could offer strategic guidance.
They searched, and found: AGConsult. We did the preliminary research and on that basis worked out the strategy, information architecture and UX design. Thanks to our guidance during the development of the website, it got delivered quickly and on schedule.
Working together with AGConsult has been a pleasant experience. It was a serious challenge: a lot had to be done in a short time, there were uncertainties – such as convincing management – and we wanted a clear link to our new communication strategy and vision. Despite all that, AGConsult did an excellent job. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
FEB is the country’s largest employers’ organisation. It represents the interests of 40 sector federations and, through them, over 50,000 companies.
After a repositioning, FEB noticed that the website didn’t sufficiently match their new vision. It wasn’t clear enough what the organisation stood for. What expertise it had. And what information it could offer.
Camille Blairon, Communications Project Coordinator at FEB: “The technology was also out of date. There were a lot of incompatibilities. And the system we were working with didn’t match our needs. As a result, we couldn’t post information online correctly.”
AGConsult was recommended to FEB by a contact at Voka, for whom we did a similar project.
FEB’s question for us: how can we bring our website and digital communication more in line with our new strategy?
For this project, we considered several partners. In the end, we chose AGConsult for their straight-to-the-point approach: they were honest, open and direct, and dared to tell us what we did wrong. For us, that was important, because the short deadline meant we couldn’t afford any bullshit. We also felt they knew what they were talking about.
The more a strategy is based on research and facts, the more likely it is to succeed.
We relied mainly on:
What do people come to the website for? What do they read? What don’t they read?
And for the 4,000 articles that were online: which topics are more and less popular?
This allowed us to determine what the content scope of the new website would be.
The website is only one part in FEB’s communication strategy.
Hence, our research had to be broader, to find out which channels are best suited for which type of content.
Not on the basis of what management thinks, but what users say.
We organised workshops around Customer Relationship Management to understand VBO’s onboarding and conversion flow.
This allowed us to capitalise on this with our approach to the new website.
What I especially liked about working with AGConsult is their reliability. There was no grey area: everything was clearly communicated and explained well in advance. Thanks to an action plan with different phases, we were never in for a surprise. I also felt that they understood the FEB very well. They understood the nature of our business, even though it’s not that obvious.
Based on the learnings from the user research, we drew up a new strategy in line with FEB’s goals.
Whilst developing the UX design and information architecture, the big challenge was: how do we present their thousands of articles? And how do we make them easy to navigate?
We created mock-ups for the most important content blocks and page types. We not only indicated where the information should appear, but also in what form (text, video, form, and so on).
The preliminary research was done, the information architecture fully developed.
The final step was to turn our mock-ups into an attractive design and smoothly functioning website.
We don’t do that ourselves. We’re the architect. Not a contractor or construction firm.
But we did help FEB find a development and design partner. We suggested candidates, gave advice and participated in the jury that made the final choice.
As soon as a partner was chosen, development began. Here, too, we were closely involved. And rightfully so, because anything can go wrong when you translate mock-ups into design. We checked in regularly, just like an architect regularly visits the site of construction.
Thanks to our guidance and FEB’s commitment, our proposal was implemented in just 3 months. As a result, the new website was live within a year. Deadline met, and well within the budget.
The fact we could work this fast is also because we managed to get everyone in the organisation on board with our strategy.
A crucial step in the process was defending the new structure to the board and the CEO.
Because support is crucial. If management doesn’t want to hear about your plans, little will come of it. And that’s a challenge many companies struggle with.
Bringing in an external party can help. That is, if they know their business and use the right arguments.
AGConsult’s arguments were strong and diplomatically expressed. They clearly set out the parameters of a good website and how we could address them. They also told us how to make sure our website has its own specificity, so that it really becomes our website.
Get us on board.
We always rely on facts and research, have 20+ years of experience, and we’re used to websites with thousands of pages.
With our research-based UX design, your new website will surely be a hit.
