The brief
Our client, a premier audio equipment distribution company, asked us to design and develop a new eCommerce website to better reflect the company’s high end brand image and deliver a better experience for their dealers and direct customers. Concurrently, the client needed a bespoke web application to provide a Management System to handle the back end operations as their current system was becoming outdated and slowing them down. Most of the content in the new website needed to be drawn dynamically from the new Management System. The content then needed to be displayed in a way that ensured each brand was represented in a way that helps users to find their way around the brands' products.
The solution
UX Design
Achorda began this project by wireframing key screens to nail down the perfect user journey. The client has a unique business model which means that the user journey needed to be thought out very carefully to offer the best possible user experience. Enabling users to search within a single brand, and showcasing each brand individually, was key to providing the client with the solution they needed.
UI Design
Once the wireframes and bare bones of the website were agreed, a brand new look and feel was needed to lift the brand to its rightful place. A new font, sleek responsive design and modern web animation techniques brought the products to life and showcased the wealth of expertise and skill demonstrated by the client’s team.
Bespoke Umbraco CMS
Because the majority of the website content was to be driven by a new bespoke back end system, the Umbraco CMS had to be adapted to allow it to talk to the new system via API.
Some templates (Umbraco Document Types) were created using the traditional method so that content could be entered manually via the CMS forms. Other templates were created to be driven by dynamic content from the Management System.
Umbraco Macros were created to enable editors to drop dynamic content into static pages wherever it was needed.
E-commerce functionality connected to Opayo (formerly Sage Pay)
Using a 3rd party secure payment gateway by Opayo, e-commerce functionality was added to enable discounts and shipping costs to be calculated at checkout. Automated confirmation emails were also built in to reduce admin burden.
User Account Self-Service Functionality
Functionality was added to introduce self-service for website users including:
- Account registration, integrated with Mailchimp CRM
- Manage account details, integrated with Mailchimp CRM
- View and manage orders, integrated with Sage
- Manage communication preferences, integrated with Mailchimp CRM
- Register product warranties
reCAPTCHA
Using the reCAPTURE widget, the website was protected from spam and abuse. The latest version of this widget protects the website without bombarding the user with annoying puzzles to complete when submitting forms. Achorda can help clients set up an account with reCAPTCHA to protect any website we develop.
Google Analytics Integration
Our client was already using Google Analytics on their previous website to keep track of their website traffic data. Adding Google’s code to their new website meant they had a seamless transfer from one site to the next as the new website went live. Achorda recommends adding this free service to all websites to gain invaluable insights into the performance of individual web pages.
Osana Cookie Consent Widget Integration
The Osana cookie consent widget was added to the site code to ensure our client’s compliance with current UK GDPR law. Simple to use and completely customisable, the Osana widget provides the perfect solution to this small but important issue.
