The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority was undertaking a project to bring full-fibre broadband to the area in combination with ITS Technology and NGE. As part of this project, they required a brand new website designed to match their newly created branding. The key functions of the website were as an informational resource and a lead-generation tool. Because this was a public sector project, there were strict accessibility requirements to meet. As always, a responsive design was critical, as was a fast loading time.
As a resource and lead-generation website, it was important that the design was clean and easy to navigate, and presented the provided content in an easily digestible format. As a public sector website, it was also critical for the site to adhere to the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). This meant ensuring that there was clear contrast on all visual elements, the site was reliably responsive and that it was built to accommodate screen readers. After I was provided with the branding guidelines, it was clear that the bright and bold colours would need to take centre stage in the design. This allowed for very clear and obvious call to action (CTA) opportunities, which would be of great benefit to conversion rates. As lead generation was key, a simple data-collection form was built to sit above the footer to ensure there was a data capture option available on all pages. There were also dedicated Contact and Partner Enquiry pages set up for more specific contact requirements. On the Contact page, because of the number of different stakeholders in this project, this involved some specific logic functions to route the contact form to different email addresses based on the nature of the enquiry.
I was required to integrate a bespoke plugin provided by ITS Technology Group, one of the key stakeholders. This plugin integrates via an API to check service availability based on user postcode entry and collects leads so that these enquiries can be followed up quickly. While the plugin was simple to use, it was important to make some key changes to the styling of the front end to ensure that it worked as expected on the site and worked stylistically with the branding of the site, but also worked responsively across all devices.
The end result of the LCR Connect website development project was impressive, with a quick and responsive site that boasted an average page load speed of approximately 0.5 seconds. This not only contributed to a high conversion rate but also resulted in regular enquiries from potential partners and customers. Content providers report the website to be user-friendly, enabling them to effortlessly add news updates and other posts, with custom-built post templates assigned to them automatically. According to analytics data, the website was easy to navigate and engaged users, with low bounce rates and an excellent average number of pages viewed per visit. All stakeholders were pleased with both the website’s design and its functionality, and the website delivered outstanding results.
