A CRM-powered website
Success achieved
BMABA used their in-house knowledge and experience to build their own CRM powered website and customer management system
- Website
- www.bmaba.org.uk
- Project dates
- July - November 2019
Project team
- Giovanni Soffietto, Chief Executive Officer – Build & Design
- Niki Badenoch-Smith, Operations - Testing
- Sarah Shelton-Agar, Strategic Lead – Testing & Compliance
Tools & Systems
- Wordpress - We have used a combination of different systems to pull together a seamless experience. Our websites are running on Wordpress, with more than 50 combined plugins across the multi-site network. To handle this effectively, we have moved to a high-scale Wordpress specific web host and re-build from scratch a beautiful front-end website, which we looked to line up to our back end system.
- Vtiger - Our CRM, Vtiger, with use of Outlook for e-mail functionality, ClockIn for staffing management, WooCommerce - online payments and the integration of Sugar CRM for additional CRM functionalities.
- Integromat - To tie all of these systems together, we have used Integromat to ensure a compliant ‘intermediary’ to help us transfer data safely and reliably.
Introduction
We set out to completely redesign our websites to mark the incorporation of our new charitable foundation, and to create a larger resource of guidance, articles and membership perspectives to help boost the association’s numbers.
We handle a huge amount of data on a daily basis so a huge part of the design process was about synching multiple systems to a single CRM (database) to ensure integrity, speed and safety of all personal information.
This was also designed to encourage a smoother experience for prospective clubs, and to guide them through a much more integrated sign up process which cuts down our operations’ team time spent with data input, whilst ensuring a safe, slick sign up process for new clubs joining.
We had huge issues trying to make multiple software languages and apps speak to one-another in a common format, and we also had to work on this entirely in house with absolutely no funding to pay external agencies to do this on our behalf.
Discovery
We made use of more than 3 years of Google Analytics data across all of our sites and portals, to analyse a non-member’s behaviour on the front end website, as well as engagement among our current members in the member’s area.
We also used new time-clocking software to gauge how long our staff spent doing manual data input processes which could be automated, to enable us to get a true fix on the real term costs of a non-automated system.
All of the above was merged with extensive user surveys to ensure a ‘human touch’ to the data, to aid in us forming a consistent idea of what was required on the new website.
Aside from the entire back-end integration and the extensive member’s area which is under lock and key, we looked at our web presence in contrast to that of two of our main competitors.
Objectives
We see more than 100,000 visitors on our old website, bmaba.org, per year. The launch of our new website, bmaba.org.uk had to incorporate a front end site to explain the association’s function, a ‘copy’ with a huge amount more depth aimed specifically at clubs and instructors, with this one incorporating multiple real-time sign up forms (bmaba.org.uk/clubs).
We also had to represent our newly found Foundation, our student and parent section and our current members via a bespoke member’s system (mybmaba.org.uk).
We set ourselves the target of increasing visitors by 15% in the first 30 days, and reducing the bounce rate from 64% to less than 55%, with an increased time spent on the website from an average of 2 minutes 30 seconds to 4 minutes.
This was a really ambitious target to follow, but we trusted that this would allow us to ensure the new websites made the real impact required to justify the cost and time taken to set up.
We also targeted our operations team to complete sign ups and renewals in half the time previously.
Timeline
- June 2019 – Full review of current website including a full review of the web design market, available ‘DIY’ options and a full internal consideration of the entire site processes we required
- July 2019 – We found and secured a super-fast Wordpress web host on a new domain and secured all domain variations for security. We also began setting up secondary e-mails and hosting provisions ready for a new site build. Wordpress was installed.
- August 2019 – The basic design of the new site was sketched, designed and implemented to the baseline Wordpress CMS. This was then adapted – in colour scheme and layout – to make it look visually correct for our brand. Particular time and attention were paid to the menu items and layout, which was our main area of concern.
- September 2019 – Throughout the end of August through to September, we worked to transfer across all content the new site. It was kept for private access only to protect it from the public. This allowed us to move across all content, re-writing and re-designing content and services on an ‘as required’ basis. Staff assisted in copyrighting, allowing Giovanni to focus on content implementation.
- October 2019 – Full e-commerce functionality was completed, and extensive testing began. At this point, Integromat API integration to our CRM was under full swing, and was being extensively tested. Our operations and commercial management team tested all content, formats and functions in full as the site neared completion.
- November 2019 – With the site now live, we worked through A/B testing to try different content variations and delivery patterns, working also to consider server loads, caching and SEO scoring with the site hitting search engines etc and enjoying all traffic from the old site.
Activities
The first step was to understand what abilities we, as a team, have in house – and to identify shortfalls. We understood Giovanni to have a superb native ability to work on CMS systems, and with CRMs however we had no in-house expertise for ‘API’ – the language which allows one system to talk to another, even if they’re not integrated or part of the same type of system.
We began extensively brainstorming what we needed a new website to do for us, where our current website lacked and what the overall function should be. This was sorted into three categories:
- Operations – Our ops team was tasked with sketching out the fastest, most efficient process map for new registrations, club members and renewals. Their task was to think exclusively about what made their job easier.
- Strategic – Commercial were tasked with creating the best possible (visual) website to boost new registrations and renewals. They were also responsible for considering pricing options and membership packages, which we decided would be redesigned with the new website launch. Commercials task was to consider purely the aesthetics, and what would look best for new members, as well as what would be most likely to deliver us new customers.
- Executive Team – The Executive team’s job was to consider how processes would join up to one another, the impact on SEO and any knock-on effects for financial cashflow. They were also responsible for costing the project.
Giovanni, who sat predominantly within the Exec team, worked to identify any areas with shortfalls. For API we realized this would contribute the biggest cost, so we looked to find software that would run the processes for us, leaving us only to effectively ‘wire’ them in.
When a clear vision had been identified, we looked to work with Wordpress ‘skeleton’ frames – content frames that allow us to customize the appearance without needing to re-write or re-wire ‘under the hood’. The content delivery was completed by Giovanni, who took on the sole role of API implementation.
Whilst arguably not ideal in terms of timescales and workloads, this allowed Giovanni to take full responsibility for the organisation’s overall online presence, which is our main point of sale.
Our additional teams continued to work re-writing content. First of all this was completed by Strategic, pruned based on practical outcomes by Operations before going to the Exec team for compliance and financial checking.
This allowed us to prepare large amounts of content quickly, promptly making the only ‘log jam’ the actual content creation. Giovanni took this on largely around the day to day office duties, and really enjoyed the flair of creativity, teaching himself a number of additional plugins, design principles and practical skills.
Reviews were carried out weekly, with one team taking on proof reading, another testing the website functionality and another testing how the content is fed into our CRM.
Finally, when the front end website was complete as per our ambitions, we then plugged this into our CRM.
This shows the API flow, with each module requiring processing and setting up alongside the corresponding META data fed from the system.
All in all, whilst still being finally revised and completed, the entire project took a team of 6 around 6 months, in and amongst our usual day to day operations. Excluding staffing costs, we estimate the total delivery costs to be £6,250. Our best quote from an independent third-party designer for a much more basic integration was £19,500.
This demonstrates the measurable cost-saving element of bringing this in house, and we have both a system designed to our technical and practical requirements, as well as one we can edit as and when required without incurring further costs.
Innovation
We have had to learn a huge amount of in-house specializations to make this happen, and our Chief Executive Officer actually taught himself API coding to ensure we could make this work. His work included the introduction of a number of linked API set ups, which enable systems and websites to communicate.
These complex workflows involve the coding of huge amounts of API and Meta details, which run into the hundreds of line per module, to ensure an automate flow of information throughout a number of different apps, systems and software.
Marketing
Our main consideration was ensuring our new website seamlessly stepped into the place of our old website. We did this by initially using the old website ‘as is’ with a forced popup telling the public we’ve moved to a new site, and then pushing them across.
After one week, this was then replaced with a complete re-direct meaning anyone visiting our old site would be redirected to the correct new URL and so on. This protected our SEO positioning and allowed us to monitor and test the website in its first stage of release.
Challenges
The main challenges were time constraints. It proved very time intensive, especially for our Chief Executive. In hindsight it would have been much more effective for the organisation to have delegated the work to a non-exec, but this would have obvious impacts on delivery.
Giovanni regularly took on 60/70 hour weeks, working from 5pm through to midnight 3 or 4 times a week to undertake the delivery and design work. This is clearly something that can’t be asked of routine staff.
Achievements
To date, the entire project has been a complete success. It has surpassed all of our expectations and is proving to have a huge impact in terms of the extra staffing time now available to dedicate to proactive membership responses, rather than just data input.
The new website is having a huge difference on working time, membership sign ups and the entire data integrity process. Not only is it engaging users for much longer periods of time and helping the association grow by bringing in lots of new members, it is also helping existing members access their membership information faster with direct and immediate access to a huge new range of tools and provisions – such as online learning via our new e-course provision.
User experience:
The website is able to provide tailored user accounts which follow our new members across their lifetime with the association. This is now tied into a real-time link to our CRM and databases, which means everything is up to date and documentation/purchases are ready much, much faster.
In addition to this, the entire experience across the site is substantially faster with lots more free resources, articles, blogs and tools available to help the public without requiring sign up.
Targets & Statistics
For the first 7 days of our new website launch, we can see a substantial reduction in bounce rates and a much longer session time.
Financials
We invested an incredibly tight budget of £5,000 for the entire build and relaunch. This is only possible because of the extensive in-house expertise we possess.
We have managed to achieve the entire rebuild (in terms of cost, but excluding staffing) for £1,050 plus additional costs of around £5k, totalling circa £6,000 in total.
Advice
Plan, plan and plan again. Don’t make your work public until you’re nearly complete, as you’ll put yourself under pressure to complete much sooner than you may be ready. Remember that testing takes much longer than anticipated.
Feedback & Testimonials
We have received a number of positive feedbacks and testimonials from our members after the new website launch. This includes the following from a new member who joined us on 27/10/19;
“I have to say, the innovation we have seen whilst pursuing and using the BMABA website is second to none in the industry. To then login to a secure member’s area full of additional resources, community and learning tools is exceptional. How you manage this in-house is anyones guess, but it is certainly beneficial for the entire industry.”
Jonathan Waterhouse – BMABA Club based in Tiverton, Devon.
