NOW Finance – Website
Adding Value through collaboration with NOW Finance
People are busier than ever, and brands have less time to make an impact on their target audiences. These are the undisputed facts that can’t be ignored when developing, redeveloping or evolving a brand across today’s online markets. NOW Finance had successfully ticked off some of their big-ticket branding items, with enhanced brand elements, treatment, collateral and tagline, but what about their online presence?
When it comes to branding, it is widely understood that any inconsistencies in voice, visuals, functionality, user experience (UX) and “look and feel”, can create just the sort of dissonance that sends customers looking elsewhere for options. Such is the freedom afforded by the competitive digital environment – particularly in finance where a sense of trust, professionalism and other intangibles play a role in differentiating one brand from another.
And what about performance and ROI?
The new site has delivered greater levels of visitor engagement and significantly improved sales conversion and outcomes. Some highlights are;
Our work with compliance and technical excellence has also moved them into “best in class” league with Core Web Vitals as compared to their competitors.
Congruency with brand experience
NOW Finance was seeking multiple outcomes when organising their website. Our strategy behind the architecture and the design was throughout to achieve these.
Ticking these critical boxes is rarely a one-sided operation. There is value in sharing resources and understanding points of view right from the initiation of any project of this nature. Here at BJM Digital, we understand that and set about responding to a brief that encapsulates all of the benefits of active collaboration.
Reposition the brand aesthetic and experience by drawing the creative strategy and executions together to really bring the brand to life in the minds of consumers
Appeal to their intended target audience through messaging and layouts that fulfilled the promise of a consumer experience that reflected the high quality of NOW Finance’s products
Create easily navigable pathways and functionality that would help end users reach their goals effortlessly and in return provide a great Brand experience
Help improve operational efficiency by simplifying and unifying the backend infrastructure to enable a superior frontend CX regardless of the consumers’ chosen device
Breathing new life into the brand
Arriving at a brand fit point of difference in a crowded marketplace is always a challenge, particularly in the online space. To add to the challenge, we needed to arrive at a two-phase action plan that worked with the ambitious go-to-market while preserving business continuity. We needed to ensure that:
01
Effectively repositioning the brand representing the maturity and rapid growth of NOW Finance in their competitive landscape
02
A positive shift in perception was created while revitalising the brand
03
Teams within NOW Finance were able to manage and create content as and when needed
04
Speed and performance issues were addressed and optimised during Phase 2, ensuring a more complete UX.
This brief was a perfect fit for both NOW Finance and BJM Digital. NOW Finance was looking for a partner that deeply respects the important role a brand plays and, equally, understands the technical requirements to help guide them towards bringing it to life online, without compromising. However, every brief is subtly different, and it takes experience to understand how best to optimise the outcomes for a particular brand looking to grow its impact in a fast-moving online environment.
The work: We begin at the end to ensure seamless project management from start to finish
It makes sense to start with the desired end goals, but we had to establish the end goals in a clear and concise manner such that we can build a pathway that delivers the best results.
As an agency that loves to build great relationships that can be enjoyed from a project’s start through to its completion, we understood that genuine and honest collaboration with those closest to the pain points was key. We see this as a measure of success and invite clients to do the same way which is why we proceeded by:
- Interrogating the brief to understand the clear and measurable goals and outcomes required
- Challenging assumptions and thinking outside of the box of existing solutions
- Coming to grips with the challenging timelines that necessitated a two-phased approach involving the establishment and launch of a minimal viable product in phase one and completing the full project launch at the completion of phase two – preserving the optimal solution-focused outcomes
- Working with NOW Finance’s internal teams throughout the project to support and work with internal IT and Development teams in “their way of working” resulting in a:
- a fluid collaborative process focused on design and complex integration
- a truly excellent adherence to processes, quality and standards within the AWS hosting environment, infrastructure and of course, security requirements
Our Web Experience Strategy Workshop enabled us to establish the key workflows within projects. The workshop is critical to establishing a meaningful focus on UX for a variety of users, both external and internal. As a result, we were able to progress through key deliverables including:
A fully overhauled information architecture to help users achieve their goals more quickly and seamlessly – a definite and valuable point of difference.
Addressing key business objectives while aligning to solutions that strategically addressed users’ needs and pain points
Providing a solid foundation on which to build on SEO opportunities and protect organic reach through technical compliance in close partnership with SEO specialists, OMG
Facilitating solutions to allow autonomy for content editing targeted campaigns to align with content strategy
Creating and integrating complementary visual assets that enhanced the online connection to user needs in line with the overarching NOW Finance brand identity.
Addressing content management issues with our own Blokki wordpress system for easy editing and content additions
Integrating customer engagement platform, Braze, to enable personalisation between users and the NOW Finance brand
Again, the work here centred around the achievement of optimal UX regardless of their needs. As designers at heart, we all respect the time, effort, heart and essence of the brands, businesses and organisations with whom we work. And those that value branding and invest time and effort on their brand, are rewarded with the benefits of increased brand equity as a result of our work.
BJM are a truly fantastic partner. Having worked with the team on a few projects now, every time the deliver an amazing outcome, on time, and with little fuss. BJM bring a unique mix of strategy, creativity and on point execution to each project. They invest time and effort up front to really understand our business and objectives, develop a complete and robust solution, which they then deliver on time and on budget. I highly recommend BJM as the ideal digital partner for any business or organisation wanting to deliver a fantastic digital experience for their customers.”
Chris Maccan, Now Finance, Marketing
Chris Maccan, Now Finance, Marketing
Key Outcomes: Success! And the anticlimax that everyone was hoping for
There’s always a terrible tension that exists in the minds of clients as they embark on a project that can and will affect the future of their brand. As we all know, one’s online presence in the market can affect reputation, sales and overall business viability in today’s environment. Seeking to build on or accelerate your business’s success via a rebranding is always a huge undertaking in terms of risk, time and spend.
NOW Finance expressed relief and complete satisfaction with the results we were able to achieve in collaboration with their project team and were surprised how seamless the process was. Now, their online business benefits from:
A personable and approachable brand with which the individual user can interact – a strong point of brand differentiation within the competitive landscape
Increased speed and performance for both search engines and external users’ experience on a fast, reliable, responsive website
The confidence that comes with knowing that your brand is meeting and exceeding the expectations of established and prospective customers in today’s market
With significantly improved core vitals, the new site has delivered better engagement and sales conversion.
Ash Pickering
Ash PickeringGreater levels of visitor engagement:
- 20% reduction in bounce rate
- 25% increase in session duration
Improved conversion and sales outcomes:
- 33% uplift in new visitor conversion to application
- 36% improvement in visit to transaction intent
Our values, the work that we do and our desire to meet users and clients/customers at their point of need is aligned to that of many service industries and business sectors that we’ve worked with over the past 22+ years.
Ben McIntyreIf you would like to experience a similar level of satisfaction to that of our client, NOW Finance, contact us now or whenever you’re ready for a confidential discussion on aligning your brand, goals and values online. NOW Finance expressed relief and complete satisfaction with the results we were able to achieve in collaboration with their project team and were surprised at how seamless the process was.
