‘Stop. Dat geeft ruimte.’
With many different training courses, in-company, and coaching trajectories, de Baak has focused on people and their personal development since 1947. After developing a responsive website in 2016, it was time to put the de Baak website in the spotlight again. Based on a usability test, we supported de Baak with additional development for developing new components and optimizing existing components in Sitecore. We made the website more user-friendly. You can read here how we arrived at the result together with De Baak.
Usability test as an indicator
A usability study is a good indicator to see whether your website still functions according to the ambitions you pursue as a company. At de Baak, we focused on the orientation phase for their customer journey. You can think of choosing a training course, requesting a consultation, or requesting a brochure. Together with a group of respondents, who reflected the target group of de Baak, we went through various scenarios. In general, visitors do not follow the desired path within the website, training courses are mostly not found in the right place and visiting the website on mobile can cause problems. The usability research has provided clear insights that have been a start for the redesign of the website.
What does a usability test look like in practice? Our ux designer Norman tells you more about this within this explainer.
Sitecore components in a new look
Based on the usability research, we have given various functionalities a new look. This has given de Baak the opportunity to break down many volumes of content into clear blocks, which is immediately apparent on the homepage of de Baak. Redesigning components has provided a clear structure and direction within the website. Jan van Duijn, Online Marketeer at de Baak, indicates that “after implementing the findings from the usability research, we see a nice growth in the number of transactions of no less than 14%.”
But it is not only the 'existing' components that have provided more direction. We have developed new components that have taken the website for both desktop and mobile to the next level. For example, we have developed a filter on the page where all training courses are displayed, so that a visitor quickly finds the right category, and a concrete overview is given for each training course with the most important information.
Colleague Norman, ux-designer, explains: “Working with components ensures flexibility and consistency. A content editor can use different components to build pages. By using specific components for specific purposes, you get a well-maintained system.”
Working in short sprints and our UX-DEV-OPS method has ensured that we were able to develop continuously. Would you like to read more about our method? Continue reading here.
Implementation new campaign and corporate identity
In the same period, de Baak started developing a new brand campaign. This new campaign 'Stop. Dat geeft ruimte.' must ensure growth and a strong brand. That is why de Baak has chosen to sharpen the house style as well. The wish was to also implement the new house style to ensure that the website connects seamlessly with the brand campaign, thus Saskia de Reuver, marketing communication specialist at de Baak.
De Baak's new campaign is about space. To really develop, bring change and discover what's in you, you only must do one thing: stop. Stop everything that costs too much energy and yields too little. Stopping gives you space. Room for development and progress and that is liberating. De Baak also wanted to see this sense of space on the website.
That is why it was decided not only to work with the findings from the usability study, but also with the implementation of the new house style. To this end, major adjustments were made to the visual identity of the website in a short period of time. In addition, a campaign page has been set up where visitors from the campaign have a soft landing on the website.
The next step
Together with de Baak we have developed a website that we are proud of! The current design of the website ensures that visitors follow the right path within the website and training courses are put in the spotlight as clearly as possible. But, we're not done yet! In the coming period we will provide an upgrade to Sitecore 10, we will keep the design tight, and we will support de Baak with content management.
