1. Natasha Eastwood, Geraldine Davies and Karen Downing“ ”
Review the BHS website content and delivery and present recommendations for how you would make improvements for the re-launch together with a proposed plan for delivery of the project 
A presentation by
James Robertson to
Natasha Eastwood, Geraldine Davies and Karen Downing

2. How the site has changed over the years

3. 1999

4. 2009

5. 2011

6. 2012

7. 2013

8. Today

9. Overview
A site that has obviously grown organically – and quickly - over the years
A site that obviously has passionate, committed people running it
Possibly though without a strategic masterplan
A lot of calls to action, duplicated in many different places with no clear overall online marketing strategy
Too many barriers to visitors completing the task they came to the site to achieve

10. Analysis to make Analyse the needs of internal stakeholders
What on the site currently delivers ROI and additional external stakeholder engagement?
What are the detailed requirements of the board for the site? – now and in the future?
Analyse the needs of external stakeholders
What do they come to the site to do and how well does the current site support that?

11. Talk to external stakeholders
What is good about the current site? – what do they value and keep coming back for?
What does the current site need to do better?
What barriers exist to visitors completing their tasks?

12. Looking at the current site

13. Welfare and care section
When you go into the current “welfare and care” section there is a sub-menu on the main menu…
… whose sub-sections are not then visible on the page
There is a link to (for example) “campaigns” in the menu – and a section on the page entitled “campaigns” too – but the campaign page section header does not link to the campaigns homepage

14. Other issues
Far too many calls to action on every page: there are buttons everywhere asking to be clicked!
… - but only some of the images illustrating each sub-section are themselves links, leading to a much smaller target area for each click to be registered
Too many non-standardised interaction methods across the site – leads to confusion
No text link in navigation to “home” – only a link within the logo and an icon

15. Other issues (2)
Welfare and care leaflets are only presented in PDF format: these are ideal content for SEO purposes and should be presented as both standard webpage content and PDF if people want to print them
PDFs do not have internal links in them from the contents page
PDFs do have a link back to the site – but not from a link in the footer of every page
Links within PDF to relevant organisations do not go to specific pages – e.g. link to British riding clubs goes to BHS homepage, not to

16. Other issues (3)
The link to the shop opens in a new window onto a new site at a different URL with a different design: the shop should be an integral part of the existing site and not an external after-thought
You cannot currently purchase both membership and merchandise in the same transaction

17. Other issues (4)
Do the adverts on the site offer enough benefit to continue? – or are they another call to action that results in confusion?
They should be analysed to ensure they deliver the results needed: is the payment received sufficient to justify another intrusive visual element like this?

18. Other issues (5)
Social media – links only in the footer and recent posts at the bottom of the homepage: such a large, passionate and active audience should be catered for much better: for example:
Share now and tweet this buttons alongside all relevant content
On site campaigns to get more followers / meaningful interaction
Ability to see YouTube videos on the site without leaving to go to YouTube
Unclear why there are two You Tube channels: investigate consolidating them
Video is very powerful: recommend in-house production team: current videos are very good quality
Recommend targeted Facebook advertising after launch of revamped site.

19. Information architecture
The information architecture of the site is the way that all of the content is structured and presented to visitors
The site navigation structure is the design expression of the information architecture of the site
The information architecture needs to be redesigned to support the key tasks members come to the site to complete

20. Sense of place
One reason people can feel uncomfortable on a site (and can contribute to them going no further in their customer journey) is because they are not able to form a sense of where they are in the site – or where they are in the overall information architecture
There is no breadcrumb trail on section homepages – but there is on pages below this
Sub-navigation is inconsistent in placement

21. Sense of place (2)
There is a subtle downstate for the current section you are in
The colour of the is reflected in the highlights on the page: this might be too subtle an indicator of place for most visitors

22. Ensure we know what our target audience want to do on our site
You are not your own target audience!
Site owners are inevitably more passionate about a site than a visitor ever will be!
Make absolutely certain we understand what it is our target audience wants to do when they come to the site – and that we are not trying to get them to do things they are not interested in

23. Understanding the target audience
Analyse all traffic to the site and also off-the-site metrics, such as:
How many people sign up? – what is the abandonment rate of the membership process?
What is the conversion rate of visitors to the site into:
Members
Purchasers from the shop
Where and why do visitors give up on their tasks?

24. You are NOT your own target audience
It is vital to repeat this
Do not approach a site revamp project thinking you know what your customers want better than they do – and never without asking them
I should be an expert in techniques that help visitors find what they want and take action: I should not be imposing a pre-conceived masterplan on them with no consultation

25. Visitors needs must come first
The requirements of visitors to the site must be paramount
These are the people who literally pay our wages!
There are times when a good digital marketer needs to say “no” to internal stakeholders – …tactfully, respectfully and backed up with hard empirical data… - but still “no”!

26. Internal stakeholder management
However – if you ever do have to say “no” then the next question must be:
“How can digital marketing help you achieve your objectives in a different way?”
Everyone uses the web – and so everyone has an opinion: the best digital marketers therefore need to guide decision making with both tact and irrefutable empirical data

27. What visitors / members
Getting to the sweet spot
What internal
stakeholders want
people to do on the site
What visitors / members
want to do on the site
The sweet spot – where ROI can be made offering visitors what they actually want from what we are willing to offer

28. In summary
Reduce the cognitive burden of visitors to the site so that they spend less time thinking “how do I get to what I am interested in?” and instead think “that’s a good deal – I’ll buy that!”
Systematically remove barriers to visitors completing their tasks
Identify remaining barriers to task completion
Remove them
Repeat
Measure and monitor the improvement in conversion rates so it always trends upwards

29. How to deliver this Talk directly to current target market
And literally talk to them – not focus groups, not questionnaires (alone) – but actually talk
Find out what they like and what they don’t – and assess how closely that aligns with internal stakeholder requirements

30. How to deliver this (2)
Consult with internal stakeholders to write a strategic plan for the site:
Define success! – is it more members? – more revenue from the shop? – more active members visits per month? – a better conversion rate? – a higher satisfaction rate? – better member retention?
What it needs to achieve and by when
What is the budget
What is the authority to get work from colleagues

31. How to deliver this (3)
Present (if necessary) any uncomfortable truths revealed by visitors to internal stakeholders
Make sure people understand: the site is by definition successful right now!
… all we are doing is building on the current work to make it better: we could not be making improvements without an already successful site in place

32. How to deliver this (4)
In summary – what is needed is someone with the gravitas and track record to be able to say “no” to some of the demands that a specific campaign or item be added to the site or homepage
As long as they also add “but what is it that you are trying to achieve and how can online marketing help with that?”

33. How to deliver this (4) Above all – listen!
Do not go in with pre-conceived ideas as to what is best in all circumstances
Instead come in with a toolbox of tried and tested techniques that have consistently delivered sites that achieve ROI and deliver the needs of everyone involved

34. Assess resources
What is the extent of the resource in-house? – design, copywriting, SEO, PPC, social media, marketing, video creation, CRM, CMS
What resource needs to be brought in?
Continue to use current agency or appoint new one? – what is the history and track record of the current agency?

35. Write the Plan
Write a plan that summarises all stages of stakeholder and user research and consultation
Make absolutely certain that all internal stakeholders agree and sign off on the plan as well as budgets, timescales and all other resources
Deliver!

36. Final stages
Follow the plan to deliver the site to the agreed timescale and budget
Launch the site
Apply for the position of permanent digital marketing manager!

37. Thank you for listening and inviting me in to talk Any questions?
A presentation by James Robertson BSc MSc |