How Stannah Stairlifts put customer stories at the heart of it’s new website let their happy customers speak for themselves
View the live website.
The client
The decision to buy a stairlift can be a difficult one – apart from the obvious expense it is often emotionally a big change, highlighting the fact that you’re not as fit and able as you once were.
However, Stannah, a company whose name is to stairlifts what Hoover was to vacuum cleaners, know from their many happy customers that actually this purchase can be hugely liberating. It enables people to remain in the home they love and gives them the freedom to enjoy it to the full.
Having recently worked with world renowned product design consultancy Seymour Powell, Stannah has a uniquely user-centred product range that fits comfortably – and stylishly – in the home environment.
The challenge now was to harmonise the online brand experience to maximise lead generation across an international marketplace – we started with the most developed (and complex) market: the UK.
The challenge
Working with Stannah and their communications agency Leagas Delaney to understand the brand and existing messaging, we undertook user research to understand how customers were interacting with the existing website. This included an onsite survey, a review of analytics data and some detailed usability testing.
Insights from this process led us to understand that Stannah’s online presence needed to provide answers to two major questions – “Why should I choose Stannah?” and “Which stairlift is most suitable for my needs?”.
We also recognised that the online customer audience is weighted more towards the ‘influencers’ (adult children of elderly parents) than the end users of the product themselves. This meant that the site had to provide not only absolute best practice accessibility but also an engaging and sophisticated brand experience.
The results
Our belief in the power of the social web led us to suggest that the best people to answer the first question are Stannah’s happy customers themselves. Using real people to tell how a Stannah stairlift has had a positive impact on their lives tells a powerful story to prospective customers – in a much more authentic and therefore trustworthy voice than any traditional marketing copy.
And telling these stories in video directly on the homepage underlines how customers are at the heart of Stannah’s ethos; this company’s reputation really is all about serving its customers. But we also understood the need to work at the practical level too – so we coupled this story-telling and brand work with clear, directional information architecture and best practice shopping basket design, helping customers quickly identify the products they need, and ensuring a smooth and rapid progression towards a successful sale and installation.
The new system has been live since the beginning of November and early indications are that leads and enquiries are going strong, and that customers feel positive about the brand.
Nice quote from Shelley Cole, Marketing Manager, Stannah Lift Services Ltd:
“NixonMcInnes helped us identify an online strategy which allows Stannah to maintain our reputation for quality of production and service in a highly competitive marketplace. Through this new web presence, Stannah has a platform that helps us retain market share, now and in the future.”
Measurement, evaluation and continuous improvement through analytics, surveys, and usability testing are a key strength of our approach at NixonMcInnes. These ensure that online communication continues to develop and improve, even as the market evolves and develops too. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to support both Stannah and their customers on this journey.
