Hawthorns Retirement Properties approached Xigen to design and develop a new CMS based website to generate leads for their high-quality retirement properties.
The Hawthorns is an exciting retirement model that offers rented apartments to retired couples or individuals who seek a rich, independent lifestyle, at beautiful locations across the country.
Our goal was to:
- Design and develop a modern, attractive & responsive website
- Increase the number of website leads and phone calls
- Maintain and improve current state of search engine positions for key phrases
- Increase user engagement levels, time on page, scroll distance
![Hawthorns Retirement Properties Website Design and Development](https://xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/image1-14.jpg)
Challenge
![Challenge](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns-challenge.jpg)
The previous site had a distinct SEO focus and whilst this helped drive traffic to the site we found users to be un-engaged and unresponsive. Our main challenge was to work out how to re-centre the pages around the user whilst retaining the great SEO work that had been done previously. At the same time we needed to make it easy to guide users through the journeys we had put in place in order to help optimise conversion rates and drive on and offline leads.
Outcome
![Outcome](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns-outcome.jpg)
Full Redesign
Our design team produced high-fidelity prototypes covering all key pages across primary journeys ensuring that the user experience was always front and centre. Working closely with the client over a number of months to refine and hone various aspects on the lead generation forms, we also helped to ensure that users had a rich experience on mobile, tablet and desktop.
![website redesign](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns1.jpg)
![CMS website design](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns2.jpg)
![mobile friendly CMS website design](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns3.jpg)
Modular Templates
The site owners wanted to be able to have full control, creating new pages on the fly, so we built the CMS templates in a modular fashion meaning they are much more independent to create custom pages without the need for additional programming.
![CMS templates](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns4.jpg)
![SEO migration](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns5.jpg)
SEO Migration
Working closely with their SEO team we were able to help retain and build on the great work that was done previously whilst keeping the site much more accessible and digestible for their users. We’ve seen a multitude of positions improve since the site launch and expect this to improve over the coming months.
Rich User Experience
Interactive 3D walkthroughs, real testimonials, high resolution image galleries and videos of the properties help the user get a feel of the quality that The Hawthorns offer before even stepping through the door.
![interactive website design](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns6.jpg)
![conversion rate improvement](https://staging.xigen.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/10/hawthorns7.jpg)
Conversion Rate Optimisation
Post launch we worked closely with the client studying user behaviour on the site. By focusing on improvements to the contact forms, we were able to help improve engagement and lead quality whilst filtering supplier enquiries to the relevant teams. This, in turn, freed up the customer support teams to efficiently manage enquiries.