Gorvins Solicitors are a regional, full service law firm based in Stockport. We were appointed to help with the launch of a new brand. At the heart of the brand redesign was a focus on the people who work at Gorvins. They pride themselves on the personal service that they offer, and they are committed to giving specialist advice without jargon.
The brief
In 2011 Gorvins felt that their website needed to be refreshed so that it reflected their personal and practical approach. There were a number of objectives set out for the redevelopment of the Gorvins website:
To increase traffic from target audiences
Increase the number of returning visitors
To generate enquiries, call-backs, registrations and downloads
To showcase Gorvins staff as thought leaders
To provide visitors with reassurance
To be credible
To cross sell services
The Process
We began the process with a discovery, design and scope exercise. We ran workshops with key project stakeholders and partners to help understand Gorvins’ customers and visitors to their website. During the workshops we also used the KJ method to identify content priorities and carried out several sketching exercises with the group to really involve them and get them to see the site through a customers eyes.
An issue we identified was that in many cases the visitor to the website may have an issue and is unaware of the field of legal expertise they require. This became one of the biggest problems to solve.
Outputs from the discovery process were personas, a detailed site map, wireframes for key templates, functional and technical specifications ready to be moved into production.
The Solution
Working closely with the brand agency we designed an extensive set of templates to give content editors plenty of flexibilty within the CMS whilst still focussing on the people at Gorvins core. To help strengthen Gorvins’ more personal approach, KMP gave the Gorvins staff a strong presence on the new website. The prime real-estate on the website below the main navigation is dedicated to images of members of staff and encouraging messages.
The site is built using HTML5 and CSS3 on the open-source .NET content management system, Umbraco. The site has a comprehensive people directory for finding the right staff member to speak to. It also has the ability to pay your bill online, discover appropriate service based information, find out about upcoming events and see the latest news. There is also blog based content from certain solicitors covering a range of topics.
We are regularly working with the Gorvins team to update and add features to the site by undertaking user testings, analytics analysis and more.
The Results
The new website has been an outstanding success for Gorvins and the positive results were immediate. Visitors to the website increased by 127% and the number of unique visitors increase by 100%. Once these visitors were on the site engagement has also increase:
735% increase in page views
267% increase in pages/visit
300% increase in visit duration
56% decrease in the bounce rate
The return on investment for Gorvins was so great, the site had paid for itself in just five months. In a usability test, a member of the public was filmed attempting to find a Stockport based solicitor to help her with a dispute regarding a will. After 20 minutes of searching online then finding and comparing Gorvins with 6 competitors, the user chose Gorvins as her 1st choice. Her reasons being:
Website was the easiest to use
Found what she needed quickly
Website looks really professional
Jo Scott Head of Marketing
We’re very pleased with the website that KMP produced. In particular their Discovery Design and Scope process was a great way to ensure that the finished product delivered our brand online effectively and accurately.
We began the process with a discovery, design and scope exercise. We ran workshops with key project stakeholders and partners to help understand Gorvins’ customers and visitors to their website. During the workshops we also used the KJ method to identify content priorities and carried out several sketching exercises with the group to really involve them and get them to see the site through a customers eyes.