Project Overview
Novas is a well-established architectural hardware manufacturer and supplier based in Melbourne. The business is known within the architectural world for being reliable and trustworthy, and for having a strong value proposition with high-quality products. Novas pride themselves on their modern take on interiors for large multi-residential and commercial projects, but the existing websites were outdated and didn’t reflect their cutting-edge approach.
Evolution 7 was engaged in designing and engineering a digital solution that would support the customer journey and showcase products and services. We conducted significant user research to unify the brand under one roof. We designed and developed a responsive brand home for Novas that was as sleek as their products and as helpful as their team.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Mack Nevill (Creative Director)
Antony Corrales (Project Manager)
Andrew Tesdorpf (Designer)
Romain Palmas (Lead Developer)
Matt Cordell (Frontend Developer)
Ed Raine (Digital Strategist)
Project Brief
Novas has grown its business since 1996. Starting as a specialist in design-led doorware, the company expanded to incorporate kitchen and bathroom products, joinery services, and glass and glazing services. Each of these product and service tiers operated as standalone brands and websites. This became confusing for users and difficult for the team to maintain.
Part of the brief was to recommend if they should continue with separate brands and sites or unify under a master brand. We believed unification would highlight the comprehensive range of products and services offered by Novas and position them as an industry authority.
The second part of the brief was to create a digital home for Novas. A place where key user groups could discover products and services. We knew the website would have to be responsive across different devices, and believed a site with thousands of products would benefit from a powerful search tool.
Project Need
We conducted extensive UX research to substantiate our belief that brand unification would provide a superior customer experience. The new brand architecture laid the foundations for the website redevelopment.
Further UX research would provide insights into what users wanted and expected from the website. The feedback taught us the site needed to provide detailed product specifications, a simple way to narrow down product options, and an obvious way to enquire online.
To consolidate content from four existing sites, we needed a simple, logical information architecture (IA) and navigation structure.
User Experience
We interviewed architects, interior designers, project managers and company directors. Results showed that reliability, service and pricing were critical drivers for choosing Novas. People couldn’t name the sub-brands and didn’t know the full range of products and services on offer. Some users found the website hard to navigate and consequently didn’t use it at all.
The IA gives equal weighting to different business divisions within a single hover-and-click. Discovery is made easy with a mega menu that shows all categories (business divisions) and subcategories (specific products and services).
We increased the visibility of 'Manufacturing' by placing it in the primary navigation as it's a key revenue driver for the business. Its landing page is keyword rich, communicates capabilities, and encourages enquiry.
Users can discover and filter 16,000+ products instantly with Algolia. The cutting-edge search integration gives users lightning fast, relevant results. Once a user lands on the right product, they can download a PDF spec sheet and enquire instantly.
We integrated the website with the client's data system. Keeping their existing ERP as a single source of truth, internal teams can use familiar tools and processes to manage product data. The website reflects any updates automatically.
Project Marketing
We supported the website's launch with an optimisation strategy to help users and Google find the site.
We set up Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google Search Console to initiate better data collection for future analysis.
We implemented sitemap.xml and indexed the site with Google to ensure all pages are visible to Google.
We implemented global metadata and open graph. Metadata contains essential keywords and helps searching users find relevant pages. Open graph defines how the page will look when shared on social media.
We also set up page level redirects to carry over SEO value accrued by old pages and transfer it to corresponding new pages.
The new site architecture and design have resulted in impressive online performance.
* 99.8% increase in user sessions.
* 84% increase in session duration.
(Statistics pulled from Google Analytics 45 days post launch)
Project Privacy
Standard privacy procedure was followed under best practice on all contact forms and other areas of the website where personally identifiable data was collected. In addition, we ensure that no personal information is passed through Google Analytics (e.g. email addresses). Regular penetration testing is conducted to ensure the site and server are secure. The website, hosting and infrastructure pass this testing with no significant issues identified.
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