TL;DR
Creating a streamlined website for the largest independent insurance broker in South Birmingham, allowing customers to find services and take action.
Project Overview
Cofton Insurance Services’ previous website was outdated and not mobile responsive, making it difficult to reach customers and encourage them to take action. We created a new, seamless website that listed all 40 types of insurance that they offer, with a focus on call to action buttons.
Who are Cofton Insurance Services?
Cofton Insurance Services are a local, independent insurance broker who provide professional advice, catering to both private and large corporate clients. They are the largest insurance broker in South Birmingham, with brick and mortar premises that operate nationwide. As a family-run business, they pride themselves on giving their customers the best cover, and their 93% customer retention rate reflects this.
Project Brief
Cofton Insurance wanted a slick website to increase face-to-face customers and encourage users to phone for a free consultation. Their old website didn’t work on mobile devices, potentially causing customers to click away and choose competitors instead. In addition to this, the existing content contained errors, meaning it needed a total overhaul.
Our Proposal
Working with the client, we proposed the following:
- Create a modern, clearly branded website with strong calls to action.
- Use WordPress to help manage a large array of content.
- Mobile first design, ensuring the website is responsive on all devices.
- Multi-level menu to make it easier for customers to navigate to the desired insurance service.
Look & Feel
Colour
After analysing the existing logo and branding, we decided to utilise both the brand blue and yellow colours throughout the website, as we wanted the website to be synonymous with the already recognisable brand.
We decided to use the yellow shade sparingly, to highlight calls to actions and important information, ensuring that the bright shade was not too overpowering and had plenty of contrast with text for accessibility. Furthermore, we chose images for each service page that had blue or yellow accents, to ensure our imagery felt cohesive.
Fixed Position Background
On the home page, we created an abstract, split version of the logo to appear in the background. We built this into the website using CSS so that upon scrolling, the image stays in a static position, acting similarly to a parallax image.
This effect adds subtle visual interest to any blank spaces on the website while enhancing the sense of motion of the website.
SVG Mask Images
To create variation and interest throughout the website, we created oblique images in the hero sections on all pages and quote blocks. To achieve this, we designed an SVG mask matching the ‘i’ shape of the Cofton Insurance Services logo.
The beauty of creating a mask is that it is easy for admins to maintain on the website – they can upload standard images and the mask will edit the shape automatically, meaning there is no need for editing skills or for time consuming photo refinement to take place.
The Technical Details
Web Development
We created the website using WordPress, a world class content management system that allows for bespoke customisation and provides admins with the ability to manage high volumes of content. We built a completely custom theme, based on the design that was created in-house.
To keep things easy to manage in the admin area, we created custom WordPress blocks for the bespoke sections needed, as well as unique service page post types that are separate to other pages on the site, allowing admins to remove, add and cross-categorise services as needed.
- #HTML5
- #CSS3
- #WordPress
- #JavaScript
Content
Information Architecture
The existing website only touched on a handful of services, but Cofton Insurance wanted to spotlight the wide array of services that they offer for customers to make use of. For this reason, we decided to create a unique page for each service which could be linked to individually, or even targeted through CPC advertising.
This meant that there was lots of content to be organised, along with service categories to arrange them. We provided Cofton Insurance with a keyed structure diagram to help them understand from an early stage how the content would take shape, and later provided them with a content plan of action and a spreadsheet detailing each service and expected word counts to allow them to easily provide us with their content.
Content Population
Once the content was written by our client, we added this to the backend of the WordPress website using custom post types. This allows admins to easily access the full list of services for additions and edits and allowed us to organise how this would appear on the website service categories using custom taxonomies.
Key Features
Trust Factors
To further reinforce the reliability of Cofton Insurance and their 4.7 Google Review rating, we built blocks across the website to spotlight their positive customer feedback, along with links to allow users to click through and read their live Google reviews. We also added their accreditations to the footer of the website to show them as industry experts, supporting building trust.
Mega Menu
Due to the large number of services offered by Cofton Insurance, we needed a menu that was easy to navigate from a user perspective, whilst also showcasing all of the services on offer. The solution was to build a multi-level menu, with drop-down options for each services section.
Contact Form
A main requirement of the website was a reliable contact form, allowing users to submit their requirements to get a free consultation and further advice from Cofton Insurance Services. We created drop-down fields in addition to text fields, allowing users to state what they need help with, also making the response process easier and efficient for admins.
Local Business
One of Cofton Insurance’s USPs is that they are a local business with brick-and-mortar premises. To spotlight this, we added a Google Map to the website home page and contact page. We performed competitor research to identify how other businesses use maps on their website, and settled on a multi-column layout on the home page to showcase the map, paired with a contact form and their contact details, formatting the map in the masked shape that has been used throughout the website.
“Chose this company because they impressed us more than their competitors when it came to knowledge, understanding and explaining the process. I have no hesitation in recommending them and will continue to use them in future projects.”
Graham Twist
Cofton Insurance Services
How We Can Help
If you are looking to get a custom website developed get in touch now to see how we can help by calling us on 0121 295 5352, or sending an email to [email protected].
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