netxtra

Is your mobile strategy keeping up with member expectations?

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:36:10 GMT

The exponential growth in smartphones has generated many compelling statistics for membership organisations to consider. For example, 84% of adults own such a device, they spend four hours every day checking it and mobile transactions drive more than 50% of all e-commerce. But despite this, less than one-third of those surveyed in the 2021 Digital Excellence Report had formulated a distinct mobile strategy.

In our new eBook, NetXtra clarifies why this is an issue and defines precisely how interactions on these devices differ strategically. We dissect the six elements of a successful strategy, discussing tactical questions and collating statistics to define the opportunity. We present a roadmap for success, user journeys, real case studies and a campaign blueprint that lays out precisely what an omni-channel mobile strategy should include and how it should be implemented.

You can download this eBook for free by completing the form below. Learn how to reach more of your members, more effectively, via their mobile devices.

The foundations for eCommerce success

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:15:44 GMT

Building and growing an eCommerce business involves making a myriad of technical and strategic decisions that directly affect the likelihood of success. Understanding the foundations that underpin them is crucial.

A new eBook from NetXtra reviews the primary considerations of successful online selling, beginning with the choice of digital platform and analysing each element thereafter. These range from brand and cohesion; through pricing, discounts and shipping; to checkouts and customer service. Making the right decisions requires an understanding of best practice in each area and continues into the promotion of the site via social media, mail and digital marketing.

With more than twenty years’ experience and 150 member websites built, NetXtra has a proven track record in supporting all kinds of eCommerce projects.

Download this eBook for free by completing the form below.

The new NetXtra Website is launched!

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 08:26:50 GMT

We’re pleased to announce that the new NetXtra website is launched www.netxtra.net

At NetXtra, we have collaborated with some of the most well-known membership focused organisations, it’s what we do best. Our new look and feel describes the digital solutions we have created and how these have helped our clients to provide a seamless, engaging experience for their members.

Our new website is simple in design and allows website visitors to review our bank of case studies and testimonials that show how we have developed intuitive member focused websites, portals and apps for our clients.

Jenny Watkins, Commercial Director for NetXtra said: "The NetXtra website provides a simple, unique approach that allows visitors to clearly understand the value that we bring to the membership market. Over the next year, we will be focusing on developing helpful resources through our expertise of working with these types of organisations, to help membership professionals within their procurement process" .

As part of the launch, NetXtra has launched a website health check campaign to help membership professionals understand how well their website is performing. The free health check will quality score key metrics around accessibility and compliance, speed, SEO performance and mobile responsiveness.

Coeliac UK

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 08:48:35 GMT

Coeliac UK represent over 60,000 members who suffer from Coeliac disease in the UK. They work on behalf of those with the condition, to create change and provide support for every day living. Their aim is to improve understanding of the disease through research campaigns and the provision of online local community facilities.

The Brief:

Coeliac UK required a far more flexible online solution than their existing open source CMS; one that could give members and visitors the information they needed, easily, intuitively and quickly.

The digital team at Coeliac had attempted to implement a website and CRM integration in a previous version of their site but were unhappy with the functionality and the outcome of the project.

Our team of integration experts identified a number of areas for improvement and were able to offer a far more stable and functional integration. With big plans to develop a new site in conjunction with a new CRM and leverage this to massively increase their member engagement, Coeliac UK also wanted a solution that would personalise the user journey, whilst measuring success against a number of key performance indicators.

Key Features

NetXtra designed and built one of the best and most informative resources for the condition used by members, regular site visitors and healthcare professionals worldwide.

It provides support and dietary information for those with Coeliac disease and is also a central hub for research into the condition. The website truly comes into its own thanks to full integration between the CMS and CRM. This allows Coeliac UK to collect detailed information and intelligence about all visiting members, enabling them to be better informed on what areas are being used the most.

Integrating the website with the new CRM also provides the UK’s most comprehensive gluten-free venue guide with a list of places catering for the gluten-free diet; all supported using Google Maps technology, as well as Coeliac UK’s unique food and drink directory. There is also a new recipe database, allowing members to share their best gluten-free recipes with one another.

Each of these valuable sources of information were then made available through a custom API to the newly developed native mobile apps so that authorised members could access the information when shopping or looking for somewhere suitable to eat.

The benefits:

Coeliac UK has solidified its position as the primary resource for people with the condition, with a significant rise in members, both new and renewing.

The integration between the CMS and CRM has resulted in significantly improved efficiency and a reduction in the time needed to process event bookings, ecommerce sales, member sign ups and renewals. This allows Coeliac to devote internal resources to much more productive work.

They now also have a much more robust understanding of how their website is being used by their members thanks to the integration between the CRM and Google Analytics with the ability to see CRM data in regular reports. This enables them to create far more targeted marketing campaigns.

The knowledge gained from this innovative integration helps inform future projects as Coeliac UK now have a much better engagement with their members.

5 ways apps can add value

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:29:02 GMT

With the majority of the world's population spending an average of 4 hours a day on mobile devices and 90% of that time spent in-app, we take a look at 5 ways that apps can add value to both your organisation and audience.

Whilst the popularity of using apps is undeniable, careful consideration needs to be given as to how an app might add value to your organisation and audience. This article looks at 5 ways that apps can add value:

1. Easy

One benefit of apps is the secure nature of being dedicated to a single users device. This relegates remembering credentials to being a thing of the past with the convenience of biometric logins or saved passwords. The ease of using an app is central to its success. An app should enable your audience to manage their own data which through integration empowers your organisations data based activities without tedious time consuming manual processes.

2. Feature rich

An app can piggyback off technologies available through its mobile device host. For example, the camera can be used to upload evidence for CPD or geo-location used to alert users to local events or available offers/benefits. Apps also provide the ability to access content whilst offline which is simply updated automatically when connection resumes.

3. Relevant

An app needs to have a unique purpose and value to earn its real estate on a users device. Digital membership cards with scannable QR/barcodes can be useful for claiming member benefits and CPD points when registering at events (which can then be recorded in the CRM for reporting purposes). They can also provide efficiencies around manufacture and distribution of physical cards and when the need arises to revoke membership for any reason.

4. Closer connection

With users checking their phones up to every 8.6* minutes, apps have the ability to forge a closer connection with your audience. Not only do they have a more consistent awareness of your ‘brand in their pocket’, but with the ability to send push notifications (where enabled) your message can be received and motivate action with ease. This is particularly useful to Unions where campaigns and petitions can be promoted and support garnered at pace through a mobilised membership.

5. Revenue generating

With your app providing a transactional interface users should be able to join, renew, book courses or events or shop for products all through a seamless user experience with built in payment gateway (it is also worth considering use of ApplePay and Google Pay for increased ease of payment). For charities it’s well worth considering how an app can enable donations and fundraising (and potentially volunteer coordination too).

We recommend that those considering app development think about what they want an app to do, how it could add value and whether there are engagement or other challenges it could solve. If you’d like some help in exploring the potential of an app further please get in touch with us on
01787 319393 or info@netxtra.net

5 website design wins for 2021

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:17:11 GMT

When designing your website, you have one shot at impressing your visitors and keeping them engaged. This article features our design teams take on some key design wins for 2021 that can help your website stand out.

1. Videos

Videos are almost ubiquitous in any website design in 2021. Multimedia is dominating the web world, so if you are not using them, your website is out of date. Typically, there are three main types of videos: awareness, engagement and education . So, if you have a promotional video or webinar, these are gold dust starting points to transforming your website content. These must-have videos are a great way to engage your audience, show a touch of personality and communicate important information.

Creating video content is becoming increasingly accessible to anyone with a plethora of low investment high-value creation platforms available online with vast libraries of footage, graphics and soundtracks at your disposal - what are you waiting for?!

2. Vector graphics

Adding branded and visual vector graphics is a must to make your site pop! Not only do these strengthen your brand but are a fun way to engage with your audience. These graphics can be flat, illustrated and even animated, and are a great way to highlight key drivers and CTA’s on your site. This vector approach also lends well to the ‘Collage’ trend of layering mix mediums to create an inspiring and eye-catching aesthetic.

3. Comfortable colours

With time spent online on the increase, it’s no surprise that in 2021 we want to manifest a calming and delicate experience when visiting a website. Muted colour schemes will grow this year, to naturally induce a calm and relaxed user experience. Think hue variations, pastel blues, warm browns or light pinks, the opposite to last year’s dark mode trend (although that’s not going anywhere!).

4. Asymmetric Layout

Whilst the grid layout remains popular for organisation and structure, it doesn’t mean you can’t push the boundaries and ignore traditions to evoke some forward-thinking and exciting design. Think angles, layering and white space - design should be fun. Balance and organisation are key with asymmetric design, to ensure no part of your page should look heavier than the other or out of place.

5. Functionality & Accessibility

A growing need for any website in 2021 and beyond, is optimising your site to be more functional and accessible. Factoring in these needs, not only increases conversion, a potential to boost your SEO, but extends your audience reach. It’s a win-win. Ensure you implement a strong colour contrast between text and backgrounds, include functional alt tags for images and easy-to-understand jargon-free copy.

Website design needs to evolve in step with what your audience are seeing out there in the digital universe and needs to keep pace with the experiences they expect. If you'd appreciate our team undertaking a free review of your current site then simply email us at info@netxtra.net or call 01787 319393.

Boost your summer sales

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:04:25 GMT

While the sun is in the sky and thoughts turn to holidays, ecommerce sales can start to dwindle but there are many things you can do to keep those customers clicking.

Adopt a proactive plan! This can can help to ensure that your clicks are up, your traffic remains and your sales are boosted.

1. Theme it

Fuel those summer vibes. Theme your website with inspiring seasonal images wherever possible with relevant products. Summer is fun, fast, warm and inviting so make sure your channels are full of seasonal and inspiring content.

2. Get busy

Months where sales activity is classically reduced present brilliant opportunities for new marketing initiatives. Get busy on socials and think about targeted marketing campaigns that will resonate. Consider the most relevant PPC, adword and paid social campaigns and invest. Research has proven that when people have more downtime, their net ‘surfing’ increases.

3. Campaign away

Don’t wait until summers here, pre-empt it! Start early and get into people’s consciousness. Your campaign could be:

Summer flash sale
Themed giveaway
Seasonal (or launching) a loyalty programme
Event based e.g sporting (ashes, tour de France), birthday (your company celebrating 10 years) or something more local / specialised to your organisation or product.
Limited edition products

4. Partner up

Is there a business that you could work with in the ideal summer product marriage? Look for cross sell and promotional opportunities to bundle your products together. How about partnering with the perfect summer read or refreshment? Could you offer their product free with a purchase of yours and vice versa? Think flipflops and beachbags, hats and sunscreen, rum and coke! Partnerships can be really powerful – it can give you access to their audience, followers, database etc as well as your own.

5. Diversify

If the pandemic taught us anything it was that in business the agile survive. Have you considered if there is a new audience you can tap into this summer? Would it be the ideal time to launch a subscription service delivering boxes of delights to loyal customers? Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to try things. If your business is a little quieter, then use that time to invest in the future so that this time next year will be a different story.

Digital Marketing 2022

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:04:10 GMT

What should your digital marketing focus on in 2022? We spoke to Footprint Digital and concluded a few key components for your 2022 digital marketing strategy.

Audiences
When your focus is on your audience, you will have a better understanding of how to target your marketing activities. Think about the demographic you are reaching out to and what their common interests are. Their discovery journey can be initiated by any number of things, but commonly a Google search factors in their early discovery, therefore having relevant keywords on your website is critical to you appearing in their results.

Keywords
Other than your main key term, what kind of terms and phrases might your audience be searching for on Google? Are any of them worth creating dedicated landing pages for? Does our copy include some of these terms and phrases, or should it be adjusted to accommodate them?

Content
How do we identify user intent? Ask Google! Creation of content that resonates at various points of the audiences journey through Google to finding you is an obvious area to invest in. Simply put, create content for each stage of the search funnel to line each search term on route to discovering you. Work from the broadest terms someone might use to find your kind of product or service down to the most specific. If you check out your Search Engine Results Pages, they will tell you a lot about how to connect with your audience.

Prospecting
Using paid ads and organic content will give you better visibility on Google. Having content designed for your prospective audience so that when they discover you, you have something of value is critical. What you don't want to do is advertise something that is either misleading or not linked to a specific product or service page on your website. A wasted ad click is not only wasted money, it's wasted faith too.

Retargeting
85 – 95% of people won’t convert from an initial visit so we need to prepare for that proactively with retargeting campaigns. Did you know that you can use Google Analytics to track: document downloads, visitors who have scrolled more than 75% down knowledge-based content pages and those who have started but abandoned form completion? Setting up events such as these in Google Analytics enables you to identify and segment data from which to create retargeting audiences.

So how do you go about undertaking retargeting activities? We have a wealth of knowledge and resources, including handy 'How to' videos that we can send you the links to. Drop us an email to info@netxtra.net and we can send over the information and answer any further questions you may have.

Supercharge member engagement rates

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:04:07 GMT

There are 2 types of data that can supercharge member engagement rates. Here's our insight into what they are.

Member engagement is one of the most commonly used phrases in our industry and appears in almost every organisation’s business plan. It is often used as a synonym for “the business of membership” but this broad definition is not especially helpful for informing our strategies.

What is Member Engagement?

In its most basic sense, engagement is a measure of how much the member and the organisation mean to one another. It examines how each has invested in that relationship and tracks the ways that this manifests into everyday activities. While this might sound relatively ambiguous, the reasons that it matters are not.

Most commercial organisations will tell us that it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain a current one. There is little reason to assume this situation radically differs for professional bodies. Engagement is the mechanism by which we create loyal and satisfied members.

The first step to achieving this is ensuring that the services we provide are those that our members truly need and value. This is only possible if the value proposition is based upon an accurate understanding of our members’ lives, businesses and real-world challenges, and we can use two types of data to acquire this.

Quantitative Data

Firstly, we need quantitative data. With the right choice of technology, we can easily track a huge variety of touchpoints between our organisation and its membership. A well-designed analytics dashboard will tell us which areas of the website are most trafficked, what actions each member takes when they get there, how they respond to our emails and in which events or courses they take an interest.

To be useful in setting strategy, this data needs to be intelligently joined-up so that we understand how one action might impact or be a consequence of another. Documenting properly researched user journeys can tell us which parts of our offering are working, which have issues and in which areas member engagement is being eroded.

Qualitative Feedback

Secondly, we need qualitative feedback. If quantitative provides the “what”, this provides the “why”. Surveys are an easy way to start and should cover all groups including new members, satisfied service customers, disengaged members and people that are choosing to surrender their membership and leave. The value here comes from hearing a subjective story, but this also creates a challenge.

Building an objective strategy requires a significant breadth of understanding so we need to have many of these conversations, and we need to keep having them regularly. Fortunately, this process generates other benefits than just data collection. All people appreciate being heard, and an organisation that is able to do this is likely to generate exponentially more goodwill and loyalty.

Whilst collecting this data is essential in defining our value proposition, it is only part of the solution for maximising member engagement. To complete this, our focus needs to move from strategy to execution. All of the positive work in defining an offering to maximise member engagement can be undone if we fail to deliver them effectively.

There are a number of questions to ask as we design, deploy and maintain our services, including:

Are our digital services being built and delivered in a way that is simple and intuitive to use?
Are they just as rewarding to engage with on mobile devices?
Are our events and training as accessible to people with health conditions or impairments?
If members run into an issue, how well are we supporting them in solving it?

Combining Data for Continuous Improvement

The answers here combine with our quantitative and qualitative data collection to create a feedback loop that informs and enables continuous improvement. After addressing an issue or introducing an upgrade we can use this process to validate the effect on member engagement. The next service iteration learns from this, brings us closer to an ideal solution and the process repeats.

Member engagement begins as a theoretical objective for membership organisations. It’s what we all aim to achieve because intuitively we know it to be synonymous with success. However, with the right technology and approach, member engagement also becomes a precise tool for optimising our value propositions, driving member retention and facilitating continuous organisational development.

Member loyalty schemes

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:04:05 GMT

We discuss the popularity of loyalty schemes and how they can enhance your member engagement programme.

How the right technology choice can help your member loyalty scheme to stand out and succeed

Thanks to popularisation by supermarket chains and online retailers, the loyalty scheme is a well-recognised tool for customers to take advantage of their relationship with a particular provider. More than 90 percent of companies operate a customer engagement or loyalty program [1] and these take a number of forms. Simple schemes with an email or SMS sign-up are popular and provide an easy way to receive coupons or news of flash sales. More involved programmes with the opportunity to build points provide a more extended benefit.

But what advantage do loyalty schemes have for not-for-profit and membership organisations? And how can the correct choice of technology help to maximise member engagement and drive revenue?

Primarily, the concept of member loyalty has a tangible financial value to a membership organisation. Loyalty is the reason that referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations are made and in difficult economic periods, at an explanation why one membership is retained when another is allowed to lapse. It is also well accepted that the cost of acquiring a new customer can be as much as five times higher than the cost of retaining an existing one [2] .

This is true of all loyalty programmes and the benefit continues for as long as the scheme offers real, differentiating value. But this is comparative and with so many competing schemes, the race to offer more in return for signing up is accelerating. As loyalty schemes become more expensive to offer, it’s vital that organisations also increase the value they can extract from them. Here, an organisation’s choice of technology can provide several additional benefits.

By signing up to a loyalty scheme, a member is telegraphing their willingness to hear from an organisation more regularly. This creates an opportunity to offer more value, more often, with less risk of over-stretching this relationship. As always, the key word is “value” and so initiatives such as member-only deals, and exclusive offers are particularly effective here. Even with price reductions, members of loyalty schemes are estimated to spend up to 18% more per year than other customers [3] so the more that can be offered, the better.

The right technology can use loyalty schemes to greatly increase an organisation’s understanding of its members. With more communication comes more dialogue and, combined with any additional data that is requested as part of the loyalty signup, this can greatly improve the accuracy with which future communications can be segmented and targeted. This is a major driver of member engagement, as it drives a far more personal relationship where the member feels heard and individually cared-for by even the largest organisation.

The benefit can double if the technology fully integrates its data systems and joins up internal processes in an intelligent way. Here, the same information can also inform the way that the organisation optimises online user journeys. The processes involved in membership renewals, loyalty card replacements, scheme benefit updates or in new members joining from a loyalty member’s referral can all be tailored to offer the maximum benefit to each user persona.

Perhaps the most important impact of technology choice is on the way that loyalty benefits are appreciated by members. With more organisations offering similar schemes every day, the opportunity any one scheme has to surprise and delight its members is falling exponentially. However, this trend can be reversed if the scheme’s benefits are offered via an improved customer experience.

Studies show that when personalisation is done well, membership scheme satisfaction can increase more than six-fold. And when gamification is incorporated via membership tiers or status badges, members enjoy participating almost twice as much [4] . Achieving these satisfaction improvements requires a highly integrated and adaptable technology solution that is intuitive and pleasurable for members to use.

Member loyalty schemes have the capacity to drive member retention, accelerate the acquisition of new members and increase the revenue from each interaction either has with their organisation. These schemes operate in a highly competitive environment, so all successes come at an ever-growing cost. The right choice of technology can maximise the effectiveness of each scheme, increase the value and satisfaction that its benefits provide and deliver the optimum return on investment for the organisation that offers them.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/05/07/50-stats-that-show-the-importance-of-good-loyalty-programs-even-during-a-crisis/

[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2018/09/12/dont-spend-5-times-more-attracting-new-customers-nurture-the-existing-ones/

[3] https://www.fundera.com/resources/brand-loyalty-statistics

[4] https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/352767/TLR%202019/Bond_US%20TLR19%20Exec%20Summary%20Launch%20Edition.pdf

Opportunities and impact of Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:04:03 GMT

This insight tackles the changes to Google Ranking and Google Analytics 4.

Moving to an event-based tracking model enables more accurate capturing of user behaviour across multiple platforms (website/app etc) and more simple reporting. GA4 provides enhanced data collection and deletion controls and works with or without cookies using AI to cover the gaps where cookie data isn’t available.

Insights

Machine Learning is built into the core of GA4 which enables generation of improved insights with less effort and simplified reporting. It also includes more out of the box tracking facilities and can link to BigQuery enabling pulling out to a data warehouse.

GA4 Out of the box features

As standard GA4 enables you to capture data on: page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, on site search results, engagement with video embedded on your site and file downloads. You can set it up and run it in parallel with your current Universal Analytics account whilst in this transitional time.

GA4 Web Vitals

GA4 has introduced the Web Vitals initiative to unify what good looks like in terms of delivering a great user experience on the web. This initiative includes website speed and accessibility becoming ranking signals for Google search results from June 2021.

Websites are getting larger and slower, but slow websites provide a poor user experience which jars and causes drop-off. Amazon estimate that a one-second delay in their webpage loading can cost them over $1.6 billion in lost revenues every year! It has also been proven by businesses like Mozilla that increasing the speed of their webpage load by 2.2 seconds has resulted in 60 million more downloads in a year. Website speeds are also dependent on the bandwidth achievable in the geography of your audience, so you need to build and optimise in consideration of where the majority of your audience are concentrated.

Getting ahead with page speed is worth doing whatever. But what is good page speed? There is no simple answer other than faster than your competition. Try Googles PageSpeed Insights to gain an understanding on where you can improve.

Common page speed issues
Common issues often centre around the use of images or media. Most CMS platforms don’t compress your images automatically. To combat this you can simply use images that are the size that you need (not the highest res you can get your hands on!). You can use facilities like tinypng to compress images simply and effectively. If your site features auto playing videos, these can present significant issues with performance so consider carefully if they are adding value.

Platform impact
Platforms like Wix, Shopify and Squarespace don’t have as much flexibility to optimise performance. Template based sites (WordPress, Magento etc) commonly use themes but not all themes are well optimised, so consider carefully the themes you use and get developer recommendations as to well optimised themes.

Thanks for our friends at Footprint Digital for providing information for this article.

Brand is Everything

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 11:25:14 GMT

Many confuse brand with visual identity, which plays it's part in representing the brand, but isn't it. The reality is that your brand is everything you stand for, say and do.

Perception

Marketing expert Austin McGhie expresses that brand is inherent in perception “ A brand is present when the value of what a product, service, or personality means to its audience is greater than what it does for the audience .”

Let’s take a moment to explore this statement in the context of NFP organisations:

What value are we providing our audience with?
What does it mean to them?
How is that meaning positioned more significantly than what we do for them?

Value What does it mean to the audience How is it more significant than what we do?

Trust Mutually beneficial relationship with an authority Provides a relationship that can be built upon
Respect Pride in being associated with a respected organisation Associated kudos that they can leverage
Integrity Consistency Sets a standard people are proud to align with
Compassion People-centric approach They feel humanised, more than numbers and statistics
Motivation Source of encouragement Can result in career progression
Loyalty Sense of support Prompts support of others including referrals
Security Knowledge that there is a greater force looking out for them Increases a sense that their voice matters

This ‘brand perception’ exercise can reveal some foundational brand building blocks and is worth undertaking in a fuller sense, breaking down the exercise further into audience personas. It is worth reviewing on a regular basis to ensure that your brand evolves in step with your audience.

Essence

Sometimes the essence of what is important to us as brands can be identified simply by what’s important enough for us to bother measuring. For example, if we consider ourselves to be a people-centric organisation how are we measuring that and do we have a good grasp on employees' happiness or customer/member satisfaction? If this metric doesn’t correlate with our brand values, there’s misalignment to address.

Manifestation

We can reinforce the values associated with our brand (or otherwise) through the ‘manifestation’ of our brand, essentially, how our audience experiences our brand. Examples of this include our appearance (logo etc), our communication (what we talk about and the tone) and how our team engage and represent the brand (through many various interactions). Where the manifestation and perception aren’t aligned, brand confusion can occur and you can lose the audiences ability to identify and connect.

Confusion

Identifying brand confusion can be as simple as surveying or polling your engaged and/or target audience. This information-gathering exercise can really help to shape and inform brand strategy and guide where adjustments need to be made to align audience expectations and brand manifestations. For example, if your target market is the 18 – 25 demographic and your brand values resonate with more established affluent senior professionals, your appearance is somewhat vintage (and not in a cool way), with equally dated (somewhat neglected) digital interfaces, then it may be time to consider a refresh. This can ensure that your brand is something that your target audience can identify and connect with on every level.

Consciousness

Brand consciousness is something that everybody in your organisation needs to carry (that doesn’t mean brand policing colleagues, although it can!). An awareness of who we are, how we speak and what we stand for is critical to the ongoing growth and reputation of our brand, so get creative and get your team on board!

If this article has reinforced your thinking that your brand is in need of some attention and development, please reach out to info@nextra.net and we will be happy to advise as to potential actions to ensure your organisations brand is properly positioned moving forwards.

Google Analytics – FAQs

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 10:38:11 GMT

At NetXtra, Google Analytics is a common topic for our NFP focused clients. In this article, we share your questions and our answers.

Following one of our latest webinars ‘How to make the most of Google Analytics’, during the Q&A panel session we were asked some great questions. We are taking this opportunity to share them because if one person has asked it, you can guarantee its on all of our minds!

Is moving to Google Analytics 4 something you would recommend trying straight away?

The current Google Analytics is probably still preferred as there is further support for previous additions and is not possible to migrate historical data. However, Google Analytics 4 offers some built in capabilities around GDPR and action tracking that are proving to be vital additions. Therefore, we recommend running both versions concurrently for a period of time, so that historical data and existing data can be created. Overtime you can fade the older version out of your analysis once there is a good level of data stored in Google Analytics 4.

What’s new with Google Analytics4?

There are two key features that improve the experience for uses within Google Analytics 4: It meets GDPR regulations: You can be sure your data and storage is GDPR compliant as it doesn’t store full IP addresses and anonymises... What it does is something clever behind the scenes that groups people together in behaviours and trends, rather than stores individual data. This works much better on a cookie-less site, so you get the benefits without having to Google Analytics in individual consent.

It tracks micro actions and activity: As opposed to URL page visits. This means that you can now track pdf downloads (regardless of whether URL changes) by focussing on the action that is required to download the pdf (e.g. click of a button). It also means google map usage can also be tracked automatically by the clicks and actions the user takes on the map – not just views of the URL.

How can I accurately and easily track subdomains?

In any iteration of Google Analytics, within one account you can be provided with a ‘big picture’ view by loading all of the URLs and viewing an amalgamation of statistics, or you can filter the view by individual domains to drill down into the detail.

How can I make Google Analytics reports more palatable?

It can feel overwhelming with all the information Google Analytics has on offer, however it’s important to identify what is actually relevant to your specific needs. The following options are available: through and find what’s relevant. You have a few options;

Set up business goals through Google Analytics where you can analyse the information through a customised dashboard.
Analyse data through the Google Analytics insights feature and ask questions like ‘how many visitors did I get last week’ and it will clearly display the specific analytics without you having to find the right page.
Extract data out of Google Analytics and into other systems. If you have a CMS like NetXtra Engage, we have an integration that is automated with Google Analytics and it displays relevant information it directly into your CMS dashboard. As a result, you don’t actually need to go into Google Analytics account regularly, as the information is there in your CMS.

Do you set up goals in Google Analytics or do you have to add something on the website page you want to track?

It is dependent on your specific goals are. For example, if you wish to track your ‘thank you for ordering’ page, or similar that tracks your organisation goal, then this is the page you should set up as your goal page in Google Analytics.

If you’ve got a check out process you should be tracking all pages to analyse at trends and dropout rates too – it’s useful information that can inform your future decisions. You need to understand where improvements can be made, as well as track successes, therefore, this is the only way to meet your organisation’s ultimate objectives and have a positive effect on the bottom line!

What does Google Analytics define as a ‘bounce rate’?

Bounce rate is when a website visitor lands on your website on one page then leaves without completing any other activity. Your Google ranking will improve if people review more pages and look further into your site, however, the bounce rate needs to be viewed alongside other factors for example, if your digital marketing is set up effectively, the user will land on the page they need, obtain the information they were looking for and then leave / complete an action elsewhere (either on a different device or call). It is important to remember that bounce rate shouldn’t be solely taken as a positive or negative result.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact us at info@netxtra.net and our experts will be in touch! There are also two of Googles own blogs we recommend for further information, Happy reading!

Quick guide to qualitative & quantitative website testing

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 10:14:15 GMT

This quick guide focuses on testing and the importance of conducting both qualitative and quantitative methods when optimising your website.

We’ve distilled all of our knowledge and recommendations into these short guides, starting with a ‘benefits highlight’ and then detailing the value of these technologies or practices can have to your organisation and your members.

The benefits to undertaking qualitative & quantitative website testing

It's simple - understanding your digital performance to enhance audience engagement and optimisation. The key objectives of a website research project for a NFP organisation should be to gather robust and statistically significant qualitative and quantitative data from members and target non-members. This will then guide the website optimisations that need to be made to either correct a poor performing element, such as ‘high call volumes because content isn’t easily found’ or to optimise your website to ‘increase conversions, such as new member sign ups’.

Why use both quantitative and qualitative research data?

Robust data from your audience is a must-have element for effective conversion optimisation that centres on the customer needs. It allows you to back up decisions scientifically versus ‘gut feel’.

Here’s some basic information about the differences between quantitative and qualitative data:

Quantitative = Measuring items, numbers, fixed state, formulation of facts, web analytics, language of statistical analysis, closed questions in surveys.

Qualitative = Describing items, natural description, negotiable state, voice of customer, develops ideas, open ended questions in surveys.

Both types of data have their pros and cons. Quantitative insights constitute a fantastic base for numbers-driven organisational decisions and are always perceived as “solid data”. Thus, the numbers are usually extremely convincing for stakeholders. Alternatively, quantitative data is usually difficult to interpret correctly since you only know that something did or didn’t happen, but you don’t understand the why.

Qualitative data is ideal for illustrating the numerical analysis with individual studies. It reveals the way people feel, the emotions and motivations behind their behaviour. It’s really useful to plan and implement design/UI changes for example. However, a key weakness of qualitative data is that it’s very difficult to automate its analysis and therefore is a time-consuming process. Due to those constraints, only limited number of individuals can be studied, which means less statistical significance.

Each of these types of data have clear advantages. Adhering to just one of them can negatively impact research. When used separately there is a danger that you will either have a study with too many detailed and non-statistically significant conclusions (focus on just qualitative) or you will end up having very general conclusions without enough context (focus on just quantitative). This is why we suggest you use the combination of both types to your advantage. Looking at the likes of Google analytics, Core vitals and behaviour tracking (heat maps, HotJar etc), alongside member surveys, focus groups and remote unmoderated testing.

At NetXtra, we can talk to you about the areas in which you need help, and suggest a research roadmap and/or conduct the research on your behalf. Why not contact Cheryl Quin via email – cheryl.quin@netxtra.net to schedule a call to discuss your individual requirements?

Quick guide to data validation

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 10:14:13 GMT

Here we look at data validation tools and the myriad of benefits they can provide for your members and prospective members.

Benefits

We all hear about the importance of good data, of the single customer view, and optimising data processing, but capturing good quality, accurate customer data doesn’t just benefit sales and marketing teams.

Validation tools can optimise checkouts, increase basket conversion, reduce shipping errors and returns, deliver efficiencies in customer service call handling and much, much more.

What data validation services should you consider?

There are a variety of data validation services and we have highlighted the most useful below:

Address Lookup and Verification
Human error is commonplace, and the costs of ‘cleaning up’ your data afterwards can be substantial. For example, when a customer places an order, you need to ensure that the order is going to reach them at a real, actionable address.

Abandoned baskets is a major cause of lost sales, and the reasons for these lost sales can often be simply explained by the length of time in making a purchase. Address lookup can reduce keystrokes in entering addresses by up to 80% meaning your clients proceed through the checkout faster. Tried and tested by major brands in diverse industries, customers report increases in basket conversion of up to 40%.

Phone Number Validation
Phone Number Validation at the point of entry is not simply about checking number formatting and correct number of digits. A good service works in real-time at point of entry to check the country and area code formatting is correct, the type of number – landline and mobile (cell phone) – whether or not it is a valid and active phone number and can even return details to you of the network carrier.

Email Validation
Email is the life blood of customer retention, but you often will not know an email is invalid until you try to contact that person. Simply checking for an @ symbol in your email field does not count as fully verifying email addresses. Neither does checking for a full stop or a standardised suffix – .com, .co.uk etc. These merely ensure you have a correctly formatted email address for a customer. Your system should check that an email address exists and is linked to a genuine and actively used mailbox in real-time at the point of entry with a simple background tool that gives your users the opportunity to correct any errors before completion and ensuring the email address you receive is, in fact, real.

Our partner and recommended service of choice is Fetchify with a reputation of being a technology led company with experts who strive to meet their diverse customers’ needs their system provides the fastest, most accurate data validation solutions that are super-easy to integrate into clients’ platforms. Their services include all of those we have discussed above:

Why not take up their offer of a free trial – find out more at fetchify.com

Quick guide to payment gateways

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 08:59:53 GMT

This quick guide looks at payment gateways and the importance of choosing one that works seamlessly with your platform and provides the security your users demand.

We’ve distilled all of our knowledge and recommendations into this short guide on accepting payments, starting with a ‘benefits highlight’ and then detailing how an integrated payments solution can add value to your organisation and your members.

Why do you need a payment gateway? A payment gateway is the technology that allows you to accept debit or credit cards. This can include physical terminals that you use in person, as well as accepting payments on your website or payments over the phone.

Payment gateways should first and foremost offer a seamless, secure, and fast payment journey for your users. Don’t underestimate the importance of a fully branded experience to ensure trust as well as control over the journey you want them to have. A good gateway will also provide an integration that offers detailed financial reporting alongside significantly reduced administrative overheads for your staff.

Why should you have a payment solution on your site? Well, most transactions are now online with credit and debit cards. Accepting card payments means your sales are quick and easy, either taking payment over the phone or directly online. Online transactions are far more secure than taking a wedge of cash to the bank!

Common challenges around payments can include:

Choice: There are lots of payment gateways and facilitators in the market which can make it difficult to know which is right for your organisation. Some key aspects to consider are security, the payment methods they offer, whether it is hosted or integrated, the support they provide, how you access and reconcile the reports, and whether you need a separate merchant account with a 3rd party bank.
High level security : Your payment gateway should be PCI DSS Level 1 compliant, use data encryption, SSL, SET and Tokenization.
Great experience: The checkout experience should be seamless for users. The fields should be clear and easy to use, the branding and UX should be consistent, and it should be quick.
Helpful support: When you need support you want it to be easy to access and helpful. Make sure you know what the routes are for support with your payment gateway, when they are open and how to contact them.
Flexibility and growth: Is your payment gateway going to grow with your business? You want a provider that can offer all of the channels you offer now, as well as the ones you want to offer in the future. You should want a provider that can create a seamless experience with every update to their platform. Also consider any contractual commitments – are there minimum fees or long contract lengths that aren’t flexible enough for your business.
Setup: Make sure you are aware of the setup process and how long it will take. Some payment gateways will require you to have a separate merchant account with a bank in order to receive funds. This can be time consuming as you have to find a bank that offers merchant accounts and apply – this can be time consuming as you need to need to find a bank which offers this and go through the approval process, which varies in length by provider. After this you will need to manage multiple contracts and accounts, and deal with multiple support teams if you have any issues.

Our partner of choice, ClearAccept , provide multi-channel payment solutions which are seamlessly integrated into the software you already use, know and trust! This means you can manage all of your payments needs from within your CRM – the same as the rest of your business. They are also a payment facilitator, meaning you don’t need a merchant account with a 3rd party bank - saving you time and reducing your workload.

Whether you are already working with NetXtra or are considering working with us on your next project, get in touch with our team to find out more about how their integrated payment solutions could help you.

The ultimate guide to delivering a great membership body website

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 08:52:23 GMT

Today, every thriving organisation owes part of its success to a great company website. But how do we define this fast-moving target, and what particular features does a membership body website need in order to perform?

NetXtra has partnered with Memberwise to bring you a new eBook that gives a concise walkthrough of how membership bodies can ensure an effective return on their web investment. Aimed primarily at the non-technical and senior management levels, we discuss:

How technology has affected the challenge of web building
Visual design elements that can give in immediate advantage
User journeys that matter for membership organisations
Three types of content that can increase brand associations and member value
A demystified explanation of SEO, digital marketing and website performance

Filled with case studies and practical advice, you can download this eBook for free by completing the form below.

RMT Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 09:23:27 GMT

RMT is a progressive, democratic and highly professional trade union, with more than 80,000 members. Members are from almost every sector of the transport industry - from the mainline and underground railways, shipping and offshore, buses and road freight. In August 2013 RMT and NetXtra launched a new website www.rmt.org.uk in order to meet the demands and requirements of a very diverse audience. To further RMT’s digital improvement program and enable RMT to reach out to their audience better, the development of a native mobile application was the next strategic step.

Impact

In the first week of launch RMT saw a staggering result with:

5000+ downloads
9000+ sessions recorded
3.17 sessions per device.
4.0 average app store rating.

Updated figures – 2 months after launch:

6000+ downloads
4.79 weekly sessions per device
4.2 average app store rating

The app can be directly linked with significant uplift in number of followers on RMT's social networking channels. It has also contributed to increases in monthly average web and newsletter engagements.

New subscribers to the newsletter:

Pre app: avg 50 per month
Post app: avg of 116 per month
Increase of 132%

Web traffic – visits to Union ‘join online’ page:

Pre app: avg 2,500 per month
Post app: avg of 10,000 per month
Increase of: 300%

The RMT have also been able to test the push notification functionality and it’s been very successful achieving a 12.9% open rate against an average open rate of 7.8*

Goals

To connect with a wider audience
Increase union appeal to a younger audience
Provide members and activists with access to important information
Promote events and campaigns
Push information to users
Increasing the value of membership
Improving access to and shareability of content with audience appropriate, prioritised messaging
Engaging with prospective members
Increasing brand awareness and alignment with contemporary communication methods

Solution

The application of this innovative technology has cemented the position of the RMT as being a forward thinking, member focused Union. The new integrated app is designed to mobilise the RMT union members by including the following features:

Biometric functionality: through thumbprint and face recognition – currently login but future use for signing petitions, voting and supporting campaigns.
Campaigns: The app displays current campaigns and allows the user to ‘Take Action’ – this feature is used by RMT to add petition links via the CMS which the user can access by pressing the green ‘Take Action’ but in the app. The app also allows users to save campaigns – if the user is a registered member, their saved campaigns will be also accessible via the website.
Push notifications of:
invitations and reminders of attendance for events booked along with syncing booked events/meetings to the devices calendar
Member surveys to members, increasing response rate and helping to strengthen their organisations credentials to lobby Government for change
petitions, applications and vote requests to members devices new content added to their registered interest (e.g. if user is interested in Rail News
content, when RMT pushes via the CMS a new article tagged with ‘Rail’, the user gets a notification on their device.

Members area: The app members area allows members to have quick access to RMT contact information as well as their branch secretary. The app can direct users to their phone or email app to carry on with the support interaction. From this area user can also update their contact details (personal and employment details). Users can also set their notifications settings, enable or disable face/touch ID, and set their topic interests (RMT industries).

Moving Forwards

In its first week the RMT mobile app exceed expectations and there are already future updates planned which will extend to the launch of a digital membership card, remote voting and other value-added features for members.

The NetXtra member engagement app integrates with existing CMS and CRM systems to populate the interface with content relevant to the member and pushes data provided by the member back into the CRM to augment records. This data driven approach saves organisations valuable resources and optimises the investment in existing systems, content and communications strategies and enables a wider and more immediate connection with members.

National Hair and Beauty Federation Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 09:23:32 GMT

NHBF focuses on helping Members to run successful and profitable hair and beauty businesses by providing advice, specialist support and tailored services to meet the unique challenges of running a salon or barbershop. Their website is the hub of communications, so it's vital that information is accessible, relevant and easy to find. The site design is critical to their aesthetically driven audience and NetXtra are proud of our collaborative efforts including periodic refreshes to the site inline with the brands evolution. Our work with NHBF has encompassed the following.

Objectives and solutions

Communicate and grow

NHBF have progressive strategies to grow and extend their reach. Our work has included providing a mechanism for publishing advice, fact sheets, campaigns, news and blogs along with enabling online joining. The Engage CMS also collects newsletter subscriber data which passes into the CRM as leads flagged for follow-up by their membership team.

Improve visibility through search

Using the Engage CMS’s ability to assign weighted search items and auto-suggest results based on the ‘did you mean?’ functionality has enabled site administrators to associate their terminology with terminology likely to be used by their audience (encompassing slang, substitute and equivalent words).

Create opportunities for engagement

NHBF recognised that extending their events offering to provide a wider variety of regional and national events and training opportunities for members and prospective members would improve their engagement. Because this aspect is integrated with their CRM they are able to update availability of places in real time and follow up on bookings from non-members (sales leads). This has been further enhanced through launching their coveted competitions and awards which can now be entered online.

Provide valuable resources

A big part of the NHBFs role in the industry is in providing resources such as contracts that can be bought and downloaded along with a comprehensive supplier directory. Many of NHBFs online resources are accessible without charge as a member benefit, promoting this helps with lead generation attracting non-members to join.

Impact

The 2020 pandemic period presented the hair and beauty industry with significant challenges with restrictions being placed on trade. NHBF represented the industry to Government, helped to disseminate vital information to the industry and provided vital business support at a critical time. As a result of their proactive approach and responsive actions they have seen dramatic growth in digital connections with 1000% increase in website visitors year-on-year, Instagram followers growing from 5.5k to 72k and Facebook likers from 14k to 85k. Their social media posts now regularly see over 900 likes and 200 comments (with a recent post attracting 1,800 likes and 550 comments!).

They have been able to harness those social media engagements by directing people to register on their site to download valuable resources. Their ‘back to business’ guide was downloaded 33,000 times generating 25,000 new leads for their non-member newsletter. All of this engagement has resulted in the NHBF growing by 1,800 members to 7,300 members since February 2020.

Future growth

Work currently in progress with NHBF includes revisiting the design of their ‘MyNHBF’ members area to expand the features and functionality available through self-service. In addition, a new mobile app for NHBF is currently in UAT. The app integrates with the Oomi CRM and Engage CMS to deliver push notifications, personalised resources, news, blogs and events content to users.

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 09:23:24 GMT

NetXtra have been working with RCVS since 2010 during which time we have partnered in an ongoing process of improvement, refining RCVS’s web presence to add value to members, simplify processes and enable positive user experience.

The latest iteration of the site has involved a redesign from stylesheet up, moving the site and its functionality forwards to help achieve the organisations goals.

The solution

NetXtra designed a totally new user interface for the RCVS site providing:

Improved navigation between their sites
New menus and information architecture improving navigation and decreasing on-site search usage
A dedicated new site for ‘Find a Vet’, with advanced filter and search options to improve user experience
Restructured content (used twitter to source volunteers for user testing and feedback to inform direction of redevelopment and content restructuring)
Improved user experience across the board, with particular focus on mobile
Improved custom goal/event tracking in Google Analytics to provide greater visibility of site activity.

76%

Decrease in searches

41%

Increase in mobile users

42%

Member increase in social sharing

Summary of features and benefits

Seamless integration to IMIS CRM for the ‘Find a Vet’ feature
Attractive new search engine optimised website that reinforces RCVS’s profile
Site navigation improved providing the ability to communicate effectively with key audiences, and enabling them to seamlessly move between RCVS ‘Professionals’, ‘Animal Owners’, ‘Find a Vet’ and ‘RCVS Knowledge’ sites
Fully content managed, allowing administrators to manage and support all aspects of the website
Separate site for ‘Find a Vet’ enables members of the public to quickly and easily locate veterinary practices, surgeons and nurses in their area through a search by name or location, or through use of the advanced search facility which offers further filtering by specialism

Tenancy Deposit Scheme Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 09:23:20 GMT

TDS were originally looking for a single supplier, but recognised the value of having partnered experts in their respective fields. NetXtra (CMS/Website) and Workbooks (CRM) impressed with a strong demonstration of results and positive referrals from their proven partnership. The TDS solution needed to enable tenants to register online (in order to access and manage their details) and to provide a membership portal for landlords and letting agents.

The solution features

Member registration
Online tenancy deposit management tool
Online dispute mediation service
Personalised member experience on login
Search functionality to enable tenants to check the status of their deposit
Blog

50%

Reduction in the staffing overhead of finance department

99%

Of disputes received electronically

25%

Increase in self-service and self-resolution

60%

Only 60% of cases need direct mediation, a drop from 85%

150%

Fewer deposit disputes than competitor systems

Summary of features and benefits

Seamless integration to Workbooks CRM providing real-time data processing – including membership, registrations, profile and dispute updates
Promotes and develops membership engagement
Site navigation improved within the member portal
Fully content managed, allowing administrators to manage and support all aspects of the website
Self-service option reduces manual transactions and streamlines administration

What has this meant for TDS?

NetXtra have enabled TDS to catch-up and compete with a business solution aligned to their strategic objectives moving forwards. The initial project enabled them to re-engineer their business processes and assisted in the migration to a web portal integrated CRM based solution which has provided significant efficiencies to the organisation. Our partnership involves an ongoing commitment to evolving their solution with objectives around further refinements to business processes and achieving greater efficiencies.

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 09:23:16 GMT

Fully optimised for both desktop and mobile use, and supporting a wealth of new functionality, the new site streamlines a number of union-based activities by taking them online. It also makes information from this fast-moving organisation far more accessible, allowing the RMT to communicate and interact with its members, the general public and other stakeholders as never before. Initiatives such as Campaigns and News are now far more prominent, with email subscription options.

RMT General Secretary explained “Our new website by NetXtra has been a huge success with our members. Providing a central hub of communication, we’re now reaching out to far more people than ever before, interacting with people in ways that are much easier and more convenient for them.”

The benefit of NetXtra having integrated the site to MillerTech’s SodalitaS CRM is that members can now log in to access news articles and minutes from committee meetings that are of specific interest to them. They can also view various ‘Workplace Circulars’, in addition to updating their details online, which are entered directly into the RMT’s SodalitaS membership database.

E-petitions enables any visitor to the site to digitally ‘sign’ petitions of relevance to them, as well as access a range of targeted template petition letters that can be easily sent via email or printed out for posting to their local MP. Users can simply enter their postcode into the site, whereupon the relevant details of the user’s local MP are automatically found and then populated into the template letter or email, ready for sending.

The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 09:23:06 GMT

The brief

NetXtra has been working with media and entertainment union BECTU for seven years and the relationship is constantly evolving. A good example was a redesign of their homepage to encourage more people to join and improve engagement.

The brief was to increase recruitment through effective and accessible communications with a key message that joining BECTU was a necessity for their key audience of new entrants.

An eye-catching modern de-cluttered look was developed with enhanced navigation to enable users to find the essential information they were looking for at a glance.

The redesign resulted in an increase of 55% in click-throughs to the 'Join BECTU' page compared to the previous year. Click-throughs from the 'Join' page to the actual Join Form increased by 56% – a clear indication that a partial redesign can make a real difference.

With the launch of their new website BECTU now offer their members an enhanced user experience, with tools that improve communication and enliven branch activity. To support this, NetXtra have integrated the website with BECTU´s MTL Software Solutions' Sodalitas membership database to deliver more attractive and personalised functionality. This in turn is encouraging widespread participation across the website from the Union´s existing members, as well as leveraging the Union to potential new members. The site is also encouraging members to develop more regular contact with the Union and specifically with their branch representatives. Dedicated branch pages, available only to BECTU members, enables all members to have around-the-clock access to the latest branch news.

To further encourage interaction and engagement, a number of forums are available, allowing users to ask questions, offer opinions and share thoughts and ideas regarding things such as BECTU campaigns, divisional matters and other specific issues of the day.

Authorised administrators at branch and divisional level can also add content to their own areas of the site, with information such as news, contact information, diary events, electronic resources and even their own blogs.

The website´s Content Management System (CMS) also enables designated administrators within each BECTU division or branch, to run their own member reports. This is useful when wanting to understand things such as overall site usage or membership renewals. New training pages showcase courses available to Union representatives and the Union´s career development programme is now more visible to the freelance workers for whom it was originally designed.

Similarly, an Events area lists BECTU and other industry events in an interactive calendar, with members getting the opportunity to book their places online to certain BECTU events. Crewbus, the Union´s established online freelance directory for employers seeking ´crew´ has been extensively remodelled. The service was relaunched as an integrated element of the site and delivers new facilities for users, including the option to upload member CV's and showreels.

The outcome

Fundamentally, the objective of the BECTU website is to engage, inform, recruit, and encourage members, non-members, prospective members and staff to interact with each other. It also offers those unfamiliar with BECTU a clearer and more positive view about the range of services provided by the Union.

This website actively promotes user-interaction and gives people the opportunity to add their own user-generated content, which, in turn, gives them a genuine reason to return regularly. Furthermore, opening up the website in this way has allowed BECTU to keep the site current and is providing visitors fresh content each time they return.

The integration of Sodalitas has proven to be popular with members who now enjoy the ability to view personalised information on the website, as well as update their own membership profile, saving BECTU time and money with administration.

As part of the project´s delivery, the website´s security was rigorously tested and subjected to extensive penetration testing by a third party supplier. Its ability to pass with flying colours was mainly due to the high standard of build quality by NetXtra and the use of MTL Solutions APIs (Application Programming Interface) that submits sensitive data securely using SOAP and XML.

Summary of features and benefits

Attractive new search engine optimised (SEO) website that appeals to existing members and effectively leverages BECTU to potential new members.
Integration of MTL Software Solutions' Sodalitas back-office database allows members to instantly view website information of interest to them, as well as update their own membership details, saving BECTU time and money in administration. Branch officials can also run member-related reports, as well as directly email their members.
Multi-level Administrator Content Management System (CMS) allows BECTU branches to maintain their own pages, allowing them to promote local news and events, and even offer a localised blog and document resource. Branches can also use the CMS to run localised member reports in order to understand usage and membership details.
Website Forums enable Union members to engage and interact with each other and offer them a means to contribute, offer feedback and generally communicate with the Union and each other. It also ensures that members return regularly and keeps site content fresh and up-to-date.
Secure member login using MTL Solutions´ customised web service APIs that submits data to hosted web services through SOAP and XML.
Interactive Events Calendar that allows Union members to view and book national and local BECTU conferences, meetings and seminars online as well as view other industry related events using the website´s easy-to-use calendar. The booking information is then relayed back into Sodalitas CRM, so simplifying the back-office administration for BECTU´s events team.

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 09:23:03 GMT

Redesign aligned with longer term strategic goals
Improve user experiences and engagement
Enhancing the range of services available to members online
New and better structured site with significantly improved search
Responsive design across multiple devices
A smarter, fresher, more modern and professional image for the Faculty

The solution

There was so much potential for improvement, particularly with the rebrand and the introduction of a new CRM. With so many simultaneously moving parts, FSRH and NetXtra had to work closely together to prioritise what could sensibly be achieved for a phase one re-launch.

FSRH were conscious that there wasn’t a limitless budget, so not all of the great ideas that came out of our workshops could be taken forward immediately. The focus was therefore very much on the creative design, to complement the new branding, navigation and search, and a basic level of integration with MillerTech’s CiviCRM for authentication and transaction-based tasks.

Working with the new branding, NetXtra came up with a striking design for the Faculty. Strong brand identity, a fantastic array of colours and some great graphics enabled our design team to develop something quite special.

Summary of features and benefits

Seamless integration with MTL’s CiviCRM Portal.
Real-time processing of membership renewals, registration profile updates and event bookings.
A richer user experience making the most of the site’s knowledge base, whether searching the standards and guidance database, performing a faceted search or looking for events.
Incorporation of a host of new features and an intuitive navigation has enhanced user experience.
Easy-to-use Content Management System allowing administrators to manage and support all aspects of the site.
Reduced need for manual transactions and more streamline administration through the new self-service feature.
A new ‘Find a Trainer’ section has increased engagement and the ability to communicate with key audiences.al.

Improved engagement

20%

Increase time spent on site

30%

Reduction in search exits

42%

Rise in average session duration

Mobile engagement

140%

Rise in visitor sessions

115%

Rise in mobile event bookings

Increased activity

328%

Rise in social media referrals

93%

Uplift in membership

What has this meant for FSRH?

The significant increases in page views and user engagement demonstrates the new site is playing a key role in expanding awareness of FSRH as the ‘go-to’ organisation for evidence-based guidance, training and clinical/service standards.

The improved responsive user experience has led to much higher engagement with FSRH membership registrations and event bookings, all of which can now be administered online through a modern integrated CMS, saving vital time and resources.

NetXtra’s comprehensive approach to understanding every aspect of FSRH’s requirements allows the Faculty to focus on their key role of providing a strong and consistent voice for healthcare professionals.

Trace Me Luggage Tracker Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:23:14 GMT

The ‘Trace Me Luggage Tracker’ project involved creating a system where purchasers of TMLT tags can register their tags and add extra ones to their account. This product is expanding internationally which is necessitating us adding new translations to the site on an ongoing basis.

What we did

Creation of concept designs
Construction of system to manage generating tag numbers specific to issuing bodies and then registering those tags against ownership details once supplied
Data management
Multi-lingual translations (English, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese)

The site is only accessible to those registering or with registered TMLT tags. As further development in addition to the central Trace Me registration system, we created the Trace Me Luggage Tracker corporate marketing site. This site provides information on the baggage tag and how the tracing system works, as well as enabling the tag to be purchased online and shipped world-wide.

Due to TMLT’s growth in to additional international markets, the site needed to be multi-lingual. Currently the site is available in English, Russian, Traditional and Simplified Chinese and Spanish, with further translations being added on an ongoing basis.

What we did

Build of 3rd party concept designs
Setup of ecommerce facility and international shipping
Data and content management
Implementation of 3rd party provided translations

Financials Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:23:12 GMT

Offering an online insurance brokerage service in a market with some dominant players was a bold move, but with a strong URL, their own team of experienced app developers and access to a significant market relevant database from their other related companies, it was a great concept with serious mileage, from people with the experience and acumen to deliver.

We have loved collaborating on this project with them and Frontroom Creative, developing the brand from scratch, and evolving the online interface as the business develops.

It’s an exciting road ahead!

What we did

Development of brand
Mobile first approach
Creation of concept designs
Development of bespoke framework
Provision of user-friendly CMS interface
Integration with 3rd party iframes
Ongoing development in response to UX improvements

Coeliac UK Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:23:01 GMT

Coeliac UK needed a far more flexible online solution than their existing open source CMS; one that could give members and visitors the information they needed, easily, intuitively and quickly.

The Digital Team at Coeliac had attempted to implement a website and CRM integration in a previous version of their site but were unhappy with the functionality and outcome of the project.

The functions

NetXtra designed and built one of the best and most informative resources for the condition used by members, regular site visitors and healthcare professionals worldwide.

More members

97%

Membership renewals

95%

Increase in sign-ups

88%

Increase in website visits

More engagement

43%

Increase in returning visitors

104,000

Items pinned to member scrapbooks

60%

Increase in visitor onsite time

More revenue

150,000+

Referrals to advertisers

140%

Increase in events bookings

More money

Brand new shop functionality

The benefits

Coeliac UK has solidified its position as the primary resource for people with the condition, with a significant rise in members, both new and renewing.

The knowledge gained from this innovative integration helps inform future projects as Coeliac UK now have a much better engagement with their members.

Fresh Produce Wholesaler Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 05:05:15 GMT

In December 2019 NetXtra connected with a well-established quality fresh produce wholesaler who knew that they could support a new audience in their choice of leading a plant-based lifestyle, whilst optimising existing resources. This opportunity was to open up a new online entity for ‘Umami’, focussed on delivering plant-based food products to the domestic market. Needing everything from brand development and design through to an online store, NetXtra committed to partner with Umami to realise their business potential.

The partnership have a Magento ecommerce store in development which will provide customers with a comprehensive fresh produce offering and configurable product boxes. The ecommerce store is due to launch early summer 2020, but that timeline was simply not soon enough to meet the urgent need to provide food to the public in light of the coronavirus pandemic. In response we developed a streamlined ecommerce store to facilitate the sale of 3 key plant-based food box products which has gone live in a matter of days (6th April 2020).

The interim Umami ecommerce website is a great example of adapting a wholesale business to sell online direct to consumers to meet market demand quickly and easily. We will be keeping this case study updated as to their progress. Watch this space!

Thomas Ridley Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 09:23:22 GMT

A variety of key integration touchpoints were needed to facilitate an outstanding online user experience. The brief was to create a site that prioritised the customer journey, providing valuable information and simplifying the path-to-purchase for both their classic B2B customer base and reaching out to a new B2C audience with the end goal of significantly growing the sales performance of the digital channel.

The solution

The new website has helped to position Thomas Ridley as a food service provider with a passion for food, showcasing their authority in the marketplace with superior product knowledge and expertise. It has provided customers with the ability to place orders (including repeat orders and shopping list uploads) at their convenience across a myriad of devices.

The user experience has been improved by an intuitive site-wide search facility and product comparison along with enhanced product descriptions with valuable nutritional information and allergen filtering by exclusion. The site also provides valuable promotional real estate for brands Thomas Ridley distribute.

Thomas Ridley have achieved incredible results in a short space of time (stats included are from 6 months post go-live), and on the basis of this performance were awarded ‘Best Exploitation of technology - sales over £25m - B2B.’ and ‘Best Brand by Speciality - Hotel, catering and facilities management’ at the ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards, and won gold at the 2018 Digital Impact Awards for ‘Best use of digital by sector – food and beverage’. They also won the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce 'ecommerce business of the year 2019' and were shortlisted in the same category for the British Chamber of Commerce annual business awards 2019.

400%

Increase in digital revenue generation

139%

Increase in online session duration

59%

Reduction in visitor bounce rate

225%

User increase across digital use

181%

Of 'new' members are on mobile

209%

Increase in user sessions

Summary of features and benefits

Sophisticated product search covering the catalogue of 5,500 stock lines with augmented attributes such as brand and allergens.
The ability for users to search for, create a list, specify a quantity and add a number of different products to their order from a single page.
Inclusion of a tabulated system for managing information text for Product Description, Ingredients, Preparation, Storage Instructions, Directions for use, Allergens, Nutrition, Attributes and Product Data Documents.
The provision of a product comparison facility and integrated reviews and social media sharing capabilities.
The ability to create and manage wish lists for ease of placing commonly recurring orders.
Provision of a customised experience for account holders presenting customer-specific pricing from over a million variants held in the CRM.
The integrated system has reduced dependency on manual processes providing transformational efficiencies to the business.
The business has been able to extend its reach into the B2C market through guest checkout, home deliveries and click and collect services.

Country Ways Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 09:22:59 GMT

Selling country, leisure and equestrian clothing, as well as horse wear, accessories, gifts and books from their store in Aberdeen, Country Ways decided that the next logical step in growing their business was to begin selling online. The website makes their offering available to purchase online and either have it shipped or collect in-store, as well as promoting their events and publishing their latest news.

What we did

Creation of Concept Designs
Build of responsive front end
Integration of stock and pricing from their retail POS system
Configuration and support of Magento Platform

Harrison Simmons Case Study

techops@clearcoursellp.com (Tech Ops) — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 05:39:29 GMT

Bedford’s finest gentlemen’s emporium required an upgrade on the award winning site we had created for them some years previously, a new Magento store was deemed to be the way forward.

The redeveloped website is sleek and responsive, with the additional feature of being able to select engraving options and submit text and images for this purpose on the site.

What we did

Creation of Concept Designs
Build of responsive front end
Reworking of database into configurable products with attributes enhancing filtering abilities and improving the user experience
Creation of configurable options for engraving purposes
Integration with Sagepay
Magento Platform

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Decrease in searches

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Rise in visitor sessions

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