In late 2022, the Victorian State Trustees website was becoming dated, with both the design and the CMS looking tired.  It was no longer aligned with the organisation’s brand positioning, nor did it communicate core messaging to Victorians. It was content heavy, and navigation was somewhat of a rabbit warren. Site engagement was low, and bounces were high.

Major CRM works were underway which would mean re-integration with core aspects of the site – including enquiries entry points and ecommerce. 

And, with a re-brand slated for 2023, the marketing team engaged Mainstay Digital to kick off planning for a new site.

In partnership with Gozer Media, we conducted requirements and scoping workshops which laid the foundations for the planning and strategic direction of the broader project.

We engaged stakeholders from a range of areas across the business, including brand, marketing, communications, as well as product development and IT.

Good “Discovery” serves a number of key purposes:

• Provides clarity to overarching goals and objectives

• Questions assumptions and differing points of view

• Seeks to align all stakeholders with a common vision

• Defines requirements in as granular detail as possible across a range of areas, for example: business needs, mar/comms needs, success metrics, actions and conversions, functional & non-functional needs, risk, security, infrastructure, creative & design, content, content management, project management, project governance
  Provides the basis to develop a comprehensive brief or project initiation plan

• Directs next steps for the project

The outcomes from the workshops – and subsequent documentation – were precisely the above. All bases were covered and we were set for kick off.

With the rollout of the new brand placed squarely in the middle of the timeline for the web project, it was imperative the execution of the new website adhered to strict milestones and deadlines. This called for close teamwork and project management across design, development, and the State Trustees stakeholders and team.

Design implementation began with concept development and design direction from the Gozer team, capturing the essence of the creative brief, whilst incorporating all UX and functional facets from the discovery workshop outputs.

Design execution then rolled out across all unique layouts, content blocks, styles and elements, each undergoing iterations and refinement.

With timelines of the essence, we adopted a semi-agile approach, cycling through design, development, testing, content population and release phases. A narrow development window means that UAT time is also under pressure. The key to management is strong resourcing and fine-tooth QA – this alleviates project stressors all round.

Development was undertaken on a high-performance, robust technical stack. We built utilising a custom-built WordPress theme, incorporating ACF (advanced custom fields), custom Twig PHP templating and Tailwind CSS framework. A “minimum plugins” policy was adopted.    

Implementation incorporated a host of development facets, such as:

Working with APS’s Product owner, we developed a prioritised backlog of bug fixes, features and future phases to evolve the platform.

To date, just a few of the enhancements have included:

• New views, key data and reporting on the updated Admin dashboard

• Capture new categories of job types and sub-types

• A “work order” dashboard, with the ability for welders on the floor to log in and adjust job status and time tracking

• A PDF library and generator

• Smart forms and conditional rules

• Device and tablet responsiveness for ease-of-use on the factory floor

• Improved field and data flows and displays

• Upgraded exports and reporting

With a rock solid, flexible platform in hand, the STL marketing and product teams are in a prime position to tailor content, products and campaigns to Victorian market segments. The new website brings the entire organisation forward from brand, marketing, technical, and operational perspectives. It provides an all-round enhanced customer and user experience.

We can’t wait to continue collaborating and implementing new initiatives with the State Trustees team, from new features and functionality, deeper levels of integration with their core platforms, and evolving campaigns to deliver better value for Victorians.

“Working with Mainstay was an absolute game-changer for our website redevelopment project. Despite a tight timeframe, their team became an integral part of our business, seamlessly managing the project with a proactive approach that kept everything on track. They take the time to educate marketing and product teams on new functionality and accessibility and the final outcome exceeded all our expectations. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner!”