The RSA (royal society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and commerce) is a leading social change organisation with a global membership of over 30,000 Fellows, committed to uniting people and ideas to resolve the challenges of our time.
The RSA’s website and digital experience is key to connecting with Fellows, engaging with new audiences and communicating the wide ranging and impactful work of the Society. In order to better communicate their vision of a world where everyone is able to participate in creating a better future as part of the organisation’s wider digital strategy, the RSA worked with Netcel to redevelop their website to address underlying, legacy technology issues which were affecting site stability and performance, enhance the experience for users and increase the efficiency of digital operations. Alongside this redevelopment the new Episerver website saw the first expression of the organisation’s new brand and visual identity.
The existing content, visual identity and digital experience of the RSA’s website didn’t reflect their new brand and identity so, through close collaboration with the RSA’s branding agency, Studio Texture, the Netcel design team created a digital-first visual identity that aligns with the RSA’s new strategic plan, reflecting a forward-thinking and progressive organisation that delivers impact.
This was achieved through a programme of research and data analysis to determine how content should be consumed in order to overcome the issue of users failing to find relevant content easily.
Moreover, high traffic areas of the site, such as booking an event or becoming a Fellow, were lost in the old site, and needed to be better signposted and elevated within the site to further improve the visibility and quality of content.
Netcel worked with the RSA to improve the navigation, search experience and overall site usability, so to enable users to quickly find the information they need.
Underlying, legacy technology issues meant that not only was the site suffering from occasional poor performance with slow load times but the editing experience of the website was restrictive, inefficient and didn’t maximise the power and flexibility of the system that powers the website, the Episerver Digital Experience Platform.
As part of the redevelopment project, and to address site performance and improve the findability and management of the large amount of content on the site, Netcel implemented Episerver’s enterprise search tool, Search and Navigation. This had an immediate positive effect – significantly improving both site stability, page performance and the overall user experience.
Through implementing a new Episerver framework for the site, Netcel provided the RSA team with the toolkit they needed to completely manage the digital experience in-house and maximise their investment in the platform.
The re-imagined website provides a seamless editor experience with greater flexibility now that editors are able to publish content considerably faster. Putting the power to create class leading digital experiences in the hands of the RSA team has significantly reduced the need for technical input, helping to reduce technical debt and improve operational efficiency.
Taking a holistic view of digital strategy, technology and experience design has provided the RSA with a more intuitive digital experience, enabling the RSA to better connect with their Fellows and users in a time where digital intimacy and online engagement has become the gold standard.
Their website now provides the optimal channel to achieve their digital ambitions and deliver their mission of uniting people and ideas to resolve the challenges of our time.
We're delighted to be working with Netcel who we believe are the perfect partner to help us engage and empower our growing Fellowship online; and to develop the digital solutions that will strengthen the impact of our research and spread further the progressive ideas we champion.
Chris Ward, Head of Digital, RSA
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To discuss improving your digital customer experience, speak to the team at Netcel at hello@netcel.com or 020 3743 0100.
