Island Cruises relaunch islandcruises.com

Island Cruises has relaunched its website, http://www.islandcruises.com, following a massive redesign.

The new site has a brand new look and feel and is proving very popular with a strong sales start, a massive 200% up on the same time last year.

e-CRM Manager Tom Brett ‘The site had grown in distinct stages since the company’s launch in 2002 meaning a slightly disjointed customer experience. There were a number of fundamental reasons for the overhaul; the previous site was delivering a very low level of conversion, provided very limited information for customers and it was also heavily reliant on Pay-Per-Click’

To address these issues a number of different agencies were employed to assist with the revamp; cxpartners, Five by Five Digital and Propellernet.

Initially cxpartners, usability and accessibility experts, were employed to review the existing site and recommend the way forward. This involved interviews with both cruisers and non- cruisers alike to understand their requirements in order to put the customer at the heart of the site development.

Following this initial research it became clear that we needed to integrate 2 key processes; information gathering and the booking process. To enable this to happen effectively it was decided to rebuild the site from scratch, working with cxpartners on the site architecture and prototypes. Again customer feedback was used to ensure that what was delivered was what the customers wanted in an easy to use format.

When it became clear what was required, digital agency Five by Five Digital were introduced to interpret the designs and build the site. This was the most complex part of the process ensuring all the criteria were achieved, including meeting AA standards of accessibility. Another key aspect was to ensure that flexibility was at the core of the build stage to ensure room for future expansion.

Behind the site sits a complex database structure, with an easy to use content management system. It’s easy for the Island Cruises team to use whilst allowing customers to configure their cruise holiday package exactly as they like.

Propellernet were engaged throughout the process to assist with Search Engine Optimisation. Following the advice islandcruises.com has climbed considerably in the search listings consistently achieving top 3 positions.

‘We have concentrated very much on the functionality of the site, there is still work to be done to enhance the content, images and tools. There is also further work planned which will include additional customer feedback sessions to validate the intuitiveness of the site.’ says Brett.