7IM was founded in 2002 and is an investment management business that helps financial advisers and individuals manage their capital to meet their financial needs. They were looking for a new website that could raise awareness of their new products and services, and align these initiatives with a refreshed look and feel that was coherent across the key offerings and distribution channels.
7IM were running on a Sitecore solution that they wanted to upgrade for the new website. However, based on Novicell's recommendations, they choose Umbraco with Novicell's Umbraco Premium on top which provided the right functionality for an engaging user experience, as well as being a huge time saver, and great value for money in terms of functionality.
UX & Design
Development
SEO
The new site, 7IM.co.uk, includes a main corporate area where advisers, clients and other stakeholders can find general information about 7IM. In addition to this, there are now three other core sites which can be visited from the corporate site or accessed directly: 7IM for financial advisers, 7IM for clients of financial advisers, and 7IM for private clients.
Like the entire website, the refreshed financial adviser site also has a clean look and navigation which should enable advisers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. It has direct links to 7IM’s different services (Platform, Discretionary, Retirement Income Service, and Funds and Models). The previous 7IM sites grew over time so visitors might easily have gotten lost, but the new design is cleaner and easier to navigate.
7IM had been running on the closed-source CMS, Sitecore, for years and initially wanted to continue with an upgraded version. After a scoping workshop, it was clear that the open-source CMS, Umbraco, met all needs and wishes 7IM had for their new site. 7IM therefore decided to re-platform from Sitecore to Umbraco with Novicell's Premium solution on top.
With Premium’s preconfigured modules, 7IM was able to quickly merge the different websites and add brand new areas which has reducer the amount of time spent on developing the website as well as the total costs. Furthermore, the process of uploading and managing content for 7IM’s content team has become much easier and faster.
We are really impressed with the Umbraco Premium platform. It is so easy to navigate and use as a content editor compared to our old CMS, and because of the easy uploading process, even persons outside the editorial team can now add content if needed. We are really happy with the design and style – the nature of how the modules sit and look. It is so much better than our old website.
Ben Kingwell, Website Content Associate, 7IM.
The revamped website has a lot more content to help advisers and clients understand how 7IM’s services and processen work. Novicell has supported 7IM with the content process by, among other things, reviewing the content regarding navigation and structure, and recommending which content should be migrated.
The SEO review is important for generation traffic and improving conversions. By reviewing the structure of the content and the content itself, we help the pages rank higher so they can earn more relevant traffic from search engines.
One of the new features is the Retirement Income Calculator for financial advisers. Based on information that the adviser fills in, the calculator produces a report that they can show to existing or prospective clients. This works as an engagement driver to the website and 7IM’s business channels, and is an important conversation starter for the financial advisers.
We have worked closely with the dedicated team at 7IM during each phase, from research, planning and scoping all the way through to designing, developing and launching. Both the process and the final delivery has been very satisfying. In December 2020, the website was launched to the delight of 7IM and their clients:
The process of building the new website was exceptional. It has been a huge task and project, but it has been smooth and a really good collaboration with Novicell all the way through. We have never felt like we were a client, but more Novicell being an extension of our digital team. The focus is always on how we can create the best experience for our clients, and Novicell has been great in challenging us in the right way and in the right places in order to achieve that.
The aim was to deliver an unrivalled experience through our new and revamped website. Based on the phenomenal feedback we have gotten from clients, stakeholders and many more, we believe we have succeeded. The website has a great-looking design and is easy to navigate, and at the same time very intuitive for our digital team to use.
Kieran Cardozo-Smith, Digital Product Manager, 7IM.
We are currently looking into the roadmap for 2021 where 7IM and Novicell will be working on developing more interactive tools like the Retirement Income Calculator to add to the website. Additionally, we will look into speed and performance improvements as well as enhancements to the overall user experience.
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