The brief was to redesign Legal & General’s websites in line with their new visual identity and create a user-centric and fully accessible solution conforming to the UK Disability Discrimination Act without compromising the brand.
The results show that great design and best development practices can go hand in hand and create a success both in terms of industry recognition as well as monetary return on the investment.
One of the the goals of the new Legal & General sites was to maintain the highest level of accessibility and the Royal National Institute of Blind People was involved throughout the project with constant user testing and feedback.
In 2006 the Government released PAS78: Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites and the Legal & General project was used as a case study for the launch of the document.
The main site has been the star of the show but the project encapsulates all aspects of Legal & General’s online presence including microsites, intranet and a handheld stylesheet repurposing the content of the main site for mobile devices.
Results
The project was a monetary success from the launch with healthy key numbers:
- Natural search increased by 50%
- Conversion rates have increased by 300%
- Site maintenance costs are down by 66%
- The entire project paid for itself within 12 months
- Gained Shaw Trust Accreditation
The Legal & General websites also received industry recognition winning Awards of Excellence in both “Best website” and “Best navigation/usability for web” categories at the CiB Awards 2007.