customer case study: e-learning pioneer

e-Learning Company Changes Web Site to Reflect New Strategic Direction

Problem: E-Learning, a Chicago online learning company, needed to update its Web site to reflect its new brand campaign. Although they had the technical expertise to launch a new Web site, they did not have the resources to rewrite the content. Their current site was several years old with outdated positioning and branding

Solution: Jumping Bean met with E-Learning's marketing department to understand the e-learning company's new strategy, update the content on their Web site, and implement basic search engine practices.

e-Learning Company, an e-learning company in Chicago, wanted its corporate Web site to better reflect its new corporate "brand personality" and positioning. The company changed its strategic direction significantly from providing learning materials on CD-ROM and the Web to delivering published products on the Web which can be tailored to any organization. e-Learning Company wanted its new brand image and product strategy to be reflected in the design and language of its Web site.

Although e-Learning Company had the technical expertise to relaunch their corporate Web site, the company lacked a dedicated copywriting team that could ensure consistent messaging and branding across its marketing collateral, from the Web site to white papers.

Jumping Bean helps rebuild e-Learning Company's Web site

When e-Learning Company asked Hsuan-min Chou and Blythe Howard of Jumping Bean Communications to help them rewrite their company's Web site, the company got more than it bargained for.

"When we hired Jumping Bean, we expected someone to just rewrite copy," says X, Vice President of Marketing at e-Learning Company. "Hsuan-min and Blythe brought much more to the table. They helped us completely reconceive the Web site, from rewriting copy to improving usability, navigation, design, and visitor 'stickiness'."

When Mr. Chou and Ms. Howard analyzed e-Learning Company's Web site, they found three problems that needed to be resolved:

• Important content needed to be more easily accessible

• Navigation needed to be improved

• Content needed to be synchronized with new corporate branding

Encourage Web traffic growth by pushing content

"The first thing we wanted to do was push content up through the site," said Ms. Howard. "They had a ton of great information - it was just difficult for visitors to find." Jumping Bean helped re-organize the Web site so that content was no more than a click or two away for visitors.

One way Jumping Bean accomplished this was by revamping e-Learning Company's home page. The previous e-Learning Company home page was a static page - content on the home page never changed, discouraging visitors from regularly returning to the Web site. Mr. Chou and Ms. Howard proposed that e-Learning Company refresh their home page regularly with new teasers, company news, and updated course descriptions to encourage site "stickiness" and grow their traffic.

"A home page essentially markets the rest of the Web site," Ms. Howard says. "We encouraged e-Learning Company to make its home page more engaging and fresh so visitors would want to learn more about the company and its courses - and more importantly, so visitors would return."

Improve navigation to make important information easy to find

"Being an e-Learning provider, e-Learning Company's Web site is both wide and deep," Mr. Chou says. "e-Learning Company not only has company information, but detailed information on more than 40 e-learning courses."

To improve navigation, Mr. Chou and Ms. Howard strongly suggested the company incorporate drop-down menus. Adding drop-down menus makes it easier for visitors to drill down through the site to quickly find the information they want and need.

Grow mindshare with a strong and focused brand

Once Jumping Bean and e-Learning Company agreed on the organization and navigation of the Web site, Mr. Chou and Ms. Howard started rewriting the Web content to better match e-Learning Company's new "brand personality." "Jumping Bean did a terrific job of consolidating lots of fragmented information," says Ms. X. "I appreciated Hsuan-min and Blythe's dedication to deadlines and sensitivity to e-Learning Company's internal writing standards."

"They made it very easy for my team to review drafts of the Web site," continued Ms. X. "Hsuan-min and Blythe emailed us a single PDF file of the entire Web site. The PDF file gave us a real feel for how the Web site would work from a navigation perspective. Plus, my team could easily make electronic comments on every page, and then email it right back to Hsuan-min and Blythe for implementation."