Case Study - Full Circle HR & Business Services
“I chose GippsTech because they fit my values, and the process felt like a partnership rather than a sale, which was important to me. My website was a labour of love after over a decade of providing my services without one, so I was really emotionally invested in the project. The final result really hit the mark! The effort made by the team was consistent and considered, to get it to a place where it truly reflected our values and services. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result!”
- Caitlin Grigsby, Director of Full Circle HR & Business Services
The Project
Caitlin Grigsby runs Full Circle HR, a Gippsland based HR and business services company. After more than 10 years in operation, Caitlin has grown Full Circle’s service suite to provide businesses and not-for-profit organisations with “in house” HR and business support, specialising in organisational auditing, recruitment, policy creation, bookkeeping, and payroll. She needed a website to provide information about her business and its services, while providing a point of contact for potential clients though an appointment booking feature.
The Challenge
Caitlin and her team specialise in an entire suite of business services. She wanted to present a professional brand to her clients and stakeholders which nodded to her skills and expertise. However, it had to be authentic and showcase their strong community involvement. She needed a completely personalised website which would stand out amongst the text-heavy and stock image-heavy websites that we see for professional business services today. The site needed to showcase the brands warmth, experience, and care they show to their clients.
The Solution
We realised early on in the process that Full Circle needed a custom design. To achieve an individual, unique, and warm look and feel, we designed and developed a website which made the user feel as if they already knew and trusted Caitlin and her team. The user experience was well thought out, and created to present a lot of information on a broad suite of services, in a manner that was approachable and intuitive, with content to match. We had to find the right balance which nodded to the warmth, support, and experience which is felt when working with Full Circle.
Disciplines
Digital Strategy, User Experience Design, Content Development, Web Development, WordPress Development
“After so long without a website, this was my first “real” marketing effort, and I wanted to ensure it reflected Full Circle, the team, and our range of services in a way which was clear, confident, and easy to understand for a wide range of audiences. Having worked with the GippsTech team before, and completed two websites previously (Gippsland Pride and Gippsland Ranges Roller Derby), I was confident in my decision to bring my website to the GippsTech team.”
From our initial meeting with Caitlin, we knew we had to create something which was memorable and different from other corporate and professional services websites that exist. The Full Circle experience is one which is authentic and warm, so we had to ensure users felt this as soon as they entered the website.
‘The key outcome of the project was to develop a centralised point of contact for potential clients to get in touch with Caitlin. We included an appointment booking feature into the site which synced to a shared calendar. It was important to ensure that the booking page was both easy to navigate to, and easy to use”, said Cindy Siew, GippsTech’s Project Manager. “We developed large blue buttons throughout the website which would take users directly to the appointment booking page, from anywhere on the website.”
Because the design element of the site was so important, we needed a platform which would allow us to have full control over the styling and key elements of the site, beyond the capabilities of a traditional drag and drop website platform. This is why we chose to build the website on WordPress. “Typically, most professional service businesses have websites which are text heavy, and use a lot of stock images. It was important to Caitlin that her website stood out from its competitors. We wanted to instil the feelings of trust, connection, and support into the site, which can often be difficult to do. To impress these feelings into a digital product, we focussed on using warmer colours, and photos which represented the team and their personality”, said Cindy.
Users can easily navigate to the appointment booking feature from anywhere on the website.
In order to highlight the skills of the Full Circle team, the website incorporated a news and blog page, and detailed and distinguishable services and offerings. As a new Wordpress website with a new domain name, these features were used to assist in search engine optimisation (SEO) and indexing, and to emphasise the expertise and reputation of Full Circle. “Caitlin shied away from the idea of creating a cliche’ or bland professional services website, so we spent time developing the copy for the website to reflect the nature and personality of the brand”, said Rob Ruminski, GippsTech’s Head of Digital Strategy and Engagement. “We avoided generic wording and phrasing, instead focussing on the most important thing to say, and when, to capture the audience and encourage them to book an appointment with Caitlin via the buttons, which we strategically placed throughout the website.”
Since launching her new website, Caitlin has received consistent positive feedback from website users. Within two days of launching the new site, Caitlin secured a new client, which turned into an ongoing engagement and led to other referrals and projects. The appointment booking system has meant she has been able to manage appointments around her diary without human intervention, and initial enquiries can be vetted and responded to faster.
“The timing of our website could not have been better for us, and we are so pleased with the outcomes so far. We look forward to expanding on the site and content in the near future.”
