We’re delighted to profile another new(ish) Kooba site: Accounting Technicians Ireland.
The finished site was launched at the end of 2019, and is the result of a long-term project to reimagine ATI’s online presence, and partner with them to bring it to life.
It’s fair to say that when it came time to launch the new ATI site the Kooba team was thrilled with the final result. The finished site was responsive, visually appealing, accessible and diverse. We would say that of course, but you can see for yourself here. It also, of course, showcased ATI and their importance in the whole of Ireland.
The company
ATI was originally established in 1983 and is now the leading professional body for Accounting technicians in Ireland. With offices in both Dublin and Belfast, the organisation is led by the core values of Excellence, Professionalism, Opportunity, Integrity and Relevance.
ATI aims to educate, support and represent the 10,000 plus people working in the accounting profession and to that end offers both full-time and part-time courses at over 70 colleges throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Business objectives
For ATI there were three overarching business objectives for the new site. Firstly, they wanted to create a unified website for both students and members, one that through quality of design positioned the organisation as a leader and innovator.
Secondly, ATI wanted a website that facilitated lead generation from prospective students. Ultimately the business relies on the uptake of courses through ATI after all.
Thirdy, ATI wanted a site that was modern, reliable, flexible, responsive and accessible to all.
The ATI website
The first step was understanding the common goals of both the ATI and the organisation’s customers, research that in turn helped inform the creation of a new sitemap that would improve overall navigation, organisation and site structure. ATI was keen to restructure the information within a clear, transparent hierarchy, and thus make navigation more straightforward and the overall site more streamlined.
When looking at content, ATI wanted to move away from a compact site to something more visual, incorporating more eye-catching, diverse imagery. ATI wanted to focus on displaying content and imagery that addressed the needs and wanted 3 main marketing personas displayed on the site: potential students, customers and influencers.
To provide a direct, tangible sense of the scale and success of ATI, we created a stats bar for the homepage that also creates a bit of movement and adds a dynamic ‘live’ feel to the site.
Clearly displayed calls to action (CTAs) were an important element of the new ATI site, helping to boost overall lead generation. These CTAs are now front and centre, and hover states ensure there is no ambiguity around how to interact with them! We also use consistent ‘action’ colours throughout the site so visitors understand what is and is not clickable.
Whenever any organisation is selling, social proof matters. We raised the profile of the ‘successful customer’, and made the site feel more personal at the same time, by introducing customer testimonials. Each illustrates how a specific customer utilizes ATI’s services and membership platform.
Responsiveness & performance improvement
When it came to building the ATI site, we knew we wanted it to load quickly and be responsive across all devices (that’s a given for all Kooba sites!). There were many visual elements present on the website, so we worked to ensure that all the imagery rendered perfectly no matter what platform the site was being viewed on, but also that ATI did not have to give up fast loading times to achieve this.
We believe the final site delivers on the business objectives - and we’re looking forward to checking back and establishing exactly how much of a difference we have made to inbound business in the near future!
