City of Delta

The City was seeking a complete redesign of its website to meet its users' expectations and solve existing pain points created by the old website. The municipal website, delta.ca, receives over two million page views per year and is a key information source and operational tool for the City's staff. As user expectations evolved the City required a new site that was flexible and could keep up with its users' needs. To ensure it met this goal user feedback and engagement were incorporated into various stages of the project.

Throughout this process, the City also required a new system for organizing content as the existing departmental site structure did not follow best practices and made it difficult for users to find the information they were looking for.

We started the project by facilitating strategic meetings to gain an in-depth understanding of the City's needs, goals, and existing pain points. This project was very focused on user feedback, organizing content, and optimizing the end users' experience.

To meet the needs of the City and its users, various user groups were provided with ample opportunity for engagement (view our news post on quick ways to increase engagement on our website). This included the following:

• An engagement survey to gain feedback on the current site and determine what users expected of the new site
• Council engagement that was outlined in an engagement plan for interested parties that provided guidance on what stages on the project Council (and other interested parties) should be consulted. This included a presentation for the Council to present the design before beginning the development phase
• User experience (UX) testing sessions with multiple design option prototypes and incorporated feedback into the final design (check out our news post on tips for remote UX testing)
• Testing with two focus groups and public beta feedback was included in the final project phases to ensure the final design resolved existing pain points and met users' needs
• The option to submit feedback options was continuously available throughout the project

Based on the feedback received and using best practices Upanup created a custom website design with a simplified layout that reflects the needs of Delta's various user groups (residents, businesses, Council, and staff) to make it easier and quicker to find information.

Upanup also conducted a content audit and provided a content strategy guide to not only organize content during this project but also keep it organized post-launch (view our news post on content governance models to learn more). We ensured the new site's architecture and content are organized in a way that is intuitive to the user to help them find information quickly and have an overall positive experience while visiting the site.

The City's new site, delta.ca, launched in November 2021 and has won Gold in the Government category at the AVA Awards for its custom design. The site has also been well received by its community, the overall unique page views are up 12% when compared to the weeks prior to the website launch. The homepage features popular links for each of their core user groups making information easy for users to find. It encourages online connection with residents and visitors through their live chat and Talk Delta features. The City's recreation program registration page views increased by 292%; this content was a priority for users, so seeing this increase indicates the website is much more usable and is meeting user needs. Additionally, the site promotes many self-service options to create efficiencies for its users and internal staff. Users can renew licenses, submit applications, make payments online, and much more. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the City to meet their digital goals and exceed their users' expectations.

To learn more about our website design and development services team contact us today, view our list of services, and check out other recent case studies.   

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