Improving the supporter experience is at the heart of lifesaving charity the RNLI’s new website, recently launched by award-winning digital agency Redweb.
The new site has been designed and built by Redweb to detect a user’s location and display content such as rescues, news, events and volunteering opportunities to their nearest contact point with the RNLI.
Its ‘Find my nearest’ feature integrates Google Maps with sophisticated data management, enabling site visitors to search by location or postcode for lifeboat stations, events, and lifeguarded beaches. This intuitive, interactive facility uses colour-coded icons to differentiate between activities, and also displays all lifeboat launches (‘shouts’) that have occurred in the last 24 hours.
An extensive process of research and user testing was integral to the planning and development of this project. The Bournemouth-based agency identified localised, personalised content as being key to delivering the most engaging user experience.
Interactive microsite for younger users
Built using Microsoft SharePoint 2010, the new site has been optimised to seamlessly integrate microsites – with their own designs and functionality features – into its framework. Examples that are currently live include Shorething!, which is an interactive microsite for younger users, and one dedicated to the fundraising campaign for a new fleet of Shannon-class lifeboats.
Feedback has been extremely positive since the site went live this summer, with users commenting on its clean design, intuitive page navigation, and emphasis on RNLI core values and activities.
Redweb CEO Andrew Henning said: “We’re delighted with the end result and the collaboration between Redweb and the RNLI teams. The site looks great and provides an easy and informative experience to the end user.”
RNLI Digital Manager Nigel Saxon said: “Delivering engaging content to online audiences is a priority for us as a charity and we needed to upgrade our web platform to fulfil that. Starting the process with finding out what users wanted was a real advantage and has shaped the final solution. The new site enables us to achieve maximum exposure for popular content like rescue videos. We are pleased with the result.”
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea, providing a 24-hour, on-call lifeboat search and rescue service and seasonal lifeguard service. Since it was founded in 1824, the charity, which is funded by voluntary donations, has saved more than 139,000 lives.