Rathbone Brothers Plc

Rathbones wanted their existing website redesigned to ensure it could play a more effective and results-driven role.

Rathbone Brothers Plc, through its subsidiaries, is one of the UK’s leading providers of investment management services for private clients, charities and professional advisers. With a heritage dating back to 1742, and 170 experienced investment professionals, Rathbones has over 35,000 clients and nearly £17 billion of funds under management. Their success and reputation is built on the simple, but increasingly rare commitment to superior client services as well as state-of-the-art administrative systems.

Rathbones’ website plays a key role in the company’s day-to-day marketing; being used increasingly not just as a tool for client retention, but as a supporting factor in pitches to potential clients.

With this in mind, Rathbones wanted their existing website redesigned to ensure it could play a more effective and results-driven role in:
• Retaining and winning new clients - particularly in emerging sectors such as private clients, charities, ethical investing and IFAs
• Continuing to inform and update key audiences.
• Projecting Rathbones’ key messages, products and services, and brand values.
• Driving a positive client experience.

The existing site had been revamped in 2009, benefiting from a number of new functionalities including an upgraded CMS, a searchable people section, a dual navigation system, and a dynamic news and events notice board on the homepage.

Though these changes had kept the website technically up-to-date, Rathbones believed there was still room to push the client experience further, as well as creating definition over competitors’ sites and driving the company’s business objectives.

Website Usage Statistics
The site was receiving around 25,000 visits per month – most staying on the site for less than a minute, and almost 45% of visitors going no further than the homepage. Traffic tended to be direct (67%), with 26.8% coming from search engines and 5.8% arriving from referral sites. Going forward, Rathbones wanted to see more traffic and better content, functionality and navigation to achieve a lower bounce-rate.

The Proctors response
In order for the Rathbones site to act as a useful point-of-reference for current clients, and a suitable ‘shop window’ for potential ones, it was agreed at the outset that a complete redesign would be best.

Look and feel
We created a look and feel that was fresher, cleaner and less cluttered, with use of white space to allow the eye to breathe and navigate more easily around the site. We created a far more dynamic homepage; drawing visitors in with a scrolling banner gallery menu, which directed to multimedia content such as webcasts, reports, and a registration link for the e-newsletter. We also made the volume of written content throughout lighter, while making sure Font style and colours were consistent with Rathbones’ brand guidelines.

Photography
We introduced a photographic style for the brand based around two principles: Rathbones’ heritage, which we represented with high-contrast architectural black and white photography; and the relationship between client and investment manager, illustrated with contemporary, people-focused photography.

Navigation
We made the site’s navigation simpler, and more consistent and intuitive; creating a horizontal menu for sectors and company information consistent across all pages; and a simple Investment Products menu on the left-hand side of each page. This menu arrangement allowed us to direct different audiences from the homepage to the relevant content more efficiently.

News & Events
The News & Events section of the old website had become a repository for press releases, announcements, events and awards. This became the more aptly named ‘Media Centre’, with more user-friendly sections including ‘News and comment’, ‘Image library’ and ‘Media Spokespeople’. Dividing into these sections allowed us to place more prominence on the most relevant articles, press releases and downloads.

Investors and analysts
We created more dynamic, and more engaging Investor Relations pages to display key content such as results documents and the annual Report & Accounts. Along with a straightforward tabbing system for company news, and a more modern Share price indicator.

Recruitment
The ‘Working for Rathbones’ section had previously been hidden under the ‘About us’ section and didn’t provide any great detail about what it’s like working for the company. We made this page much more human, drawing attention to Rathbones’ principles and values, and providing case studies on the employee experience.

The Results
Following the redesign and alterations made to the site, the outcome has been very positive; the website uplift data being a clear indication of the results:

• The site now has more traffic.
• Clients are spending longer on the website per visit – on average 20% more time than previously.
• The bounce rate has dropped by 30%.
• Generally 5% more pages are being viewed than before the site’s redesign.