October 1, 2018

PegasusLife

Reinventing retirement living

PegasusLife is a provider of exclusive and prestigious retirement housing in the UK. 

Established in 2012, they challenge the concept of retirement living by reinventing the places and ways in which we live as we get older.

The Challenge: A Brand Ready To Immerse Into Digital

Despite a growing portfolio of 28 high-end properties, pegasuslife.co.uk was a disconnected brand experience with a difficult purchase journey and lacking the premium feel it aimed for.

The visual identity left the target market feel disconnected. The way the properties were portrayed online made them feel like care homes and elderly persons’ developments, not luxurious experiences – “not for them.” People needed to see a place where they would continue living to the fullest after retirement.

PegasusLife had created a dedicated microsite and branding for each one of their properties. This left its prospect customers having to navigate within a confusing brand experience and different web environments in order to compare the developments. The buyer journey felt disjointed and confusing.

PegasusLife was looking for a timeless, modern and premium digital experience for the brand and its products – a real marketing tool that will withstand the test of time.

The Strategy

Rebranded For Digital: An Experience Just As Inspiring As The Properties

PegasusLife partnered with Freestyle to tackle their challenges. At Freestyle, we knew that our primary goal was to make the online experience feel just as inspiring to reflect the feeling of visiting the PegasusLife properties.

Earlier research indicated that the dual audiences of an internet-savvy ageing population as well as their key influencers – their adult children – are more demanding and less forgiving of anything but a rewarding online experience.

We focused our efforts towards defining the user experiences which informed our later build and developing the brand’s identity.

We later enhanced each space with rich and vivid imagery that allows the user to gain a detailed understanding of the living experience in a particular development.

Redefined Multi-platform User Journeys To Find The Best Possible Solution

We created a detailed clickable prototype of the website in Adobe DX before any design work started.

This allowed us to refine various user journeys from desktop to mobile quickly and easily – finding the best possible solution for a variety of user types.

This process allowed us to work collaboratively with the client to try ideas out, explore different approaches and then refine the prototype to find the best route for the target audiences before build.

Technology

We used the Episerver Experience Cloud to host and collate all 28 properties into one cohesive and simplified environment.

We applied Episerver’s CMS technology to make the site perform perfectly, enable full control to the PegasusLife team, and provide a class-leading digital marketing platform for fresh, SEO optimised content.

With tablets being the most popular browsing device for our primary audience, creating an equally rich mobile experience was essential to meet the demands.

Unique Properties. Unique Experiences.

We took the challenge of incorporating each of the 28 properties within pegasuslife.co.uk.

We maintained the unique appeal of each property, preserving their individual identities within a single overarching PegasusLife brand experience. We learnt that tools like sharing and sorting by geography were important to our two audiences, so they were implemented from day one.

The next phase includes interactive floor plans, comparison, and saving functionality. From the online browsing experience to viewing a property, people are always served a high-end experience. We took away all barriers to purchase.

Information Architecture Simplified

Including 28 properties under a new website meant the user experience had to be clear and intuitive. We improved the website usability through a clear, simple, and well sign-posted website structure jam-packed with informative copy that supports the properties.

With all properties under one roof, we next needed to enhance the UX journey offering by implementing refined, clear, and simple navigation.

We needed to increase the number of enquiries made through the website, so we made information more accessible and added a FAQs page answering the most common queries.

“Freestyle got to grips with the complexity of multiple property developments and have produced us a site we’re all really proud of, and an exciting vision of the future.” Collette Masso Del Llano, Digital Marketing Manager at PegasusLife

The Results

The partnership and work garnered significantly better resonance with the target audience. This has resulted in:

  • 31 per cent increase in UK users
  • 23 per cent more new users
  • lowered bounce rate to 25 per cent
  • an increase in enquiries in the first four months since launch.

Results were especially positive when looking at the primary target audience:

  • 65+ users increased by 45 per cent
  • 65+ new users increased by 41 per cent
  • 37 per cent increase in sessions.

“We’ve been delighted with the whole process of revitalising the pegasuslife.co.uk website. ” Collette Masso Del Llano, Digital Marketing Manager at PegasusLife