A long-distance relationship

www.bt.com

The Relationship

BT has been a flagship client of LBi’s ever since 2001 when we were asked to redesign the BT.com website. Along the way we have acted as BT’s Strategic digital agency of record and have been the retained agency of the BT Consumer division since 2008 and for BT Business and BT Tradespace since 2009.

When we started, BT’s digital presence was little more than interactive brochure-ware, but since then we have helped to transform BT into a modern digital business delivering the future of communications and media to Britain. Today, the site regularly features in the top 50 trafficing websites in Europe and one of the largest e-commerce sites at £150 million turnover. To meet some challenging business requirements we have also developed a new way of working, with our client sitting alongside our team in our UK Brick Lane office.

From designing BT.com and helping BT evolve its brand in the rich application space, to reinvigorating the unique social commerce platform that is BT Tradespace, LBi remains BT’s most significant and trusted digital partner.

The Work

Since our initial engagement, we have worked across the BT group to integrate its online and offline strategies and ensure that it is always the digital leader among its competitors. Our remit has grown to include online demos and social media tools and we have put a heavy emphasis on analytics.

The BT.com site has been completely overhauled to make it more customer-friendly. The well-known BT Family characters, which have been a part of BT ad campaigns since 2005, are being used online, alongside BT’s vivid colour palette, making the website more appealing and eye catching.

For BT Business we have linked the website to its offline marketing activities and introduced a new user-centric design ethos that begins and ends with the customer. We have also carried out a huge amount of technical work to improve the processes for BT’s production teams.

BT’s social commerce platform for the SME community, BT Tradespace, required not just a site redesign but a complete rethink. This lead to an end-to-end development programme that culminated in the launch of the ‘Get Noticed’ campaign in 2009, which encapsulated the spirit of BT Tradespace in the sense that it was ‘by the people and for the people’. The creative idea had digital media at its heart, but the CRM strategy covered all channels to engage customers.

The Outcome

We have come a long way over the years, with positive results across the BT portfolio. The BT.com redesign resulted in a 29% increase in basket value while the simplified BT Business pages saw the conversion rate jump by 21% in the first four months alone. We’ve successfully delivered more than 250 individual projects in 2010, generating incredible ROI stats of up to £50 per £1 spent on the digital channel. BT Tradespace migrated more than 170,000 business and consumer profiles to the new platform and 20,000 users who had been dormant became active once more.

All our hard work has not gone unnoticed and in 2010 the BT team at LBi picked up two awards: a HIVE Award for BT Business and an Outstanding Achievement Award in the 2010 Web Awards for BT Consumer. LBi also reached the shortlist in the Digitally Led Communications category at the Marketing Society Awards for our work on BT Tradespace.

The BT team at LBi is the biggest in the agency, but it is a tightly knit one and the feeling of unity extends to our clients too. “LBi are an important part of the fabric of the online organisation at BT, and the spirit of the working relationship is such that we operate at many levels as one collaborative team. This helps us deliver fast, with substance, quality and innovation,” says Nick Wong, BT Consumer Director of Online.

LBi London