Countryside Partnerships

About Countryside Partnerships.

Award-winning house building and urban regeneration company, Countryside Partnerships, specialises in creating quality homes and communities that people want to be a part of. 

Countryside is proud to be included in the FTSE4Good where it is recognised for demonstrating strong environmental, social, and governance (EDG) practices. The organisation is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250.

Enabling the growth ambitions of the brand

For Countryside Partnerships, the website is key to driving home sales among its core audience of homebuyers and catering to a wider set of stakeholders that includes multiple divisions, land, commercial, joint ventures and partnerships, local authorities, and housing associations. 

When we began working with Countryside, the organisation had big plans for growth. 

To fuel these ambitions it needed a digital estate that offered customers a rich digital experience, supported the wider business, and reflected the premium nature of the Countryside brand.

But, the current website wasn't capable of supporting Countryside's growth strategy. The business needed a digital platform that could scale and evolve over time.

We were engaged to support the move to a more scaleable platform and build a new website for Countryside that catered more effectively to customers and other stakeholders.

A website that appealed to lifestyle-focused consumers

We started by reflecting Countryside's new vision for the brand:

“Make Countryside synonymous with place-making, not housebuilding, and attract customers who want more than just bricks and mortar.”

We knew that helping people to imagine how it would feel to live in a Countryside home was key to delivering on this promise. So, we placed real-life photography of finished and furnished homes at the core of our design approach.

Key to a streamlined user experience was a simple, intuitive, and powerful property search to help users find new housing developments quickly.

A scaleable platform to support the business more effectively

We identified the Drupal CMS platform as the best fit for Countryside's needs, with a focus on content editor experience, flexibility, ability to scale up, and seamless integration with third-party systems.

We introduced a multisite functionality so that Countryside can grow the digital estate with microsites for secondary audiences like investors and joint venture projects, but ensure the brand look and feel remains consistent. 

The build included multiple complex integrations with 3rd party systems, including Loquate, Zoopla, and RightMove, to streamline the management of property listings across the different digital platforms. We also built in the ability to send information capture directly into the CRM from various lead forms on the site.

Finally, we worked closely with content editors to address pain points and streamline the process of creating new content on the platform. 

Improved customer engagement through better UX

Our user-centric design approach means that people now find information quicker to guide their home-buying decisions.

Simpler user journeys and clearer calls to action have led people to engage with more content and stay on the site for longer - significantly increasing interest among home-buyers.

In just the first month, the new website achieved:

• 24% increase in registrations
• 112% increase in viewing appointments
• 44% increase in phone enquiries to the marketing offices

The number of returning visitors has also increased on the new site. This shows that our focus on providing a lifestyle-led, streamlined user experience has allowed Countryside to build a stronger connection with its customers.