Helping even more couples to separate smarter

We have been working with the Legal Services Commission of South Australia (LSC) to develop and build a product – amica – to help couples to separate smarter using online dispute resolution and data science since 2018. One year on since launching the product, amica had been validated by users and key stakeholders, and LSC were keen to spread the word to a wider audience. They had a marketing website for the product built for its initial launch, however it needed an uplift to help engage more separating couples, and communicate the value of amica in a clear and compelling way. 

LSC engaged the team at Portable to refresh the content and user interface of the current marketing website, using the insights and data from the past year to guide the areas we focused on. Given our in-depth knowledge of the features of amica that speak to highest value user needs (since we had completed the discovery research and user testing that informed amica before we built it), our team was the perfect match for the task at hand. 

Separating can be a stressful time for couples, with many challenges and hurdles to navigate. So when it came to the amica marketing website, we needed to make sure we were designing an experience that would support this audience, and would easily and quickly demonstrate to them the benefits of amica as a tool of choice during their separation. As a team, we knew what benefits and features of amica make it such a groundbreaking and useful tool, however like any digital product, it was important that this was clearly detailed and communicated to potential users.

Before we began, we listened to insights from existing users and key stakeholders at LSC to help us understand what we needed to communicate. We focused on outlining the benefits of the product and the steps required to sign up and use it, while building trust and transparency with potential amica users. 

• Increase the number of people who sign up to amica via the new marketing website
• Renew visual design on the website to align more with the visual design of the product
• Highlight the features of amica and more clearly articulate the value to users
• Convey a sense of trust and showcase the experience of using the product using accessible content
• Reorganise the hierarchy of information on the website to improve the user experience of researching amica or finding support

We started with a content audit and information architecture refresh of the current website. This allowed us to determine where new content was needed to highlight the features of amica and how it addresses user needs. Keeping in mind the project objectives, we focused on creating content that helped to both engage new users and retain existing amica users. 

Throughout the content creation process we validated and refined the content with LSC in a content workshop and informal working sessions with key stakeholders who had the most knowledge about both separating couples and the product. 

Alongside content, our design team set out to improve key sections of the marketing website, such as the ‘Is amica right for me?’ section. They worked closely with LSC to improve the user flow of this interactive step-by-step process, where individuals could answer a series of five questions to determine if amica is suitable for their situation.

Our designers also worked to update the look and feel of the site, to align it more with the amica product and brand, ensuring consistency between the website and the amica product.  

In this final stage, our technical team worked together to implement the marketing website UI components on the frontend, set up the staging site for testing and ensure that the CMS, Contentful, was set up for the content editors at LSC. Given we were working with a pre-existing website, we focused on retaining as much of the existing content and technology as possible, to avoid building from scratch where it wasn’t necessary.  

Using Portable’s UI toolkit as a basis, which acts like a ‘design system for design systems’ and provides the foundations for accessible and best practice design components, we were able to gain efficiencies during the development process and quickly produce deployment ready front-end releases.

Our project team worked to determine the best approach to help us measure analytics, so that we could track and capture insights on the engagement and retention of users. Alongside Google Analytics, we implemented the heat mapping tool Hotjar into the site. This service allows us to see what individuals are doing on the website, how they access the site, what content they engage with, and any drop off points. Measuring this user activity will help us monitor and refine the marketing website over time to ensure it is driving engagement, attraction and retention to the amica product. 

The outcome of this project was a refreshed marketing website for LSC to further engage and retain users, by communicating the value of amica more clearly. The new website is also more closely aligned with the amica product brand and UI, due to an updated user interface, creating more harmony and consistency between the two experiences.

“Applying a user centric approach to the redevelopment of the amica website was the difference between creating just another landing page opposed to www.amica.gov.au, an informative, guided space for users to become empowered by obtaining the right information about separating amicably and accessing the latest AI technology to achieve this. It is a great testament to the project that amica is supported and recognised by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. The team at Portable again showed us their design prowess that turned an idea into a stunning reality."

“The amica website was a great opportunity for us to challenge the status quo on how legal information is written and presented. We worked closely with LSC to make topics like separating and dividing your money and property more accessible to more people.”