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Case Study

Mayo County Council

Promoting everything from tourism to history to business, the new site offers diverse sets of users easy-to-use navigation and engaging design that supports Council growth and accessibility requirements.

What we did:

  • Research
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • User Experience
  • UI DesignDesign
  • Kentico Development
  • Development and ongoing updates to meet the Web Accessibility Directive
  • Project Management

The Client 
Mayo County Council is a key provider of economic and social development in Mayo. As the leading public sector body, the Council support and facilitate other stakeholders in providing public services.  

 

The Brief
As part of a thorough digital overhaul, the Council engaged Zesty to create a website that put a specific focus on promoting the County of Mayo. The site needed to promote everything from tourism to business, services to sales, and provide information on the history and the area’s diaspora.

What We Did 
We worked with Mayo County Council to merge two websites – mayococo.ie (the local authority site) and mayo.ie (for tourism and other visitors to the county). To create a simplified, streamlined online presence, we held in-person workshops with council staff and other stakeholders to identify the strengths and pain points of each site.  

We looked at current and potential user behaviours, browsing patterns, and validate the overarching project goals. Through in-depth analytics reviews, we learned about the traffic volume and metrics in the two original sites. We also looked at how long visitors spent on the site and what actions were most commonly performed – everything from downloads to form submissions and link clicks.  

With these and other benchmarks set, we created an information architecture that organised the content of the two sites into an easy-to-understand navigation system. This was the skeleton upon which we built out our user-first approach to design and development. 

Mayo County Council’s brand and identity were reinforced by unique designs that differentiated them from other counties and council websites. The new website had to inspire users to put Mayo on their must-see lists. It also needed to embody the passion that the local community feel for their county. 

 

User priority and third-party systems 
Users were prioritised at every opportunity. To do this, we included highly intuitive internal search functionality, easy-to-complete contact forms, and adhered to accessibility best practice to support a variety of user groups with distinct needs. We also provided seamless integrations between the site and a number of external online services and third-party booking systems. 

Local residents can easily make online purchases, pay fines and submit enquiries. The website also contains a dedicated section on Waste Management: https://www.mayo.ie/en-ie/living-in-mayo/waste-management  

140%

In the first two weeks post go-live compared with the 2 weeks prior, users increased by 140%, and Page Views increased by 410%.