Pinsent Masons rules in favour of Immediacy and User
Vision
Press release: 20/06/2006
OUT-LAW.COM visitors increase by 350% following site re-launch
with Immediacy and User Vision
International law firm Pinsent Masons has revealed it has seen a
three-fold increase in visitors to its flagship OUT-LAW.COM website
since it was revamped using Immediacy’s Content Management System
and expert consultancy from user-experience consultancy User
Vision. OUT-LAW.COM provides free legal news and information
relating to technology and has recently been awarded eSuperbrand
status.
Pinsent Masons recognised the need to redesign the site in 2004
to make it more relevant, intuitive and accessible. It chose
Immediacy to replace its proprietary CMS system following a
rigorous evaluation of 127 different CMS providers. Immediacy was
selected based on its ease of use, accessibility compliance
checker, customisation features to support workflow efficiency and
search engine optimisation capabilities. To complement Immediacy,
Pinsent Masons approached User Vision to carry out research into
how users interacted with the site. The company worked closely with
Pinsent Masons and users and carried out usability testing to
identify how best to design the site and create an intuitive,
easy-to use interface.
“Immediacy and User Vision have enabled us to develop a much
stronger site that’s significantly easier to navigate and read and
getting much better visibility in search engines,” commented Struan
Robertson, OUT-LAW Editor and Senior Associate, Pinsent Masons.
“The findings from the user research commissioned by User Vision
have been critical to developing a real understanding of what
information site visitors want to see and how they want it
displayed. We thought we could predict what their research would
report – and we were wrong. It was a really worthwhile exercise and
we'd encourage any site to get independent testing. Immediacy’s
flexible platform has enabled us to deliver on these findings. It
is very easy to use and one of the few products we came across that
genuinely supports a high level of accessibility. We're already
using one of its features to provide RSS feeds for users and we're
starting work on our first podcasts and video over the coming
months.”
Since the relaunch the traffic figures for the website have
risen dramatically. There were over 115,000 unique visitors during
May 2006, up 350% on May 2005. Part of this can be attributed to
the search engine optimisation features in Immediacy that enable
the firm to more accurately list its pages for search. "The bigger
audience has converted into more legal work for Pinsent Masons,"
added Robertson.
“OUT-LAW is not only a hugely popular and useful information
site, it is also a showpiece for the Pinsent Mason brand,” said
Nigel Jackson, CEO, Immediacy. “In an industry such as the legal
sector high levels of relevance and accessibility are absolutely
critical. By making content creation and editing simple and
intuitive, Immediacy CMS provides companies such as Pinsent Masons
with the tools they need to maximise the return on their web
investments.”
Since the relaunch the Superbrands organisation, an independent
authority and arbiter on branding, has attributed OUT-LAW
eSuperbrand status. With more than 29,000 subscribers and 6,000
pages of content, OUT-LAW is now believed to be one of the largest
and most popular law firm websites in the world.
-ends-
About Pinsent Masons
Pinsent Masons is a full service commercial law firm with 250
partners, a total legal team of more than 900 and in excess of
1,500 staff in the UK and internationally. The firm ranks in the UK
top 15 of law firms and is one of Europe's leaders. In the UK, the
firm has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Birmingham,
Bristol, Leeds and Manchester.
The firm is one of the most highly regarded law firms
specialising in technology, telecoms, outsourcing and information
law.
Pinsent Masons Scotland runs OUT-LAW, an award-winning
technology and e-commerce support service. OUT-LAW is a free
service which includes a quarterly magazine, a weekly e-mail news
bulletin and the out-law.com website, offering free information and
checklists to help businesses. With more than 20,000 subscribers
and 4,500 pages of content, out-law.com is believed to be one of
the largest and most successful law firm websites in the world.
For further information, please visit Pinsent Masons’ websites:
www.pinsentmasons.com
and www.out-law.com.
About Immediacy
Immediacy provides its content management system (CMS) to a wide
range of UK customers including the BBC, JPMorganChase, Avis,
Principality Building Society, British Transport Police, The
British Council, National Express, The Hilton Group, phones 4U,
Equal Opportunities Commission, Amicus Trade Union,British Gypsum,
ElanIT, MerseyCare NHS Trustand numerous local authorities.
Information about Immediacy can be found at www.immediacy.net.
About UserVision
User Vision is a consultancy dedicated to improving the user
experience of everyday products and websites. We offer a wide range
of services including consulting, testing, reviewing, evaluation
and training to help clients produce better products that customers
find easier to use. We take a straightforward, practical approach
to user needs analysis, problem solving and usability testing,
leading to effective design solutions.
Whether we become involved at the design stage, or after a
system has been in use for some time, we never lose sight of the
user's needs; helping you to reduce development and support costs,
reduce the need for expensive redevelopment, and increase
sales.
Our usability consulting and services are the ideal way to
enhance your brand, improve your company’s competitive position,
and increase revenues and loyalty.
User Vision was established in 2000, and provides services
throughout the UK and Europe for many leading brands and public
sector organisations.
See: www.uservision.co.uk
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