Web Strategy, Information Architecture, UX Design
Following the merger of two large B2B SaaS companies, I led a project to consolidate two legacy websites onto a single, unified, domain—one that not only reflected the new brand but also showcased our expanded portfolio.
Two CMS's
Over 800 Unique Pages
One Year to Bring Them Together
Step 1: A careful audit and evaluation of legacy content, technical site health, and theming capabilities.
We created a custom google analytics report to evaluate content across both domains, helping us prioritize and identify opportunities for content consolidation. We then worked with our internal IT team and enlisted some contract web development resources to help us evaluate the technical foundation of the legacy CMS’s (Wordpress and Drupal).
After considering these technical and content factors within the context of a hard deadline to complete the project by year’s end, landed on a single strategy: retheme the legacy Drupal site and migrate any relevant Wordpress content onto that platform. With this approach, we could leverage existing integrations (Marketo, 6Sense, Pathfactory), scale up with a more technically sound platform, and minimize the development costs of building a new web application.
Now the task of organizing over 800 pages of unique content and a new go to market strategy under a single Information Architecture.
We used the web architecture as a springboard for more substantial discussion on our overall product Portfolio In discussions with executives and product leaders, I represented the web team and presented three options:
Platform First: using legacy product names as the primary means of organizing content
Industry First: organizing products based on three verticals: Healthcare, Higher Education, and Finance
Matrix: enable navigation based on both platform names and industries through a revamped megamenu
We recommended and eventually agreed on the Matrix approach which gave our product team the breathing room needed to effectively organize our portfolio and gave users the path of least resistance to find relevant content.
With two separate workstreams, we simultaneously rethemed the existing Drupal site to align with new brand standards and designed new pages to support our updated portfolio.
I lead the hiring and management of a web development contractor and worked closely with him to refine the retheme and manage project timelines.
In parallel, I designed a series of wireframes to support updated content needs within the context of our existing Drupal components. This involved frequent and fruitful collaboration with our developer, internal graphic designer, and copywriterStep 1: A careful audit and evaluation of legacy content, technical site health, and theming capabilities.
We launched the site three weeks before the end of the year and began the ongoing work of reporting and optimizing according to our business goals. We re-established a reporting foundation using GTM, GA4, Looker, FullStory, SEMRush and 6Sense. We continue to monitor these performance indicators and collaborate with product and marketing teams to refine the onsite experience.
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