Global website for Lotus Cars plc

Global website for Lotus Cars plc

More about the organisation

Lotus Cars (Group Lotus plc) is a very high profile private-sector company that can justifiably claim to build some of the best sports cars that money can buy. Their assertion is that they create ‘perfect harmony between driver and machine’.

When their global shop window, the www.lotuscars.com website, needed a rebuild and an additional extranet facility added to it, Lotus chose Affinity Digital.

Pre-contract

Pre contract operations are a vital part of any project as the teams from both client and Affinity get to know each other. From the initial enquiry onwards, senior members of the Affinity team are available to answer questions and are happy to offer on-site face-to-face consultations as part of the pre-contract process.

Affinity approached Lotus as an excellent ‘fit’ for their digital offering due to their work in the automotive industry over several years – notably with WhatCar.com. For this major design and build there was, unsurprisingly, a large amount of pre-contract activity which took place over more than a year. Importantly for the smooth running of the eventual contract, the technical and project management staff from both sides (check) were also part of the delivery team.

The challenge

The remit was to remove the existing dependency on a proprietary third party CMS and for Lotus to be able to easily add and customise their own content. In addition the site had to maintain and reinforce the prestigious Lotus brand and capture customer interest, keeping them on the site for as long as possible. A further requirement was to be able to determine

from where in the world a customer was viewing the site so region-specific content could be delivered to them instantly.

A dedicated extranet was also required, specifically for media and PR requirements. As with a DMZ or perimeter network, it was required to provide access to specific needed services for media partners, without granting them access to Lotus’s entire network or jeopardising security.

Finally there was a requirement for the project to come in on a fixed budget and to be launched in time for the prestigious Geneva motor show.

The solution

An innovative approach by Affinity saw them taking Drupal 7 (one of the leading open source CMS products) and add to the ‘core’ system a number of distinct custom modules – each bringing additional features and benefits.

Lotus were given full control of, and access to, all the modules so no external work was required to manage the site.

One addition was the comprehensive Workflow that sits behind the CMS, allowing Lotus to delegate content creation to their network of journalists, communications specialists and other content creators, whilst retaining tight editorial control.

Another innovation included auto geo-detection and geolocalisation so that users can see a very personal view of Lotus instantly, on a regional basis, down to their own town if needed (important for locating a dealer or booking a test drive).

The site design style was carefully managed to reflect and enhance the brand. Adopting the Drupal CMS meant the site was fast, responsive and could handle significant amounts of traffic - improved JavaScript and CSS optimisation, better caching and other improved refinements all contributed. User activity has been encouraged - whether watching engaging video footage or ‘customising’ their own Lotus car model - with relevant internal advertising delivered to them via the OpenX Drupal module.

All told, the new site has the ‘wow factor’ that is so important to the customer retention yet behind the scenes is a combination of technical expertise and a well-researched understanding of Lotus key requirements. The site delivers on a significant number of different levels.

The new extranet facility designed and built by Affinity allows controlled access from outside Lotus’s intranet. The facility drew on Affinity’s deep expertise in building B2B and B2C extranets to provide a password-protected media one (effectively a ‘B2M’ facility). It provides full media-centre resources including an extensive library, videos and engineering specifications as well as useful PR resources and brand guidelines. Naturally the extranet is easily updated by Lotus’s own media team.

Feedback from Lotus to Affinity was universally positive (see above) and following the launch of the new site and extranet there was an immediate 20% increase in usage of the website and a 5% improvement in the ‘bounce’ rate.

What’s next?
Affinity are in consultation with Lotus and have recently quoted for work on a digital  ‘car configurator’ which will allow the company to compete directly with rivals such as Morgan and Porsche.

Working on the project...

Working on the Lotus Cars project was a real privelage. We where not only dealing with a premium British brand but stretching Dupal to it's full capacity and more... We actually built unique Drupal modules for the this project. whaich always makes the project  more challenging, intersting and satisfying from a developers perspective.

Ben Calton - Lead developer