TechGuilds’ Sitecore Application Managed Services Drive Digital Success
Amica Senior Lifestyles modernize their website, achieve WCAG 2.0 AA compliance, increase performance to 93%, decrease abandonment by 3.6% and boost conversions by 75% with TechGuilds Sitecore Super Care™ Managed Services
An ambitious vision
Amica Senior Lifestyles is Canada’s leading provider of premium, private-pay retirement residences, with more than 30 locations in the finest neighborhoods across Ontario, British Colombia, and Alberta. Since 1996, their mission has been to revolutionize aging and help seniors continue living on their terms in an elegant setting, complete with outstanding dining, amenities, activities, as well as care and safety measures. To deliver on that vision, Amica had to overcome a number of challenges:
- An ambitious business goal of achieving 93% occupancy rate, with 25% move-ins coming from digital channels.
- A legacy technology stack that was unstable and expensive to maintain, had inflexible components and templates, lacked accurate data, had a low web accessibility rating, and low site performance.
- A low conversion rate and high abandonment rate in booking tours, which was the primary form of lead generation.
How we helped bring the vision to life
To overcome these challenges, Amica Senior Lifestyles engaged with TechGuilds on a Sitecore application managed services model: TechGuilds Super Care™. The TechGuilds team worked closely with the Amica team to familiarize themselves with the current state, existing solution, and Amica's needs, goals, and processes. Soon after, the team started prioritizing and performing tasks that drive value, including:
- Initial Steps:
- Platform Stabilization: We first stabilized the platform to prevent ongoing outages.
- Comprehensive Audit: A full audit was conducted to identify gaps and issues. This resulted in a detailed report with prioritized recommendations based on their impact on performance, accessibility, content management, and code quality.
- Technical and UX Enhancements:
- Search Functionality Redesign: We overhauled the search functionality, integrating Cludo’s AI-powered search capabilities.
- UX Review and Redesign: Our UX experts analyzed Amica’s data and target user personas—seniors and their adult children—to identify and implement major improvements. Key among these was the tour booking process, which was transformed using UX best practices such as a single-column layout, clearer labels, and elimination of unnecessary fields. This new process included dynamic custom fields and real-time integration with Eloqua, enabling immediate enrollment in marketing campaigns and personalized suggestions based on geo-location.
- Sitecore Upgrades and Optimization:
- Upgrade to Sitecore 10.1 headless: We upgraded Amica’s Sitecore instance to improve functionality and stability.
- Code and Architecture Refactoring: The code base and information architecture were refined to eliminate redundant data structures and unused components, significantly enhancing system efficiency.
- Accessibility and SEO Improvements: Multiple enhancements were implemented to meet SEO objectives and ensure WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance, particularly on all lead generation forms.
- Digital Asset Management:
Transition to Bynder: We replaced the outdated DAM system with Bynder, a modern, cloud-based solution that supports advanced image formats and prepares the platform for future demands.
Results: A modern web presence that drives value
The engagement produced exceptional results for Amica Senior Lifestyles, including:
- The number of outages decreased by 90.38%, and uptime increased to 99.99%.
- Performance scores increased significantly from 73% to 93%.
- Costs on Azure were reduced by over 50% through a comprehensive audit and strategic allocation of resources tailored to Amica’s specific use case.
- The revamped lead generation forms have not only enhanced user engagement but also significantly increased the quality of digital leads.
- Conversion rates have soared by 75%, while abandonment rates have dropped by 3.6% compared to the previous period.
- Enhanced SEO and accessibility to WCAG 2.0 Level AA.
TechGuilds Super Care™is a composable approach to Sitecore application managed services. It’s a package of Sitecore services that includes everything you need and nothing you don’t. The package is customizable and can include anything from technical solution audit, DX strategy and design, ongoing development and enhancement, 24/7 SLA Sitecore support, modernizing to a composable and headless architecture, and Sitecore training.