Case studies
Real engagements, real outcomes. Every case study here is drawn from actual client work, anonymised where confidentiality requires it. Several are charities; if you run one, the checklist for charity trustees distils what these projects have in common.
47 case studies
How a digital agency won bigger work without hiring anyone
Agency
ProblemA West Yorkshire agency wanted bigger clients and assumed that meant hiring first.
ResultWon a £120k financial services project, then a run of larger accounts, with the team the same size.
DiagnoseDeliver
How a full-service agency grew retained client revenue 166%
Agency
ProblemA nine-person Leeds agency living pitch to pitch while the clients it already had drifted away.
ResultRetained client revenue up 166%, project efficiency up 230%, retention now the main revenue source.
DiagnoseLead
Opening up public sector work for a digital agency
Agency
ProblemA South Yorkshire agency wanted public sector work and had no idea how to compete for it.
Result£120k of public sector work won, on a tender approach and reusable templates the agency runs without me.
DiagnoseLead
St Modwen Homes: a twelve month digital reset
Property
ProblemA housebuilder asking at the start of lockdown how to significantly accelerate its digital capability.
ResultEnquiries up 234% year on year, and the site replatformed for £22,560 against a £50-80k agency proposal.
DiagnoseAdviseDeliver
A Yorkshire housebuilder: nine years on the client's side of the table
Property
ProblemA housebuilder selling 1,000+ homes a year with a website, some AdWords and no reliable measurement.
Result£16.6m of revenue and 110 home sales attributed to digital in ten months, with sessions up 75%.
DiagnoseAdviseDeliver
A stockbroker whose own staff called its website "frustrating", handed a plan to catch up.
Financial services
ProblemA long-established stockbroker falling behind, with 60% of its own staff calling the website frustrating.
ResultAn evidence-based strategy and roadmap for a full rebuild, answering the online-trading question with client demand.
DiagnoseAdvise
A firm that thought its website converted at 2% was really at 0.4%. I built the strategy to fix it.
Financial services
ProblemA foreign exchange firm believed its website converted at nearly 2%.
ResultThe real figure was 0.4%, with mobile near zero: an honest baseline and a brief for a responsive rebuild.
DiagnoseAdvise
140 websites, an in-house team at capacity, and a plan to hand it all over cleanly.
Financial services
ProblemA 140-website estate for independent insurance brokers, run by a small in-house team that had reached its limit.
ResultA documented handover to a specialist agency, phased under FCA compliance, without disrupting a single broker client.
DiagnoseAdviseDeliver
Building a category, a brand and a website in ten weeks
SME
ProblemAn early stage software company with a working product and no category to sell it in.
ResultStrategy to a staged site in 10 weeks: 52 help centre articles, 30 brand images, 3 WCAG 2.2 AA fixes.
Advise
How a struggling agency lifted pitch conversion 40% and got acquired
Agency
ProblemA Yorkshire agency of eight, flat on turnover and profit three years running.
ResultPitch conversion up 40%, over half of turnover from long-term clients, and a buyout offer.
DiagnoseLead
How coaching cut a digital agency's proposal time in half
Agency
ProblemA ten-person Leeds agency losing money before it won the work, delivering across fifteen systems.
ResultTime spent on proposals and tenders cut by 50%, with more repeat business and lower tool costs.
DiagnoseLead
Fixing delivery at a fast-growing digital agency
Agency
ProblemA £5m, 70-person agency with online delivery straining to keep up with its own growth.
ResultIts largest project shipped on time and to budget in three months, opening the door to Persimmon Group work.
DiagnoseDeliver
Managing a major website project for a national law firm
Legal
ProblemA national firm rebuilding around 17,000 pages with no shared view of what was on them.
ResultAn evidence-led brief from a full crawl, a GA4 review and thirteen peers, and an agency chosen on fit.
DiagnoseDeliver
Central government: large scale digital transformation
Not-for-profit
ProblemDepartments had each bought their own CMS, leaving inconsistent technology, duplicated cost and no joined-up governance.
ResultA £2.5m programme across 41 websites and multiple departments, with governance where there had been none.
AdviseDeliver
Superbreak: commercial digital transformation
Travel
ProblemA £140m short break operator that lived or died by its website, with digital, technology and ecommerce all to run.
ResultOnline revenue roughly doubled, from about £40m to more than £80m, in around three years.
AdviseDeliver
Helping digital agencies deliver better
Agency
ProblemAgencies grow faster than they can deliver: the way of working that ran fine at ten people creaks at forty.
ResultDelivery rebuilt across teams of 70-plus, with 3 project managers recruited and programmes up to £450k run properly.
LeadDeliver
Tech for social good: a digital audit case study
CharityNot-for-profit
ProblemA three-person charity with an app idea, a suggestion algorithm and no platform to audit.
ResultA phased scope with the question of proof moved to the front, before any money went into the algorithm.
DiagnoseAdvise
DementiaNet: building a dementia support platform people actually use
CharityHealth
ProblemAfter a dementia diagnosis nobody hands you a map, and the support is spread across dozens of places.
Result5,743 sessions from 3,659 people in year one, with organic search the largest channel.
Advise
Eleven responses. Three on the pitch day. One agency appointed in eight weeks.
Legal
ProblemEleven agency responses to an RFP for a mid six figure build, and no way to compare them consistently.
ResultAppointed in 48 days, with no scope dispute and no re-quoting after kick off.
Advise
How a mid size regional UK law firm grew online enquiries by 190% without rebuilding their website
Legal
ProblemThe agency reported 640 leads a year, Google Analytics showed 78, and nobody had defined a lead.
ResultOnline enquiries up 190% year on year, from around 182 to 529. No rebuild, no rebrand.
DiagnoseAdvise
Four years, two websites, one consultant: rebuilding digital marketing for a UK foreign exchange firm.
Financial services
ProblemTwo websites, two audiences, one small team, and most digital revenue from a single comparison site.
ResultOrganic conversion from 0.51% to over 6%, and overall site conversion roughly doubled.
Advise
55 digital audits. Here’s what I found.
SME
Problem55 small and medium businesses, 11 sectors, the same digital problems in almost every one.
Result728 pages of reports: 76% had SEO issues, 69% ran client data on spreadsheets, 64% failed on mobile.
DiagnoseAdvise
From fragmented activity to an integrated digital marketing engine
Property
ProblemSEO, paid search and email in three silos, three budgets, no shared data and no view of what sold.
ResultSite visitors up 147% over 18 months, with qualified leads from 12% of enquiries to 31%.
DiagnoseAdvise
Six months. One defendable brief. A website worth pricing properly.
Legal
ProblemA global firm agreed its website was not working and could not agree on why.
ResultA 41 question RFP, five personas and fifteen journeys, so the build was priced against a document.
Advise
Global law form – digital strategy preparation
Legal
ProblemA firm about to commit to a redesign with no evidence for what the new site had to do.
Result59+ artefacts reviewed, 12+ peers benchmarked, four CMS platforms evaluated, one strategic blueprint.
Advise
Global law firm – digital audit
Legal
ProblemGA4 and Search Console misconfigured, reporting outsourced, and a site built around internal logic.
ResultA roadmap for measurable improvement, and cross-department conversations that had not been happening.
DiagnoseAdvise
Case Study: DementiaNet – Bridging the Gaps in Dementia Support
CharityHealth
ProblemNo single reference point for anyone affected by dementia after a diagnosis.
ResultDementiaNet live in November 2024, built on 750+ respondents, now running at 2,000 to 3,000 visits a month.
AdviseDeliver
Configurator – house builder
Property
ProblemBuyers choosing from minimal option lists, then replacing the fixtures soon after moving in.
ResultCross sales up 55%, on a configurator carrying 35,000+ options across 20 house types.
AdviseDeliver
Charity coaching
Charity
ProblemA community foundation running grant-making by hand: applications, assessment, payments, tracking.
ResultGrant applications completed in 50% of the time, on an online portal with a single record per grant.
Lead
Wildlife Trust – customer journey mapping
CharityNot-for-profit
ProblemSupporters getting the same communication regardless of what they cared about, and staff typing the admin.
ResultCommunication matched to interest, attendance and volunteering both up, and admin time back to conservation.
Advise
Fund management system
Charity
ProblemA charity fund of over £12m run on software that made the team flick between screens for one entry.
ResultGrant processing time cut by 50%, on a system specified from what it had to do rather than from a tech stack.
AdviseDeliver
High end drinks ecommerce strategy
SME
ProblemA drinks platform wanting AI search by taste, price and region, plus a delivery partner it could rely on.
ResultLaunched with the AI search live and the delivery partner integrated, after a soft launch.
AdviseDeliver
Devon Wildlife Trust – digital review
CharityNot-for-profit
ProblemA previous digital review had come back as a single page with no actions and no information.
ResultA Digital Integration Plan over 6 weeks, with a roadmap and costed internal and external resources.
DiagnoseAdvise
Conveyancing lawyers – strategy
Legal
ProblemA conveyancing firm fielding enquiries that had nothing to do with the services it offered.
ResultLead conversion from 12% to over 40%, with quality leads up over 30%.
DiagnoseAdvise
Lawyers – digital strategy
Legal
ProblemThe same website for over five years, with paid traffic going to landing pages disconnected from it.
ResultConversion across the site up 333% in the first six months after the remedial work.
Advise
Care home charity – digital strategy
CharityHealth
ProblemA care home charity on an old WordPress build with a bespoke theme nobody could update.
ResultA tender to Charity Commission standards, delivered on time and to budget, with the care teams owning it.
Advise
Digital transformation; a housebuilders story
Property
ProblemA housebuilder's website rebuild quoted on the wrong costs, the wrong platform and the wrong plan.
ResultA new WordPress site in under 7 weeks at a considerable saving, with all contracts in the client's control.
AdviseDeliver
Insurance Group – CMS
Financial services
Problem12 standalone WordPress hub sites maintained by hand, on a shortlist over-specified and licensed per site.
ResultRenegotiated to Kentico Xperience with unlimited domains, before the client pulled the budget in house.
AdviseDeliver
CIPHER Medical
Health
ProblemA medical training and logistics business swamped by Covid volumes on a site that could carry neither.
ResultOverall goal conversion from 0.3% to over 3.5%, delivered in under 8 weeks within the agreed quote.
Deliver
Redmayne Bentley
Financial services
ProblemAn agency pitching for a stockbroking account against two others, with assertion rather than evidence.
ResultThe contract won, valued at over £100k, on a response structured around research.
AdviseDeliver
Halo Financial – migration to Kentico CMS
Financial services
ProblemA site on old technology that marketing could not update without IT support.
ResultMigrated to Kentico in 3 months, sales up over 12%, and marketing editing the site itself.
AdviseDeliver
Travis Perkins Online Strategy
Property
ProblemA national builder's merchant with over 1800 trade counters, a long way behind competitors online.
ResultA strategy for one division to prove out first, built on market position, search behaviour and journeys.
Advise
Emigrate2
Financial services
ProblemA leading emigration information site taking 30K visitors a month on very old technology.
ResultSales up over 12% on a responsive rebuild, while the full customer journey was reviewed.
Advise
Halo Financial
Financial services
ProblemA new site being designed with its structure unchecked until after the build.
ResultArchitecture and usability problems found at wireframe stage, in a relationship running nearly 10 years.
Advise
Hotelnet
Travel
ProblemA hotel search brand running on ColdFusion with a history going back to the late 1990s.
ResultReplatformed to .NET MVC on the Superbreak web services feed, with the search history preserved.
Deliver
Needlecase
SME
ProblemA bricks and mortar wool and sewing shop needing an ecommerce site on a very modest budget.
ResultPage 1 of search for the majority of targeted keywords, delivered on budget and on time.
AdviseDeliver
Charles Church Case Study
Property
ProblemA housebuilder wanting to lead the market out of recession rather than shout about itself.
ResultA COINS-integrated site plan with live plot availability, and a major increase in viewing bookings.
Advise
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