Background
Client: Software Solutions
Industry: Accounting Software
Company Size: 500 Employees
Location: Dayton, OH
Software Solutions is a cloud-based accounting, HR, payroll, and utility billing software designed for local government and utility organizations. Through their line of adaptable products, Software Solutions provides a single source for financial software, hardware, and cloud-related services for their clients.
The Challenge
After the launch of their redesigned website, Software Solutions saw a need to refresh and improve their customer support site, support.mysoftwaresolutions.com, which had been built on WordPress six years prior. In addition to cosmetic updates, the team was eager to resolve challenges the cobbled-together system created over time. Customers weren’t effectively using articles in the knowledge base, resulting in an unnecessarily heavy call volume for the support team.
Software Solutions wanted to expand customer use of its knowledge base articles, reduce the number of support calls coming in, and establish a scalable and reliable customer portal that their internal team could easily manage for years to come. They reached out to Blue Frog to redesign and restructure their customer portal with these goals in mind.
Difficult to Navigate
As Software Solutions’ products evolved, the team was diligent about releasing knowledge base articles. However, the previous system lacked an intuitive organization, and the knowledge base was difficult to navigate. As a result, their customers struggled to find answers on their own and often had to call for support.
Multiple Platforms to Manage
The previous portal configuration relied on multiple platforms and several third-party plugins to operate. This limited the data they could track, created delays in site updates, and delivered a disjointed user experience.
Limited Internal Knowledge
Because the previous system was so complex, it was difficult to train multiple employees to manage and update the portal. Additionally, its delicate setup increased the risk of errors occurring in the update process. As a result, very few individuals were capable of maintaining the site.
"Looking back, the challenges posed by our previous website setup were clear. With multiple applications and unique formatting, the simplest updates were tedious. The system, while accessible, required an understanding that only few possessed. Fast forward to today, and we’ve engineered a complete transformation. Our new portal is a testament to streamlined functionality, where the once complicated process has been simplified to a point where anyone can contribute. It’s not just an update; it’s a practical evolution in accessibility and user-friendliness."
Shandon Bissell | Software Solutions
The Solution
Blue Frog redesigned and rebuilt the support.mysoftwaresolution.com portal using HubSpot’s CMS Hub. To support Software Solutions’ goals, Blue Frog focused on solutions that made finding answers easier and updating the portal simple and scalable.
Strategic Organization
Blue Frog reorganized the information in the portal and removed the clutter to help customers find what they need efficiently. They implemented a navigational strategy based on the product the user purchased, the specific tools within the products, and the action the user is trying to take within the software.
"During the reconstruction of our customer support website, we confronted a pivotal challenge. The preceding platform relied on a third-party search tool, which led to an intricate indexing process and inability to update the platform. The previous articles lacked comprehensive categorization, resulting in the effective burial of valuable knowledge base articles. In response, Blue Frog did a comprehensive overhaul, aligning our approach with the organizational strategies that our support team uses when handling tickets."
Shandon Bissel | Software Solutions
Migration to HubSpot
Because the new pages were created in HubSpot, the Software Solutions team can efficiently edit and scale the site over time using HubSpot’s native drag-and-drop functionality within the developed templates. To configure the main site and the knowledge base articles, Blue Frog used a combination of website pages and blog articles.
