The smarter way to
manage your property
Marketing, Website, 2023-24
Marketing assets, UI Design, Development
Slow loading speeds negatively impacted user experience and SERP ranking. Smartphones account for 60.67% of all website traffic, underscoring the crucial need for mobile optimisation, which is often overlooked due to a desktop-only focus.
An inconsistent design system caused a lack of scalability and other critical design issues. A disorganised main page led to long load times, affecting the website's performance.
A conflict between the design style and branding concept needed to be clarified for users.
Smarthost is one of the UK's fastest-growing expert property management companies, specialising in short, medium, and long lets. Since launching in 2016, the company has managed over 215,000 stays and earned over £45 million in revenue for its clients and property partners.
The brand needed a new website that showcased Smarthost and communicated their USP.
Smart Host sought to evolve its online identity to resonate with both businesses and individual consumers.
The project launched with a design sprint, which was a powerful way to harness the essence of the B2C/B2B offering.
After running an immersion session with Smarthost, we uncovered their core and immediate creative goals:
Be more dynamic.
Drive traffic to their direct site.
Position them as an industry leader.
Additionally, our experts implemented some of the competitors' features the client found compelling, such as CTA elements and text hints that make navigation easier.
Having planned the work process, we analysed similar websites, carefully identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Because most other players in this field needed more consistency and modernity in their style, we decided to implement a colour palette with clearly defined accents and brand fonts.
Our designers aimed to create something vibrant but totally refreshing. We went with royal purple, offset with a subtle use of gold, which together invoke a feeling of opportunity and prestige. By blending these with a touch of black, all against a simple white background, we get a stunning colour palette that is classy and modern at the same time.
We opted for simple icons and 2D graphics to maintain a user-friendly vibe. Strategically placed metrics create stories without words and make every click on the website engaging and informative. Our designers created an intuitive hierarchy, making the site more organised and structured. Illustrations, in turn, kept everything accessible and helped visitors navigate.
The goal was not only to increase the client base and franchisees and improve retention but also to enrich the user experience and encourage visitors to come back again and again as a go-to service for rental support.
Building a creative website that reflects a brand's personality is difficult when content management systems restrict their customisation options.
Smarthost needed a responsive, fast, and user-friendly website to ensure it contributed to growing the business.
With the new website, Smarthost can now represent their brand value more accurately.
The Smarthost team is happy with how easy managing the website's content is now.
We leveraged multiple marketing channels to attract users and drive them to download the new Smarthost website, maximising reach and effectiveness.
With the website fully developed and polished to perfection, Smarthost was ready to make its mark on the digital landscape. Formeta's team set to work on the marketing site.
As part of this strategy, we implemented custom geolocation API services to seamlessly direct users to the appropriate regional sites, ensuring a tailored experience for each market.
We collaborate with Smarthost on their membership offering, providing ongoing monthly support focusing on growth-driven marketing and site maintenance. Our partnership is guided by an ambitious, forward-thinking growth strategy, helping the brand expand into multiple international markets.
Are the Smarthost team happy with their collobaration with Fourmeta?
Let's ask them!
What struck us most about Fourmeta was their unwavering commitment to meeting challenging deadlines and seamlessly aligning with our brand identity guidelines. They demonstrated a unique combination of creativity and technical expertise, translating into exceptional web development and design solutions. Their dedication to innovative projects, like the Smarthost Interactive Map Platform, highlights their forward-thinking approach.
The workflow between our internal team and the Fourmeta experts proved exceptionally effective. Their team upheld open and efficient lines of communication, ensuring that project objectives were met and achieved within the designated timelines. This collaborative and transparent approach has played a pivotal role in fostering our successful partnership.
This case study highlights how a well-executed, comprehensive strategy can drive significant growth in the competitive property rental management market.
The partnership between Smarthost and Fourmeta has been a winning formula. The unified approach to user acquisition, engagement, and retention has proven highly effective in meeting business goals. The remarkable growth in user base, conversion rates, and retention rates stands as a testament to this success.
