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Dog and small children in the back of a car
Dog and small children in the back of a car

Transforming outstanding content into an excellent user experience

Driving with Dogs had a loyal community of members, but also an aging, non-responsive website and an unsupported backend. We rethought the project from the ground up and developed a bespoke platform where members find key information in seconds.

Client
Driving with Dogs
Launch Date
October 2018
Project Scope
Branding
User Experience
Bespoke Development
API Integration
SEO
Live Website

About the client

Driving with Dogs is a membership website that lists places to walk your dog. It focuses on walks near motorway junctions so you can find a really good spot to walk your dogs on long journeys, instead of making do with a service station car park.

Since 2008 they’ve developed a large and loyal membership base, a huge number of walks listed (over 3,000 in the UK and France), and received rave reviews for the service.

Their problem was a 10 year old website that was creaking and on the verge of collapse. Features had stopped working, it used Flash (which was no longer supported in most web browsers), and was well overdue an upgrade.

Discovering the road to success

Early discussions revealed a lot of options available, such as a mobile app, an update of the existing website, or a complete re-think of everything. As the members were the key to this project, we started with a survey to find out what they thought.

The results showed that users wanted to find walks on the move, but still be able to plan journeys in advance from home. Based on these results, we knew we needed to rethink the entire project from scratch, improve User Experience and make finding walks a quick, simple task whether you’re sat at a desk at home or passenger in a car on your mobile.

Survey results as part of the Driving with Dogs project

A new, modern brand

We all agreed that the Driving with Dogs was lacking a real identity. There was an existing logo that was not really workable at smaller sizes or in print, and the visual branding didn’t really extend beyond a rather outdated logo.

Using the insights gained from our customer research, we developed a new brand identity that was playful and fun, just the right tone for their target audience - but still in keeping with the style current members had loved.

Initial concept and final verison of the Driving with Dogs logo
Light sea green
#17B1AF
Medium turquoise
#4AD7D5
Lime
#9BC51F
Bubbles
#E7FFFF
Light grey
#F7F7F7
Midnight
#1A1A1A

Developing a system and building on the existing community

User experience was the key to success with this website. The whole strategy was to make it simple, easy and fun to be part of the DwD community. We developed a route planner with GPS technology to make finding walks easy, both in advance and on the move.

We also introduced a “treats” reward system to encourage users to engage by contributing their own reviews, photos and new walks. This includes a leaderboard for the most active members, and rewards for every 100 Treat points earned.

Assortment of ui elements used on Driving with Dogs

Driving forward

The search interface is the very first thing users see on the home page. No more digging around or needing extensive knowledge of motorway junctions to find the best walks for your dogs.

Live Website
Screenshot of the Driving with Dogs homepage

Numbers that make your tail wag

The new website has revitalised the Driving with Dogs membership base, and has had a big influx of new subscribing members too.

The huge improvements in User Experience and SEO have made it incredibly simple to subscribe and start using the website, and the restructure of pricing and new rewards system has given people extra incentives to be part of the community.

Graph showing the revenue comparision between the old and new websites

Statistics from the first 12 months

671%
Increase in members
280%
Revenue increase
82%
More traffic
383%
Conversion rate change

How do you choose a web design team?

For a small business without technical know-how it means you have to kiss a lot of frogs in suits before you finally reach the people who really can deliver on their promises. It took us over two years to find Edge of the Web and they were definitely worth waiting for.

Edge of the Web has in-house people with impressive technical skills, and clever designers. But what sets them apart is the ability to communicate with clients, the integrity to do the best for the project and not waste time and money on short-term solutions, and the willingness to listen and understand a brief.

For us, Edge of the Web have become trusted allies over time and we’d unreservedly recommend them.

Lezli Rees
Lezli Rees
Owner
Screenshot of the Driving with Dogs package page

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