Website redesign boasts improved UX, accessibility and responsiveness for Excel Communications

The Challenge

Excel Communications, a US-based Learning & Development (L&D) solutions provider faced challenges related to their website’s performance and usability. Their site suffered from an outdated user experience, poor accessibility and mobile responsiveness. The website also lacked the functionality needed  to implement the changes their team wanted to see.

The company needed a website that reflected their evolving brand identity, delivered persona-aligned user journey and had a sitemap and navigation that made it easier for visitors to find key information.

SpotDev responded by applying user-centered design principles and leveraging HubSpot’s CMS platform to create a scalable, conversion-oriented website.

The Solution

There were multiple components to the redesign which included:

Custom website template and content migration

SpotDev custom-coded a new HubSpot template for Excel’s website that better aligned with their brand vision.

The development team also built a component library, which included building responsive page templates, modules, and navigation components to provide a modern user experience on all devices and screen sizes. SpotDev also fully supported content migration from Excel's existing website to the new theme - which preserved SEO value and facilitated the immediate use of the new website without delay.

A major benefit to the project was maintaining HubSpot as the Excel's website CMS, meaning that the project could leverage HubSpot's built-in marketing & integrations, while deploying a completely custom theme.

User journey and navigation support

A key component of the redesign was the website's navigation and menu structure planning, ensuring a more intuitive menu for users and improving the flow of the user journey.

SpotDev also mapped Excel's website visitors' experience and sought to enhance the user journey with a revised content strategy and sitemap architecture. This process helped to guide visitors more effectively through conversion paths.

Visual identity and accessibility

Visual improvements included new page designs (e.g. a revamped homepage and interior templates for pages such as "About"; "Services"; "Blog posts") with the emphasis being on UX rather than solely on aesthetics. Excel’s existing brand elements (logo, colors, etc.) were refined rather than completely reinvented. The outcome was a modernised look that aligned with the company’s brand, without a complete overhaul.

New homepage: Excel Communications

Previous homepage: Excel Communications

In terms of accessibility, SpotDev conducted cross-browser testing and optimisation, which is the process of ensuring a website looks consistent, functions correctly and performs well, resulting in faster load times. Another core focus was improving contrast (brightness) and navigation for screen readers.

QA, SEO and analytics

Rigorous quality assurance (QA) is part of SpotDev's process with every project. Excel's was no different. The QA and performance testing included the functional testing of forms and dynamic content, as well as ensuring SEO basics were covered (page titles, metadata, redirects as needed). Due to the fact that Excel's website is built on the HubSpot CMS, it naturally synced with its CRM and marketing tools. This gave Excel the insight into user engagement like their team wanted.

Going a step further, SpotDev conducted training with Excel's team on advanced HubSpot analytics and SEO enabling their team to leverage the full capabilities of their new website.

Project timeline overview:

• November 2024 - Jan 2025 (Planning & sign-off)

 Excel's website project is scoped & the proposal is signed

• March 2025 (Project kick-off)

SpotDev hosts strategic workshops & discovery, including user journey mapping, content strategy development, sitemap planning and accessibility optimisation.

• April 2025 (Design phase)

Key outputs included a redesigned homepage and templates for other key pages for example, "About"; "Services"; "Blog posts" created with a focus on user experience (UX) & user interface (UI) best practices.

• May 2025 (Development & Testing)

Developers built a custom HubSpot CMS theme based on approved designs, making sure they were responsive across all devices and had cross-browser compatibility. SpotDev also migrated content from Excel's previous website to its newly built one. At this stage, Excel's new website also underwent a thorough QA.

• June 2025 (Launch)

Excel Communications' new website was launched in late Q2 2025.

The Results

Client satisfaction with the new website was a notable win, with Tom Hallett, Managing Director of Excel Communications praising the guidance and advisory role of the SpotDev team on website design & development best practice. 

The team also celebrated the fact that their website remained on the HubSpot CMS. This meant that they could easily update the content and skipped the learning curve of having to learn to use a new content management system - which was a key consideration for this project.