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Welcome to an All-New Connective.ca

After extensive research, feedback, and data analysis, Connective has a brand-new website. We are incredibly proud to share it with you.

Feb 28 2023 | Connective

Man smiling with people in the background

In November 2021 we changed our name to Connective. It was an exciting and carefully considered decision, and is a name that more closely aligns with who we have become as an organization, that better encompasses our evolving story, and that more accurately reflects the breadth of our services. In short, it is a name that captures all that we are, and all that we do. 

 

Over the months that followed our transition to Connective, it was heartwarming to see how enthusiastically our service users, communities, and partners embraced this change. In the spring and fall of 2022, we were honoured to invite teams in Kamloops and Nanaimo to share our Connective name and brand. Together, we are serving more people in more places than ever before and are proud of all we’ve been able to accomplish in support of our communities.

 

As our name and visual identity evolved, we knew that we wanted our online presence here at connective.ca to evolve along with it.

 

That’s why, over much of the last year, we were hard at work in close collaboration with a team of web design and development specialists, and why last week we were so excited to launch our brand-new website. This redesign and rebuild is the product of extensive research, feedback from our teams and communities, and analysis of website usage data; we are incredibly proud to share the result with you.

 

Our innovative new look and layout better reflects our programs and services; more effectively points service users, supporters, and potential employees to available opportunities; and presents Connective in a way that is more accessible than ever before.

 

We encourage you to explore the new site and see all it has to offer, but wanted to highlight a few key updates, along with some of the data that informed our decisions.

Digging into the Data

Two graphs, showing a breakdown of website traffic by age group and by gender

A key part of any website rebuild is understanding who is using your website, and how. Through some basic demographic data, we can see that our website is most commonly being accessed by those in the 25-34 age group, and that a majority of users are men. These stats reflect similar patterns in Connective’s service user population, though those numbers are shifting as we continue to offer a greater variety of programs in response to a greater variety of community needs.

A pictograph showing the breakdown of website traffic from mobile devices versus desktops

While our website traffic is still primarily from individuals on a desktop computer (roughly 64%), there is also a significant percentage of users who are browsing on a mobile device (phone or tablet – roughly 34%). This made it clear that an intuitive and engaging mobile experience was an important consideration, and we’re proud of the balance we have achieved.

A graphical breakdown of the most popular pages, and most popular service pages on our website, by percentage of website traffic

As we examined the flow of traffic on our website, it gave us some interesting insight into the pages and topics most commonly accessed by visitors, and some ideas on how to highlight and structure pieces of our new site to better allow people to get where they wanted to go.

A website heat map, showing that a lot of visitors use the contact button

Website ‘Heat Maps’ provide a unique way of looking at the pieces of a website that see the most interest. The examples above and below depict our old website – the ‘warmer’ the section, the more traffic it received. This information helped us better understand what our website users were accessing and informed how we structured and foregrounded key parts of our new website.

A website heat map showing that lots of visitors are interested in our embedded social media content

Digging into the Feedback

During our research phase, it was important that our decisions were based in data, but we also wanted to ensure we were hearing from people directly. In wanting to better understand the needs and desires of those using our site, as well as any pain points with our old one, we conducted a survey. Below are just a few highlights of what we heard.

“The wide breadth of programs is a positive, but it can be confusing to navigate.”

– Challenges with our old website

“The website suffers from a lack of differentiation between locations.”

– Challenges with our old website

“People should be able to easily find exactly what they’re looking for, to minimize search frustration.”

– Opportunities for our new website

“Would be great to see info for a lot of folks – from prospective clients, to funders, and curious citizens.”

– Opportunities for our new website

“I love the videos that give a more in-depth explanation of the services and clients – more of that content would be great.”

– Opportunities for our new website

All the above, plus a whole lot more thought, intention, and best practice, went into crafting the new website you see today. Aside from a general visual redesign, we are proud to introduce other user-friendly features, including a revamped Careers page and multiple ways to find the information you’re looking for.

Digging into what’s New

With a complete visual overhaul, a structure that better highlights our programs and regions, and an innovative and robust filtering system, this new site will help individuals seeking information or service find exactly what they’re looking for.

 

The best way to see what’s new is to explore. But, for those interested in a guided tour, there are a few things in particular that we’re eager to highlight.

 

A major focus for this redesign project was making sure that anyone visiting connective.ca can find what they are looking for with ease. To support this, we’ve organized the website along a few different lines, including by service type and by community.

 

A screen capture showing the services section of our website

A screen capture showing the communities section of our website

Everyone has a different reason for visiting connective.ca. For those seeking service, a community-first way of exploring our programs and supports might be most useful for finding what’s available near them, but for those seeking general information on our organization, a service-first way of searching might give them the bird’s eye view they’re after. Whatever your need, we hope our new website makes finding it quick and seamless.

Going beyond the overarching ways that we’ve catalogued our programs and services, we wanted to ensure that however you chose to explore, you’d have the right tools to get where you’re going. Our new filtering system does just that, allowing you to choose specific regions, service categories, and services to highlight.

 

A screen capture showing the filtering tools on our website

Filters have become a common tool for easily navigating online shopping, and more, so why not here, too? With filters come flexibility, and our regional, service category, and service filters give users the tools they need to focus in on exactly what they want, while clearing away everything else.

Finally, as our organization continues to meet the needs of communities across BC and the Yukon, recruitment remains a major focus. Our revamped and culture-driven Careers page will help guarantee that as our Connective team continues to grow, we do so with the help of talented, passionate, and values-aligned individuals.

 

A screen capture showing the careers page on our website

A screen capture showing the careers page on our website

 

In addition to highlighting new career opportunities, we wanted this page to convey who we are as a Connective community. Working here means joining a team of passionate individuals that will lift you up and challenge you to grow. We work hard to support our communities but know that supporting one another is just as important. We celebrate each win, recognize each milestone, and find the fun in the everyday. Sharing some of this organizational personality felt like an important way of connecting with those interested in exploring a potential future at Connective.

There’s a whole lot more to explore at the new connective.ca. We invite you to look around, and hope you enjoy learning a bit more about us, and our communities.

 

Now that the site has launched, the work doesn’t stop. Looking ahead, we’re excited to bring some additional accessibility features online in the weeks to come, as well as building out the program information for our team on Vancouver Island.

 

If you have any questions or comments about our new website, please feel free to reach out using our contact form.