Creating a dual-purpose website and boosting visibility for a leading software company.

The new Iray Plugins website needed to serve two main functions: an online shop to explore and purchase the different plug-ins and to act as a comprehensive support tool for their users. It also needed to showcase the products, clearly explain the benefits, include a gallery of work their customers have created using their products, and provide a support forum for users' challenges.

The e-commerce part of the site needed two clear purchasing paths; to either purchase a licence or to download a free 30-day trial. 

To ensure that site functioned as required, we integrated the Stripe payment platform to take payments. We also integrated a live VAT lookup function to verify whether a company is using a valid VAT number, and it calculates the VAT rate based on the country selected. Once the transaction has been completed, a time-limited secure link is generated, allowing users to download the software from Amazon Web Services (AWS). A code is then sent separately so they can activate their licence.

All transactions are stored in the bespoke CMS alongside the licence details. It also allows VAT invoices to be generated at the click of a button, so they can be sent to customers as required.

The site also had to act as a support tool for users, so we built in forums and design communities to help enhance the user’s overall experience of the product and encourage them to keep coming back to the website.

We designed a very visual website with a modern edge to fit in with their software market target audience. The overall look and feel is very image focused, helping to showcase the fantastic work that can be achieved through the use of the products. However, when containing a lot of imagery, websites can become slow to load, so to prevent this, we built in a ‘lazy load’ gallery function.

The website has dedicated areas for each product, with clear links from the homepage, so users can quickly and easily find the software relevant to them.

Whenever a new software release is ready, the team at Siemens can upload it quickly and securely via the bespoke CMS to Amazon Web Services (AWS), which then automatically updates the site and purchases emails. Hence, customers always get the latest version available.

Since launching the website, our Sheffield digital marketing team have delivered SEO services for Iray. This work includes regular reporting on acquisition and search engine visibility, demonstrating key opportunities for ranking improvements.