NHR Group

NHR Group, New Zealand’s leading commercial vehicle rental and leasing company, is undergoing a significant growth phase. During this period of growth, their website hasn’t kept up and was in need of an overhaul. Faced with challenges such as outdated Drupal CMS and poor mobile responsiveness, NHR’s Strategic Growth partner, Colab Connects partnered with Black Sheep Creative for a website overhaul.

Challenges:

• Rapid expansion strained the original website, which was designed for a single location.
• Lack of mobile optimisation and poor information architecture impacted usability and SEO.
• The impending brand redesign and an outdated CMS complicated content updates.

The Black Sheep Creative team undertook a lightweight discovery phase, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of challenges and requirements. Data relationships were mapped to optimise user experiences for both administrators and visitors.

Black Sheep’s lead website designer Adrian Neal crafted a high-fidelity wireframe prototype, emphasising the booking user journey. The UI design layer focused on mobile-first design, incorporating NHR’s branding, and ensuring seamless off-site booking functions through RCM.

Built on the latest version of Silverstripe CMS, the architecture prioritised flexibility for administrators and future functionality. The development team utilised flexible libraries and Silverstripe’s ORM for robust and flexible code. The drag-and-drop elemental blocks allow for easy content population and ultimate flexibility. 

With Colab Connects overseeing client-side development, the NHR Group website was delivered within four months, meeting timelines and budget. The smooth transition on November 9th, 2023, garnered positive feedback, with no downtime or loss of inquiries.

Future-proofed features include eCommerce integration, location expansion, and a scalable architecture, ensuring long-term return on investment, while ongoing SEO improvements are planned for sustained growth.