YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties

Website migration with an extensive function overhaul to improve the user experience

YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties set off to strengthen its communities and connect its people through activities and events. They create opportunities for people to thrive in an inclusive, open environment. Five Jars was hired to help them achieve this mission online – through an overhaul of their website and by integrating sophisticated, new functions.

  

1

month

Launched a website within short timeline

400

pages

Simplified sitemap from over than 3,200 pages

+10%

Increase in avg. session duration

Improved average session duration by 10%

-5%

Lowered bounce rate

Lowered bounce rate from 40% to 35%

A new user interface facilitating interaction

At the very beginning of this journey, Five Jars had been assessing the user requirements and the user journeys. With this understanding of what the client and its users expect as well as how they use the platform, we have chosen a ready-made theme of the Open Y environment and adapted it to the client’s and users’ requirements. By choosing a readily available theme, Five Jars was able to fulfill the budget constraint of YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties while offering their users the most sophisticated user interface possible.

Image
Before and after

Earlier, the website had over 3,200 pages, and it was quite difficult to manage. We significantly simplified the structure of the website. Now it supports nine community centers, a virtual experience platform, and several offices, including the association’s office, the Center for Community Impact, child care offices, and a recent news page making content editing easier.

Improved user-centricity across the online presence
Customized theme implementation below maximum budget
Made mobile-friendly website

Open Y migration with future updates in mind

YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties has been an eager Open Y community member. However, without having done any major update to their old website, their technology environment became outdated and error-prone. Five Jars was hired to update their entire website in order to enable the running of all the necessary functionality. By updating their entire web presence, Five Jars introduced a user-centric approach to creating seamless user journeys.

For the migration to be successful, our developers focused on three main goals:

  • Create a system with which updating to future versions is timely and financially efficient
  • Re-structure their website to increase the user experience
  • Add modern sought-after functionalities to the website such as brand new program registration process, online membership and single sign-on
Improved functionality fostering user awareness
Decreased maintenance costs
Introduced agile methods to foster future improvement by the client

Schedules for a great number of events

As typical for YMCA’s, our client offers an extensive range of various events and activities such as workouts. The old website of YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties used a cumbersome list of events and places where these events take place. Five Jars’ developers recognized the tremendous impact a sophisticated scheduling page with the necessary functionality will have on the community – and our client. Therefore, our developers created a modern and intuitive page providing a simple overview over all upcoming events. We even went a step further and implemented a filtering functionality to simplify the way users search and find their desired content.

Image
Scheduling page
Simplified the organization of events leading to increased registrations
Decreased time required to add new events through intuitive backend
Simplified the schedules search journey

A website for the community

Consisting of many branches and locations, YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties offers varying content depending on a user’s location. Our developers were asked to enable users to find relevant content based on their location. Five Jars recognized that, while a certain part of content will vary from location to location, most of the content will be identical. We solved this challenge by developing specific filters and location pages where each and every user can choose their preferred location to see specific information such as opening hours of the community center and more. This approach keeps the website of YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties efficient and structured. When we had started with this migration project, we already knew that the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties will require a single sign-on solution to satisfy its members. To create a seamless solution, we have integrated TractionRec into their environment. By integrating TractionRec, we not only harnessed the power of Salesforce Single Sign-On, upon which TractionRec depends for its proper functioning but also made the personal account easily accessible from any website page.

Coherent presence across the organization
Increased user engagement by mapping user journeys
Improved accessibility of localized information

Program registrations made easy

We’ve mentioned it already – there are many great events and courses taking place. Five Jars was working hard on simplifying the search process through which a user finds the most suitable workout or event. Our solution: The Activity Finder.

Image
Activity finder

Integrated into the website, we’ve created a tool that enables users to indicate their age, day and time, location, and what kind of activity they like. Our Activity Finder will then return the most suitable activities fulfilling their personal constraints. Moreover, the activity finder not only helps users to discover relevant events but also simplifies the registration process through a couple-clicks registration!

Custom software fostering user engagement
Reduced the required support of the client to guide user through the process
Made Program Registration process accessible on mobile

Migration for the future

Five Jars migrated and overhauled an existing website to harness the power of sophisticated functionalities such as single sign-on and data analytics. One of the overarching goals, however, was to foster efficient updating in the future. As our client is a community-focused non-profit organization, a cost-efficient updating process is a must. Therefore, our developers created synergies wherever possible and created an intuitive user interface as well as a backend to simplify all processes. In addition to that, we migrated the entire content onto the new website and demonstrated the data analytics capabilities to our client.

Image
Join page

Deadline: One month

Such a project usually requires several months until completion. However, due to unique circumstances, YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties required the new website to be live within four weeks at the latest. Our developer went above and beyond everything to ensure our client the timely completion of their new web presence.

Long-term collaboration and further improvements

YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties has been entirely satisfied with our transparent approach and trustworthiness. They have been praising their final website on several occasions, namely a monthly web streaming event available here on YouTube as well as on Clutch.co.

Eventually, our collaboration resulted in a long-term collaboration. By living up to the user-centricity and client-centricity, we put unique requirements at the center point of the project.

Five Jars is truly a driver of success. Communication is important for any organization embarking on a project like this, and the Five Jars team is an incredible communicator. On top of that, their project management chops are some of the best ones I’ve ever experienced. Their support services are impressive; if there’s ever an issue, they deliver 24/7 support. Whether it’s an issue on the website or a hosting concern, they support us in every way, shape, or form. They’re absolutely outstanding.

© Kimberly Schulz, Senior Digital Experience Director, YMCA of Pierce & Kitsap Counties

More case studies

Image
Mount Vernon case study

George Washington’s Mount Vernon

A large website extension project which affects millions of people annually
George Washington’s Mount Vernon is the most popular historic estate in the United States with more than 85 million people having visited the estate since 1860. Five Jars has been collaborating with Mount Vernon since 2018 and is responsible for the digital advancement of the web environment. Together with our client, we create a user experience which blends into the excitement of visiting the landmark later in the user journey.
Image
YMCA of the North website teaser

YMCA of the North

A large website improvement project which required an extraordinarily diverse team to tackle all challenges successfully
In order to delight customers, increase impact and grow their organization, YMCA of the North hired Five Jars to carry out necessary development work as well as improve the user experience across its online presence. Five Jars evaluated the required steps and kicked the project off with a diverse project team.
Image
YNorth LMS-tease

Learning Management System

Transformation LMS from a landing page-based solution to a fully functioning learning platform
YMCA of the North teamed up with Five Jars and overhauled the LMS entirely by transforming it from a landing page-based solution to a fully functioning learning platform.
Image
0-SNS_teaser

Spooky Nook Sports

Integration of a new CRM system into the existing content management system (CMS) to increase the user experience.
Spooky Nook Sports recently transitioned to a new CRM system and identified various areas for improvement. Especially the UX design and the user journeys required an update to align with the overall desired website experience. Five Jars was hired to analyze the current state, identify areas for improvement and, eventually, integrate the required third-party functionalities.
Image
On-Demand Fitness Platform hero

On-Demand Health & Wellness Platform

First national on-demand Health & Wellness platform for YMCAs
The first national on-demand Health & Wellness platform for YMCAs had been launched just days after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States and lockdowns had been introduced. The goal of the Health & Wellness platform is to enable members and families to stay balanced through online workout sessions while their beloved local fitness clubs must remain closed.
Image
Teaser-MV Video Portal

Mount Vernon Video Portal

Re-design the way video content is presented and made accessible
George Washington’s Mount Vernon has been increasing its video production efforts to offer additional value to its visitors and members. Besides pre-recorded videos, Mount Vernon now offers live events and other captivating online experiences as well as a membership area with additional members-only content.
Image
Council for Exceptional Children

Council for Exceptional Children

Stunning and consistent website for the premier association for special education professionals
Full web presence redesign for a major educational association (Council for Exceptional Children), a professional association of educators focused on advancing the success of children with exceptionalities.

Five Jars went through the full cycle redesign with the CEC team to digitally transform their web presence and improve brand consistency across all platforms. We created a digital ecosystem for the CEC to host 70+ microsites and created an engaging, positive website visitor experience.
Image
Video automation tool made with Drupal

Video Automation Tool

Five Jars automated the video converting and reduced the time spent on these administrative tasks
Automating video content preparation efforts by creating a custom-made software tool. Five Jars was hired to automate the video preparation and reduce the time spent on these administrative tasks.
Image
Website for YMCA of Greater Brandywine

YMCA of Greater Brandywine

Simple, powerful, and innovative Open Y website that makes members happy
YMCA of Greater Brandywine encompasses eight YMCAs with more than 80,000 members across Chester County.

We worked with the YMCA to digitally transform their membership experience. Starting with a migration to the Open Y platform, we quickly followed with improved Group Exercise schedules, a streamlined program registration process, a digital signage launch with promotional and schedules screens, all while lowering expenses for future Open Y upgrades and digital signage software.
Image
YMCA of Greater Seattle

YMCA of Greater Seattle

Major YMCA drives engagement with an Open Y website
The YMCA of Greater Seattle fosters healthy living habits, and a strong sense of community in the Greater Seattle region through its 14 branches. YMCA of Greater Seattle is one of the key players in the Open Y community. We worked with the YMCA to digitally transform their membership experience, starting with Open Y migration. We also improved Group Exercise schedules, streamlined the program registration process. We are thrilled to have an excellent partnership that makes digital transformation possible for the YMCA of Greater Seattle as well as for the marvelous Open Y community.
Image
Digital Signage at YMCA workout

Digital Signage

Digital innovation delivered by Five Jars
The project brief was bursting with innovation opportunities. YMCA of the North desired to innovate the way they inform visitors about upcoming events as well as how to guide them through their buildings. Five Jars accepted the challenge to digitalize the offline processes and to create an engaging, new way of taking care of guests.
Image
Amazon Alexa skill for YMCA

Amazon Alexa Skill

Speak with the YMCA through your voice assistant
YMCA members are increasingly relying on mobile devices, voice assistants, and new channels of content delivery. YMCA associations need to stay ahead of the curve to ensure that they meet the needs of their members. Five Jars created an Amazon Alexa skill that allows users to interact with YMCA content through conversational, natural language, and shows off a variety of new features.
Image
Channel Islands YMCA

Channel Islands YMCA

Fresh Open Y website boosts web traffic and revenue
Channel Islands YMCA has maintained eight replicated WordPress websites with its growth. The project's main goal was to consolidate all websites to one primary site with branch landing pages and create one-off pages from each landing page. Launched Open Y website simplified website navigation, enhanced content management experience increased website traffic, revenue, and streamlined user journeys.
Image
Man doing yoga on the floor

The Virtual Y

Standalone websites for engaging Virtual Y video content
Several YMCAs searched collectively for a platform solution to host their video content and to draw more traffic to their online offerings. They selected Five Jars to deliver three standalone websites and cater for individual requests while acknowledging a tight budget.
Image
Early Childhood Learning Centers

Early Childhood Learning Centers

Colorful and user-friendly website for childcare programs
YMCA of the North desired to introduce a microsite communicating their daycare and preschool programs for various age groups to their community and beyond. While forming a part of the wider YMCA of the North website, the Early Childhood Learning Centers (ECLC) microsite should provide a very distinct browsing feeling to the user. Five Jars created a microsite with parallels to the YMCA of the North websites, but which is still offering a completely new user experience.
Image
Website for Virginia Alliance of YMCAs

Virginia Alliance of YMCAs

Open Y website serves communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia
The Virginia Alliance of YMCAs unites 27 independent Ys that serving communities throughout the Commonwealth. The Virginia Alliance of YMCAs was functioning on a website that looked dated and was missing some basic features. Open Y allowed the Virginia Alliance of YMCAs to launch a new, modern website with advanced functionality with a minimal budget.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER