Functionally rich website engages users online

It coordinates the work of individuals from member associations and their member companies. Furthermore it seeks to strengthen existing cooperation with a number of global organizations, both inter-governmental and non-governmental, to strengthen and improve chemicals management worldwide, and achieve the objectives of sustainable development.

ICCA's vision states: "The global chemical industry will be widely valued and supported for its economic, social and environmental contributions to society."

As part of this objective it wanted a website that reflected it as a modern and visionary organization, having the ability to effectively maintain and update the content on the site as well as promote collaboration of its members, where they could share information as well as speed up policy review.

Different access controls

ICCA chose EPiServer CMS for its easy editing capabilities combined with rich functionality. "You don't have to be tech savvy to add functionality to the site, editors really like how intuitive it is to publish content. They can spend more time on the quality of the content in the knowledge that they can make a page live immediately," says Rachelina Biao, International Affairs & ICCA Manager.

Members can access the extranet which is linked to ICCA's database and, depending on their status, read content and directly edit content online. "We manage who's doing what via access rights. It depends on who they are and what user groups they want to join." comments Rachelina.

Improved site architecture, better user experience and greater collaboration

Landmarks Amaze, an EPiServer Solution Partner, is ICCA's agency for their communications both in print and online. Alain Fallik, Managing Director says: "We recommended EPiServer CMS as the best fit for ICCA's requirements in repositioning the organization online. It wanted to clarify to its audience about what they do, and communicate their vision."

"We held key stakeholder conferences and workshops to research what visitors and members wanted and expected from the site," Alain adds. From there, Landmarks Amaze designed wireframes, the overall look and feel and the created the site architecture.

ICCA Connect enables its members globally to share information, collaborate and speed up policy review. "Using EPiServer means ICCA members can now collaborate and share content very easily," remarks Alain. Via the extranet members can download contact details of members they want to talk to on a global, regional or country scale.

Through its global programs on Responsible Care and the Global Product Strategy (GPS) the chemical industry is committed to the safe management of chemicals during their entire lifecycle. Once the website was launched, ICCA developed a GPS Chemicals Portal using EPiServer in an easy-to-search format, with access to product stewardship information.

The portal includes general overviews and in-depth safety and health information on chemical substances. The portal will improve the understanding of the benefits and risks of marketed chemicals and facilitate access to substance-specific data.

More visits, more downloads, less mail

Over the first year that the new sites have been live, there has been significant growth in numbers visiting the main site with a conversion rate of 18 percent downloading documents from the publications area of the site - the second most accessed section.

"Users, who are stakeholders, industry experts, and a few specialist journalists, are coming back for more and spending longer on the site," says Alain. "ICCA is providing the right information for the right people. Proof is in drop off in number of emails (via an online form) to request further information, as generally they are now finding what they're after online."

Other chemical associations and ICCA members such as Cefic are also using EPiServer to transform their sites into engaging and collaborative experiences.