customer project Van der Ende Group
A no-nonsense website with Westland sobriety
We spreken Mark van der Ende, werkzaam bij Van der Ende Group. Van der Ende Group is een echt familiebedrijf, groot maar warm. Voor deze toffe mensen herbouwden we een site in WordPress en maakten hem meteen een stuk beter. Dat was best even spannend, maar waarom we geen nee konden zeggen lees je hieronder.
The assignment
About 150 people work at Van der Ende Group, based here in Westland. All specialists in their own departments. "I've been working in the marketing department for a year and a half now," says Mark. "One of my first assignments was: improve and optimize the website. Fortunately, I grew up with technology, always found it interesting and had colleagues Michiel and Nicole by my side. Because I didn't have much experience with websites yet."
"At Buro Staal, the gas is on."
Mark van der Ende - Van der Ende Group
The situation
Van der Ende Group was facing a nice challenge. In 2020, they had had a new site built, in conjunction with the new corporate identity, by a major party. The site was custom made with the CMS Umbraco.
"We wanted to be able to add a webshop and a customer portal in the future," says Mark. "In consultation with the previous website builder, we were advised at the time to use Umbraco. Especially with our wishes for the future, this seemed the most suitable system for him. About that agency, after 1 year of working together, we were unfortunately not satisfied. Communication was difficult and difficult. We did not achieve the desired result."
So Van der Ende Group switched to another party that also builds and manages Umbraco websites. "With this party, we had to update the website quickly, or the website would no longer meet security requirements," says Mark. "So there was time pressure behind it. Unfortunately, after six months they told us they were no longer going to manage websites, so we had to switch again."
"We started talking to our SEO and SEA parties. We didn't want a 'big party' anymore, with constantly different contacts, sprints, and slow execution. We were looking for a small company where you can work with short lines and that really feels responsible for each client."
"We ended up with Rosanne through word of mouth. Buro Staal is 10 minutes away," Mark says. "It clicked really well. Rosanne convinced us of the great strides WordPress had made in the meantime. WordPress was an unknown world for us. Umbraco seemed like the future to us, but it wasn't. Buro Staal could build a strong site for us with WordPress. And immediately improve a number of points, while we were at it."
"A Westland party already has an edge with us."
Mark van der Ende - Van der Ende Group
The goal
"Besides the website, in the future we also want to have the possibility to expand with a portal or even a web shop. For this, links to our CRM system must be possible. Furthermore, we no longer want to have the entire site rebuilt every few years. Actually, we wanted to have the existing site in a working and future-proof system and immediately improve some points."
For technical reasons, Van der Ende Group needed a new site by January 1, 2025. We got in touch in May 2024. In itself, for a large site that had to be completely rewritten, that's pretty short notice. We also saw many areas for improvement, such as the search function, which was still not very smart. Visitors had to click and scroll a lot to get to the right product or page. Also, the website was not as fast as they wanted.
"For such a professional site, the backend was quite limited and we couldn't adjust much ourselves. And if we wanted to adjust something, it took too long," says Mark. "At Buro Staal, the gas is on. You can call directly and get immediate action. A real Westland party. That already gives you an edge with us. They take that extra step for you, are friendly and you don't have to chase them all the time."
The approach
"Buro Staal itself also came up with ideas and advice. The homepage, product pages and product categories have been completely renewed. The job page has been greatly improved and is much clearer. Just like the contact page. This is often forgotten, but it is a very important page for us. Calling, emailing or requesting a quote often goes through the contact page. Everything now has a fresh look within the familiar house style."
To improve the customer journey, among other things, we added a mega menu. There are a lot of products and services available at Van der Ende Group. These are now much more visible and accessible in different groups. Each product now has an advice button. After all, requesting a quotation is quite a big step and this is a nice intermediate step.
"With the improved search function we can do more than I thought possible," says Mark. "It's a lot smarter now and we can see, for example, what is being searched for and where there are no results. Useful for our offerings! We can also modify and add much more ourselves now than we could with Umbraco. Now the backend is user-friendly as well as flexible."
Project management was through Asana and Slack. "That was very nice," Mark says. "Slack was for quick and short, Asana for planning and the to-do list. And feedback. Also very useful because I was doing this project together with Nicole and Michiel. Nicole sees every pixel that isn't right. She is analytical and visually strong. So very nice to have such a to-do list and feedback place."
The result
"WordPress took some getting used to, I admit that honestly," says Mark. "But it has a lot more options and flexibility compared to Umbraco. And if I don't know something I get a video from Buro Staal explaining it. WordPress also feels logical. If you work with it for a month or 2 everything goes much easier." See, of course we at Buro Staal like to hear that, as true WordPress fans!
"We now receive all quote requests clearly in the backend and can easily export them. We can also easily add and modify pages ourselves. Because we maintain WordPress properly, the site remains future-proof, so we don't have to rebuild it from scratch every few years. We are now truly the administrators of our system."
"We heard a lot of positive feedback from both colleagues and customers. For example, we asked the sales department to test the site for a week before going live; they were very enthusiastic about the new navigation and the clear way in which all products and services are now presented. Previously, for example, it was not well presented that we also have our own workshop and can repair, paint and spray pumps. Thanks to the new structure and comprehensive product information, everyone immediately sees what we have to offer."
"After going live, we received many compliments. The search function works better, the mega menu is clear and all information and documentation is faster to find. Many visitors are looking for documentation that comes with the products. Now they found it in 1 to 3 clicks. And SEO is well implemented. With a shorter link structure, alt texts, meta descriptions, etc. It's indexed well and we even get quoted several times by ChatGPT."
"Once you get used to it, it's a fine system. And we also don't have to call Buro Staal all the time for every little thing. Say, for example, you want to add a new folder, the system asks if you want to change it anywhere. User-friendliness at its best!"
"The thinking along is really a plus. And they make it happen!"
Mark van der Ende - Van der Ende Group
"In short, the website looks familiar but in a fresh look. The back end works well and we don't have to have a whole new site made in a few years. I find it impressive what Buro Staal has put up in a relatively short time."
