Otter Tail Power Company serves an area of 70,000 square miles across three states. Needless to say, they attend to a lot of customers. With so many people relying on Otter Tail for power, their active website wasn’t cutting it in terms of user-friendliness, responsiveness, and integration.
On a mission to provide their customers with the website that they deserved, they reached out to Onsharp.
Challenges
An Agile Approach to Serve Otter Tail Power Company’s Needs
As time goes on, things become outdated. Websites are not immune to this fact, but they have a distinct advantage: They can be rebuilt. When Otter Tail Power Company realized they were behind the curve, they knew their website was holding their business back. So, they decided a new website design was necessary to serve their broad customer base.
We held a Website Discovery Session with Otter Tail, and they shared a few key features they wanted their new website to have:
Mobile Responsiveness
For a consistent, user-friendly look and feel across all devices.
NewNavigation
To make it easier for customers to find what they need.
Google Maps Integration
See service locations, offices, and power plants across service areas.
BackendIntegration
Integrating their active directory of software and hardware.
The Onsharp staff assigned to the team took personal ownership and that was evident throughout the project
STEPHANIE HOFF, Public Relations Manager
Challenges
Our Collaborative Process
When Otter Tail came to Onsharp with the overhaul request, they weren’t looking to just hire and forget. They wanted to ensure they chose someone who would guide them through every step of the process and communicate closely with them from start to finish.
“We needed to know whomever we worked with for this effort was going to be by our side to guide our strategic decisions and keep the project on track,” shared Stephanie Hoff, Public Relations Manager for Otter Tail Power Company.
After meeting with Onsharp and learning more about the team’s experience, commitment to clients, and focus on collaboration, the Otter Tail Power Company team knew Onsharp was the right partner for this project.
In the Website Discovery Session, Otter Tail Power Company shared a few key features they were looking for, including:
- Mobile Responsiveness – for a consistent look across all devices
- New Navigation – to be more customer-focused
- Content Overhaul – 500+ pieces of content
- Google Maps Integration – to locate service locations, offices, and power plants
- Backend Integration – to work seamlessly with their active director
So, what did we do?
We established a single point of contact from the beginning of the project, so the Otter Tail Power Company team could easily find the expertise and guidance they needed — immediately.
“The Onsharp staff assigned to the team took personal ownership, and that was evident throughout the project,” said Stephanie.
We worked collaboratively with the team at Otter Tail Power to develop a site that reinforced their brand image, enhanced their customer’s user experience, and delivered on the goals they had set for their new site.
Results
Where Are They Now?
Otter Tail Power Company’s outdated web presence is now a thing of the past. The new site represents the company’s diverse customer base, dedication to excellence, and commitment to evolution in the electricity business. Here’s how:
Otter Tail’s new website allows them to attract more organic traffic and better represent their brand to site visitors — especially newcomers. For existing customers, the new interface and navigation tools are more user-friendly, easier to use on desktop and mobile, and have reoptimized features that customers were asking for, such as outage maps and bill pay options.
Visually, the new website is a big step up and does a better job of communicating the high-quality service that Otter Tail provides to its customers.
In terms of being able to actually serve their clients, the new website provides a more customer-centric approach that focuses on providing the right information, quickly. Throughout the collaborative process, we produced and published over 500 pieces of content to inform and engage existing and new customers alike. This way, Otter Tail has an answer for just about every question that customers are asking and can serve them a blog containing the information they need. And, all that authoritative content helps boost their organic traffic, too.
Today, Otter Tail’s new website is still going strong.
After pushing it live, we continued to develop an ongoing partnership, assisting them in making upgrades and improvements to the site over time. We look forward to continuing to help the Otter Tail Power Company grow and better serve its client base.
Ready for Results?
About Otter Tail Power Company
Otter Tail Power Company is an investor-owned electric utility provider that supplies electricity for residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Their company is named after the Otter Tail River, which provided their first source of electricity in 1907. Its employees work to produce and deliver electricity as reliably, economically, and environmentally responsibly as possible. With about 780 employees, Otter Tail Power Company serves 422 communities and rural areas.
