New website for investment group Waterland

Waterland and iO in partnership

The collaboration between Waterland and iO started in 2021. When the investment group approached us to renew their website, all the teams involved were immediately very enthusiastic.

Challenge

The website was outdated, difficult to manage, and there was a proliferation of content.

Solution

A new WordPress website with content tailored to the different target groups: entrepreneurs, investors, applicants, and team members.

About Waterland

Waterland is an investment group that focuses on private equity, assisting entrepreneurs to accelerate the growth of their business. Waterland has invested in around 300 companies, spread over 12 countries. Their team consists of 180 specialists.

To the website

Highly professional, but accessible at the same time

The new website had to make it clear to entrepreneurs what Waterland stands for: what they have to offer, what expertise they have in-house, and what their vision is as a private equity group.

In addition, Waterland also wanted to introduce itself as an employer, to attract applicants.

Finally, in addition to a professional appearance, it was important to let their local character shine through. Waterland has opted for a local approach, with operational bases in each of the countries they operate in with a local team that knows that market inside out. Waterland is literally and figuratively close to their entrepreneurs.

Two parallel strategies

You don't build a strong website without an underlying strategy. Especially in this case, because the Waterland website plays a very specific role in their way of working. Waterland has a personal, one-to-one approach to entrepreneurs.

The website is the digital extension of that first meeting. It carries responsibility for answering one question in particular: "Is this the right party to help me to realise my business ambitions?"

This requires the right appearance and a rock-solid story. Our content and UX strategists got a clear view of what these building blocks should be in a series of workshops.

They translated this into an elegant design with clear navigation, and the right tone of voice.

That design was the foundation for our web developers. The tone-of-voice became the basis for our copywriters and translators and formed a framework for Waterland if they want to add content themselves. Think, for example, of news items, vacancies, and cases.

One holistic approach

The result is a sleek website with subtle animations. These animations are the dynamic thread throughout the website. Thanks to the clear navigation and the right content, readers can find the information they are looking for quickly.

WordPress had two advantages in this project as a CMS: it is ideal for smaller content websites and is extremely user-friendly. The latter guarantees that Waterland can easily add or adjust content themselves.

We also integrated Leadfeeder into the new website to give Waterland insights into who visits the website and which pages that visitor views.

"With iO's proven experience and expertise, we knew that the end result in terms of creativity, design and content would meet our expectations. Moreover, there was a clear project management process with enough flexibility for the collaboration to run smoothly throughout the entire process."