A recent acquisition of the business by IBM has further expedited their already rapid growth and resulted in Make taking on more digital developments to help the business attract a higher calibre of customers at scale. One such development was the design and build of the ‘Rocket Fuel Calculator’ – a lead generation and market segmentation tool that enables potential customers to calculate their cost savings by taking a managed approach to application modernisation. This tool must sit front and centre on the main Nordcloud website and be used as one of the primary lead generation and engagement tools for the company.
As a fast-growing challenger turned leader in the Cloud sector, Nordcloud’s young and dynamic character has always stood out from the competition and its brand growth is a testament to that. Make have always ensured the brand’s digital identity is visually appealing whilst being lead generation-centric. This brief was no different, as we were tasked to create an interactive branded calculator experience that was visually enjoyable and fun to use, whilst also being accurate in predicting tangible results for the target audience of savvy Cloud CIO / CTO personas.
The calculator in its purest form was built alongside key stakeholders at Nordcloud HQ. The calculator started as a complex Google sheet formula that was then tried and tested to ensure there was an outcome for every eventuality.
The ‘Rocket Fuel Calculator’ had to work for the various customer persona needs of different sizes and stature, and be robust enough to deal with various inputs whilst looking visually appealing and interactive. It had to provide value and accurately predict the costs and benefits of partnering with Nordcloud. Something that took great care and attention and involved a great deal of testing.
Based on the complexities of this challenge, we first ensured the calculator worked in its purest form and then forged ahead with making this calculator work in a digital / web format. Whilst this was being worked on our digital design and UX teams set to work on the visual look and feel for the tool.
The calculator had to feel like a Nordcloud product, but there was room for creativity and exploration. Our team’s creative juices overflowed and we built out a visual route that embodied a space theme along with a flying rocket manned by a Nordcloud Ninja pilot, of course.
We built a 5 step interactive process that involved the space rocket flying from stage to stage complete with rocket smoke and orbiting planets. Once the visual route was confirmed and agreed we then applied the visual look and feel to the back-end calculator functionality built and ready prepared by our developers.
The Rocket Fuel Calculator now sits front and centre on the Nordcloud home page as the primary call to action. This tool is one of the main tools the business uses to gather leads and inquiries and is the landing page for a number of paid media backed campaigns. The calculator not only serves as a lead generation tool but is also used by existing Nordcloud customers as they embark on new digital transformation journeys.
I work with Make on our website, campaign-related projects and SEO. It is a fantastic team that always provides a very professional service. I’m very pleased with the structured way we plan and manage the projects. I am always confident that whenever we engage Make, the quality would be of a high standard.
Anna Charaz
Digital Marketing Manager at Nordcloud
