Hello to you both and thank you for taking the time to talk to us about this project. You've all played a key role in bringing it to fruition. Let's start with the logo redesign. The client wanted something more modern and streamlined, if I've understood correctly. How did you approach this need and what were your inspirations for meeting this request?
Hello Alisée and thank you for the invitation. The client felt that their old logo was too imposing and old-fashioned. They wanted a more modern, streamlined design. So we proposed several styles in line with current market trends.
Once a direction had been validated by the client, we adjusted the proposals to arrive at a final logo that combines sobriety and modernity, while respecting the brand image.
At the same time, we worked on the visual identity of the website and the presentation of the agency. A page dedicated to the history of the agency and its team was created, to ensure overall consistency between the brand image and the website.
You mentioned the modernity of the logo. How has this approach also been reflected in the design of the AIBB.mc website, particularly for the automated property listings?
For this project, we integrated the automation of property listings via the Immo Toolbox API. This interface enables the site to synchronise automatically with new properties entered by the agency, whether they are for sale or for rent.
It then classifies them by type (flat, office). Each advert displays a title, price, photos and description, and can be downloaded in PDF format.
As well as automating adverts, you can also set up a secure access function for off-market offers.
How does it work, and what advantages does it offer users?
Secure access to off-market offers is a section that allows logged-in users to view exclusive properties.
This is a key feature for our customer, who wanted to offer this option while guaranteeing a high level of confidentiality.
What a great new feature! What other technical solutions have you put in place to improve the user experience, particularly in terms of speed and referencing?
We have implemented Redis Object Cache (a caching system that stores data in memory) to improve page loading speed. This allows the site to remain fast even with a large number of ads.
In terms of referencing, we have set up :
- an XML sitemap (a file that lists the pages of a site to facilitate indexing by search engines)
- a breadcrumb trail (a navigation path that shows users where they are on a site and makes it easy to return to previous pages)
- A robots.txt file. This can be used to improve a site's visibility on search engines. It guides the indexing robots by telling them which pages to explore and which to ignore.
- meta tags (title and meta-description) on each page to improve the site's visibility on search engines.
In addition, an extension enables pages to be automatically translated into English and Spanish. This provides a fluid experience for international users.
Finally, I noticed that you've included options such as interaction via WhatsApp and the creation of favourites. Can you tell us more about these additions and the challenges you've faced?
Well, we have indeed included a feature that allows users to contact the agency directly via WhatsApp. This feature offers instant and more direct communication with potential clients.
In addition, the ability to save properties in a list of favourites allows them to follow the listings that interest them. This makes it much easier for them to find what they're looking for!
One of the main challenges was to ensure that all these features (including filtering properties by district, surface area or price) worked perfectly without impacting on the site's performance.
We therefore paid particular attention to optimising the technical architecture to ensure a fluid user experience.
Interview by Alisée, Digital Development and Events Manager at Inforca, with Romain, Web SEO and Sylvère, UI/UX designer, at Inforca's digital agency.
