Improving the Member Experience

WREC’s new, user-friendly website was designed based on your input

New website design for Wells Rural Electric CompanyWhen Wells Rural Electric Co. set out to redesign the cooperative’s website, www.wrec.coop, our No. 1 priority was to make sure we identified the tasks and information most important to our members and then deliver the best, most convenient user experience possible.

We strive to provide quality member service every time we engage with our members in person or over the phone, and we want our website to be a 24/7 online extension of that philosophy.

To accomplish our goal, we went straight to the source. Rather than trying to guess what would best fit your online needs, we solicited advice directly from WREC members via usability testing conducted during three days in December.

We held sessions in three of the communities in our service territory and gathered a few dozen members of all demographics from throughout our service territory to go through a workshop to analyze the old cooperative website, as well as evaluate the look and feel of several modern utility sites.

We wanted our members to be brutally honest, so we removed WREC employees from the process and allowed our web designers at Ruralite Services Inc. to facilitate the testing.

That feedback—combined with web analytics—formed the foundation for building our new website.

Our members were adamant about having cleaner navigation, improved design and, most importantly, an effective, easily identified way to pay their bills. They also wanted a site that was just as intuitive on a smartphone as a personal computer.

Each time we were faced with an important decision, we went with the solution that best answered the question: “What was most important to our members?” For instance, the most prominent feature on the home page now is an easily identified login box that allows members direct access to their account, regardless of the device they are using.

We encourage members to spend a few minutes navigating the new site. After all, it was designed with your feedback at heart.