Challenge
SSE’s digital estate had developed organically over many years into a fragmented ecosystem of over 50 websites and microsites, built on various CMS platforms and technologies. The corporate site, sse.com, needed to serve a diverse and demanding range of audiences, including customers, investors, employees, regulators, media, and partners. The experience was complicated, content-heavy, and difficult to navigate, with unclear journeys, hidden sub-navigation, and limited visual engagement. The site also needed to perform seamlessly across devices, adhere to strict accessibility standards, and provide a scalable foundation for SEO and future digital growth.
Do you have a similar challenge?
Please get in touch to start a conversation about how our expertise and approach can help your business thrive.
Solution
As SSE’s lead digital agency for over 18 years, Equator led the strategy, design, and development of a new corporate platform, focusing on clarity, usability, and audience relevance.
- Conducted user research with staff and customer groups to build insight-led personas
- Designed clear, audience-specific journeys aligned to goals and behaviours
- Rationalised and simplified site architecture, consolidating content into fewer, clearer pages
- Introduced best-in-class patterns inspired by energy, financial services, telecoms and retail
- Consolidated the CMS’ into a single instance of Optimizely
- Designed a clean, consumer-focused visual system using high-quality imagery and video
- Delivered a fully mobile-first, responsive experience using HTML5 and fluid grid frameworks
- Built with progressive enhancement to support older devices and browsers
- Implemented WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility as a baseline standard
- Embedded Google Analytics to track KPIs, search behaviour and form interactions
Results
Dramatically simplified navigation for users and content management for internal teams
Improved clarity of purpose across key audience groups
Stronger brand presence through clearer hierarchy and visual consistency
Enhanced SEO performance through improved structure and content consolidation
A consistent, high-quality experience across desktop, tablet and mobile
Outcome
The redesigned sse.com became the foundation for SSE’s modern digital estate, supporting multiple audiences through a single, coherent platform. By combining audience-led strategy, robust technical delivery, and long-term optimisation, Equator helped SSE transform from a fragmented digital footprint to a scalable, accessible, and future-proof corporate experience that continues to support the business today under OVO ownership.