Organic Denmark's (Økologisk Landsforening's) website plays a key role in the organisation’s work to promote the organic agenda. It must serve both as a knowledge portal and a campaign site to recruit new members, whilst also helping to influence the decisions of consumers, businesses and politicians. There was therefore a great deal to take into account when the association was in the process of developing a new website.

Our website is professional, easy to navigate and welcoming, whether for members, journalists, school classes or anyone else we aim to reach.

Line Børch Hedeboe, Head of Communications, Organic Denmark

When a single website needs to appeal to four target audiences

“At Organic Denmark, we’re fighting to transform our food system so that it becomes more sustainable,” says Line Børch Hedeboe, the association’s head of communications. “We’re fighting that battle by bringing the entire value chain together: the farmer, the business, the professional kitchen and the consumer who cares about the planet. We therefore have four very different target audiences.”

“When we developed our new website with Illumi, we focused more closely on who we needed to reach, where, when and how,” she continues. Previously, we tried to reach all four target groups equally. Now we’ve chosen to prioritise consumers, so that messages aimed at them take up the most space. What’s relevant to consumers is relevant to all our target groups, so it makes perfect sense to prioritise them above all others. This is something we’ve discussed at length with Illumi.”

“We also discuss the customer journey, and how the website can support the recruitment of new members. In principle, all pages are landing pages that potential members can access via many different routes. The website needs to take this into account.”

Flexibility within a fixed framework

When a website has many features and a great deal of content – and, on top of that, several different editors – it is particularly important to have well-thought-out navigation, architecture and control over the visual design. That is why Organic Denmark is pleased to have a CMS that is easy to work with, and where editorial freedom is maintained within a controlled framework.

“I like the tight control that Illumi has built into the CMS,” says Line Børch Hedeboe. “It’s relatively safe to let even untrained editors work there. I personally think it’s a joy to work in the system, but then again, I do love Umbraco,” she laughs.

Line’s colleague, digital consultant Søren Sønderstrup, agrees: “The CMS is intuitive and logical – and yet the website’s design never gets boring. I’m constantly delighted by the great flexibility we have. We’ve got some brilliant features and great options for varying the content without compromising on navigation.”

“Yes,” says Line Børch Hedeboe, who agrees that flexibility is important: “We work on many different projects aimed at ensuring more and better environmental sustainability. For these projects, we can easily create campaign pages ourselves, which remain live for shorter or longer periods. Sometimes they have exactly the same look and feel as our main site, and sometimes they have a different one. But the framework is defined in the CMS.”

Bespoke integrations that retain new members

Behind the visible user experience lies a bespoke integration solution that links the website to Organic Denmark’s central membership and payment workflow. Illumi has worked on integrations between Online Fundraising, Membercare and Active Campaign, ensuring that data from membership forms is validated, transferred and correctly entered into the back-end systems.

At the same time, the solution supports the ongoing management of subscriptions and direct debits, ensuring that new members are not only recruited but also become part of a reliable membership process. This reduces manual work, minimises the risk of errors and ensures that the effort put into attracting new members is backed up by a technical solution that helps to retain them.

Ongoing collaboration and regular advice

As with all other websites, work on Organic Denmark’s website is an ongoing process. New requests crop up all the time, and of course there is the day-to-day operation and maintenance to deal with. It all takes place through close collaboration.

“We have a couple of regular contacts at Illumi whom we always speak to – and then, of course, the support team, who are always incredibly quick to respond whenever we need them. It’s brilliant,” says Søren Sønderstrup. And Line Børch Hedeboe adds:

One of the things I value most is that we can have an honest, no-nonsense chat. We can always call each other and ask if there’s anything we’re wondering about.

Line Børch Hedeboe, Head of Communications, Organic Denmark

At the time of writing, it is not known what the future holds in terms of the further development of Organic Denmark’s website. However, with dedicated individuals who remain passionate about promoting organic farming across the country, there is certainly no shortage of ideas and opportunities.