Over the past year we’ve been working on a refresh of the Cohesive website.
At first, we thought it would be a fairly straightforward project. New copy. Updated design. Some new pages. A better search function. And a chance to tidy up a few things that had evolved over time.
Instead, it turned into something much more interesting. Because before we changed anything, we asked a question:
What do our clients actually value about working with Cohesive?
It’s a question we help our clients answer all the time. We interview customers, uncover patterns, challenge assumptions and use those insights to shape propositions, stories and content.
This time, we turned the process on ourselves.
The power of listening
We brought in our friend and collaborator Sonja Nisson to interview some of our clients and ask the questions that are often difficult to ask yourself. Why did they choose us? What keeps them coming back? What difference do we make? And what does it actually feel like to work with us?
The new website isn’t quite live yet, but the process has already taught us something valuable about how businesses see themselves – and how their clients see them.
The answers were illuminating.
"It’s that self-perception piece that’s so tricky to do yourselves – that’s where you help."
What struck us wasn’t just what people said. It was what they didn’t say.
"They join the dots. They are very, very good at listening and finding the storyline."
Nobody talked about content outputs. Nobody mentioned blog posts, thought leadership programmes or content strategy. The things we spend most of our time delivering were largely absent from the conversation.
Instead, people talked about clarity, confidence, the power of stories.
They talked about having someone who could help them make sense of a complex challenge, find the words for what mattered and turn good ideas into something useful.
In other words, they talked about the experience of working with us, and what changed because of it.
The insights from those conversations ended up shaping almost every decision that followed.
So what are we changing?
The refreshed website is more colourful. It introduces some new language and some new ideas. But those are really just the visible changes.
The bigger shift is that we’ve tried to create a website that feels more like the experience of working with us. Less of a catalogue of services. More of a conversation. Less focused on what we produce. More focused on the difference it makes.
After all, people don’t come to us because they need a white paper. They come to us because they need clarity. A story that resonates. Content that connects. Or help figuring out what to say next.
Making the site more useful
Another theme that emerged from the interviews was usefulness.
Over the years we’ve created a lot of content. Articles, reports, case studies, newsletters and guides. But when we looked at the old site, we realised much of that value was hidden in plain sight.
There was no search function. Years of thinking and writing were sitting there, but unless you happened to land on the right page, most of it was difficult (if not impossible) to discover.
The refreshed site is designed to be explored. You can search, follow your curiosity and find your own route through the content rather than being forced down a predefined path.
Our newsletter, the Clec now plays a much more prominent role too. Sharing what we learn has always been part of who we are, so it felt right to move it closer to the centre of the experience.
Writing for people and AI
We also wanted to follow our own advice.
Increasingly, content needs to work in two ways. It needs to be useful and engaging for the people reading it, but it also needs to be easy for AI systems to understand, reference and recommend.
That’s led us towards a slightly different approach to writing.
The main pages on the site are shorter, clearer and easier to navigate. Alongside them, we’ve added more detailed FAQs that answer the questions clients regularly ask us.
We hope it’s a better experience for people. And we think it gives us the best chance of being useful wherever people are looking for answers – whether that’s through Google, ChatGPT, Claude or by exploring the site themselves.
Time will tell whether we’re right, but we’d rather experiment with the future than wait for it to arrive.
A collaborative effort
Of course, none of this would have happened without the people who helped bring it to life.
Alongside Sonja, who challenged us to look at ourselves through our clients’ eyes, was Marco Frezzo, who translated those insights into a user experience built around curiosity, exploration and usefulness.
Andy Webb then worked his magic to turn a collection of ideas, words, sketches and conversations into a functioning website.
Coming soon
The refreshed website isn’t quite ready to launch yet. As anyone who has ever worked on a website knows, there are always a few final details to untangle before you press the button.
But we’re excited to share it soon.
More importantly, we’re grateful for what the process has taught us.
It’s reminded us that the things we think clients value aren’t always the things they value most. Sometimes the biggest insights come from stepping outside your own perspective and listening carefully to the people you serve.
We’ll share the finished result very shortly.
Until then, we’d love to know: if you asked your customers what they really value about working with you, what do you think they’d say?
What do you think?