A New Website For A New Era of Customer Service

I consider myself pretty talented in a few fields: water coolers, drinking fountains, plumbing, and small business management – I even cook a fantastic curry. But let me tell you one area in my line of work with which I was not very familiar at all – the world of website design. That is, at least until late last year!  

When we here at MIW Water Cooler Experts Ltd decided that it was time for a new e-commerce site, I decided (or maybe was convinced) to step up to a new challenge. And what a challenge it has been.

Like many of our regular blog readers, I did not realise the sheer amount of hard work, dedication and skills that it takes to get a new website up and running – but I certainly do now. I was amazed that one seemingly small change can lead to dozens of unintended consequences – and one line of code misspelled or one additional bracket can turn a completely logically designed paragraph into something out of Alice in Wonderland, upside down and covered in senseless squiggles.

Through all of this, I recognised that a new e-commerce site was necessary, and it was this purpose and drive that kept me and the whole tech team at MIW focused on the end result. As one of the fastest growing water cooler and drinking fountain companies in the UK and an industry leader, our former website just wasn’t living up to our stellar reputation. It was clunky, slow and unappealing – and we know  that we can do better. Just as our customer service in person is amongst the finest in the country, we wanted our client’s experience on our e-commerce site to be smooth, simple and intuitive.

It has been a challenge, and we can only look back now and laugh as we savour the success of all of our efforts. The entire MIW team spent myriad late nights at the office, consuming endless takeaways and banging our heads against our desks, whilst shouting, “why won’t you load?!” We may also look back (not so) fondly on the giant econo-sized bottle of Nurofen that became a permanent fixture in the office, used by all to cure the headaches of coding mishaps and title tag woes. I may also never live down a particularly stressful night when I sprang up from my slumber, panicked about resizing a particularly fussy image.

Mike Winter & Ian Burdett (Another early morning Sunday start) 

But in the end – we have done it, and we hope that you enjoy using our new and improved site. We have ensured that your shopping, browsing and inquiries can happen with much more ease and efficiency, and we hope that you agree. We are also very proud that our new site gives architects the opportunity to download BIM files for Elkay & Halsey Taylor water coolers.

Through all of this, the team here at MIW Water Cooler Experts Ltd. have cemented our commitment to providing you, our clients and potential clients, with the best possible experience when working with us. Now, to get started thinking about doing this all over again in a few short months, when this new website becomes outdated!

Where was that Nurofen again?

By: Mike Winter – MD