Known as the benchmark standard of excellence for evaluating and recognizing the agencies behind award-winning sites and creative excellence on the web, AIVA’s distinguished panel of judges awarded Astound with four individual Silver Awards, commending its work with:
El Palacio de Hierro: Website Features, Best Visual Appeal–Aesthetics
Weight Watchers: Website Features, Best Visual Appeal–Experience
FLOR: Website Features, Best Visual Appeal–Utility
SoulCycle: Website Features, Best Technical Achievement
In the case of SoulCycle, a New York City–based fitness company founded in 2006 that offers indoor cycling workout classes and sports clothing, unprecedented social restrictions due to the COVID-19 crisis made the site a critical revenue driver late in the project, allowing the brand to meet its customers where they are: at home. A key factor in accomplishing this effectively is a customer experience as seamless and accessible as possible.
Thankfully this seamless CX was already in place when the pandemic hit. Astound’s dedicated team of digital commerce experts had first created a custom single sign-on (SSO) feature, which was at the core of integrating all of SoulCycle’s existing studio functionality in a single, frictionless way. Our custom SSO allows the brand’s customers to navigate the various technology platforms that make up SoulCycle’s site to be shared across the same user session. Now, when a client logs into their favorite studio, they are also logging into the storefront and vice versa, driving the app-based purchase functionality off the same storefront that one would use with a web client. Instead of building out the SoulCycle app via API, Astound built out the app’s shopping tab as an additional interface built onto SoulCycle’s website.
Additionally, the Astound team utilized Salesforce Page Designer, which allows business users to make homepage and content updates without technical intervention, furthering a cohesive experience for the user. This seamless account presentation and the ease of use it brings to the customer were key factors in AIVA’s decision to award Astound their Silver award for Best Technical Achievement.
Astound is honored to be in the W3 Awards winner’s circle again this year and to continue sharing our client’s success.