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| With the A* and C markets in place, our attention is now firmly fixed on getting the brand new Zopa website up and running. Yes, that's right - the brand new Zopa website. The old design is being completely overhauled, and in a few months' time the site will be bigger, brighter and better than ever before. We hope that Zopa newbies and veterans alike will find everything a whole lot easier to use, and that plenty more lenders and borrowers will be drawn in by our pretty new site. If you're wondering what the new layouts are like, then keep on reading - because further on down there's a sneak preview. And as an added bonus, one of the guys responsible will explain the thinking behind the redesign, and why exactly we've decided to change our name to ZIPA.*
*Just kidding.
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As most of you will be aware, last month was mainly about bringing in the A* and C markets to flank the existing A and B markets. But that wasn't all that happened - oh no. Here's a look at what else went on:
- 5,425 new members joined
- Lenders got the option to use Zopa in a whole new way - by setting up a standing order to pay money into their account monthly. See here for a handy how-to guide
- We switched to using our very own Zopa scorecard to work out what market people can borrow from, rather than relying on their credit score alone
- The borrowing process was made a lot slicker, with people now being rated as an A*, A, B or C borrower when they apply for a loan, rather than when they join
- Because the A* and C markets opened up a bit later than expected, we extended the deadlines on the free champagne and 1.5% bonus offers. Champers fans, click here; bonus fans, here
- There were some great articles about Zopa in The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Best Practice magazine and several local papers, as well as on the Motley Fool website.
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You know how it goes - those new curtains that looked so good when you first moved in don't look quite so good after a year or so. And the leaky tap in the bathroom that didn't annoy you at all at the start now suddenly does. When it gets to that stage, there's only one thing to do: bring in the experts to do the place up. And after 18 months, there's no doubt that the Zopa website had begun to get a bit tatty round the edges - so we decided to knock down a few partition walls, fix the rickety stairs and generally give it a new lick of paint. To help us out, we called in a company named Poke, who do to websites what Sarah Beeny does to houses - make them splendid. Iain from Poke took time out from building the new site to talk to us about it.
Hello Iain. Starting at the start, when did you first hear about Zopa?I heard about it a long time ago – even before it was fully launched. I thought it was a great idea from the moment I heard about it. So I was really excited when we were asked to pitch for the work.
Tell us a bit about the thinking behind the new design (shown opposite).
The main thing was to try to bring more of the ‘action' up to the front of the site and make it feel more alive. We also had the challenge of evolving the site to reflect the fact that Zopa is growing up. But without sacrificing the charm and soul that makes Zopa what it is.
And what are you most proud of in the new design?
This is one of those projects where you know that it's the product of lots of people's ideas coming together to create something that's much greater than the sum of its parts. A genuine product of collaboration.
Well there's no 'I' in team. So what was the trickiest thing to get right?
I think getting that balance between being friendly, different and interesting, but at the same time making people 100% confident that their money is secure in Zopa.
A hard nut to crack, indeed. Now, in the spirit of glasnost, what did you feel was lacking from the old Zopa site?
A sense of dynamism. All of the action was hidden behind a big ‘wall' of registration – so it was difficult to figure out what Zopa was without investing quite a lot of time and effort.
Harsh but fair. Who else from Poke worked on the website?
Over the last few months there's been a few of us: Nik (creative director), Dom (designer), Cookie (illustrator), Mark (flash guy), Buzz (art director), Jimmy (designer), Paul (designer)
And why 'Poke'?
We were chatting about the state of our industry and someone said that we needed to poke fun at some of the pompous self-importance that was around at the time. Collectively we jumped on the word Poke because we liked the sound of it.
It's a good name, certainly. What's your role at Poke?
I'm one of the partners. My role is varied but I play with creative and strategic stuff.
Sounds nice and interesting. What other websites have you worked on?
Lots. We're almost 5 years old now and have been involved with loads of great projects and hopefully done some interesting things. You can see more of what we've done at www.pokelondon.com, (apologies for the state of our own website; you know what they say about cobbler's shoes…)
And interior decorators' homes - apparently Sarah Beeny's place is a bit of a pigsty (only kidding). Now, most of the Poke team seem to have facial hair - are you the most hirsute digital agency in London?
Maybe. I'm guessing that over the next few weeks we'll become the most moustachioed agency in London - lots of the guys are growing facial furniture in support of Tacheback (Everyman's testicular cancer fundraiser).
A great excuse to grow a moustache, if ever one were needed. Just finally, Zopa aside, what are your favourite websites?
www.last.fm - I love the simplicity of letting last.fm just see what I'm listening to in iTunes, then having it figure out my musical neighbours, create a personal recommendation radio station and much more.
www.netvibes.com - a personalised hompage tool that lets me read all the stuff I love in one place.
del.icio.us - using communities to make sense of the web in a simple and unobtrusive way, I think there's a lot more potential to be unlocked in del.icio.us
They all sound great. Thanks for talking to us Iain.
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| Last month we brought you the story of Zopa lender Archie118, who was minding his own business doing his weekly shop when a fellow shopper clocked his Zopa T-shirt and came over for a chat. It turned out that that shopper was a Zopa borrower, and the pair had a right old natter. Mystery surrounded the exact identity of that borrower when we went to press last month, but we've managed to track him down since. And we can exclusively reveal that it was none other than Zopa member wfernie, who in real life answers to the name of Bill. He was kind enough to take a few minutes to speak to us. So Bill, what made you approach a fellow Zopateer in the supermarket?
I am new to Zopa - I found details on the Martin Lewis web site moneysavingexpert.com. Therefore seeing someone local with a Zopa T-shirt surprised me.
And how did you break the ice?
I asked him if he worked for Zopa. Some of the initial calls from zopa came from Birmingham and I thought I he worked for Zopa , I would like to say thanks for the superior service.
How very nice of you. So do you often chat to strangers in supermarkets?
Not at all. But I felt that there was a common bond that could be explored.
Quite right too. What do you make of Zopa so far?
I try to recommend it to all my friends. Those who have money and those who require a bit more.
Very sensible Bill, especially as you get £30 for each one who goes on to lend more than £300 or borrow (a seamless plug, no?). What did you use your Zopa loan for?
House improvements - got a great, unmissable deal on double glazing. Presently doing the attic as well.
Cripes - sounds like your weekends are going to be DIY-based for the foreseeable future then. Would you ever lend at Zopa?
I feel that I would do this in the future because it has been very helpful for myself when I needed the money and I would like to do the same for someone else in the future.
Good on you Bill. Now a few quick-fire questions to finish off. What do you do for a living?
I'm a sales manager.
Can you speak any foreign languages?
Only broken French.
What's your favourite biscuit?
Tunnocks caramel wafers.
A truly magnificent choice Bill - you're clearly a man of taste. Their teacakes are also superb. Thanks for your time Bill, and good luck with all the DIY.
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We like to do things a little bit differently at Zopa, especially when it comes to convincing people to join the lending and borrowing revolution. Not for us showy TV ads or sponsoring Premiership football teams - that's just not quite Zopa somehow (and not purely because our marketing budget wouldn't stretch that far in a month of Sundays). No, we'd rather do something like, say, make a big crop circle in the shape of our logo.  And, as chance would have it, that's exactly what we did a few weeks ago in a field in Cradley near the border of Wales. With the help of some friendly chaps from circlemakers.org and a friendly farmer called Paddy, we made a 200ft Zopa logo that's almost certainly visible from space (though we haven't checked this yet). On the back of it, we got some nice publicity for Zopa in several local papers, including The Ledbury Reporter and The Malvern Gazette, and some 'all publicity is good publicity' coverage in The Times. So it was well worth doing. If you want to see a behind the scenes 'making of' video, or read more about why we decided to do it, check out the last few posts on our blog. |
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| That's it for this month - we'll see you again in October. |
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Zopa Limited.
Registered office: 3rd floor, Radiant House, 36-38 Mortimer Street, London W1W 7RG Company Registration No.: 05197592 |
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