Transforming NUS Extra to TOTUM
OneVoice, who was already providing digital support to NUS for the UnionCloud membership engagement platform, took over NUS Extra and transformed the ageing product with a new energetic look and named it TOTUM – a single digital platform for Student Discounts, Proof of Age ID and Student Life.
Arrk Group played a crucial role in the transformation and enhancement of the platform right from its inception through to live deployment and continues its association with OneVoice to provide more innovative features.
Customer
Much more than an award-winning and versatile membership platform, OneVoice provides a suite of additional services, all wrapped around the central tenet of putting people at the heart of all we do.
Vibrant Collaboration
Award-Winning
Not-for-profit organisation
Situation
Following a detailed review, OneVoice and Arrk Group decided to build a dedicated student discount platform called TOTUM, in which user retention, revenue generation and ease of use would be the key drivers behind the long-term vision of the product. Key components included:
- A brand-new front-end website
- An offer management system
- Digital apps for iOS and Android devices
These features had to be supported with innovative marketing campaigns to announce TOTUM’s arrival and begin the quest to become UK’s number 1 student discount platform.
Strong Competition
Android Mobile App
iOS Mobile App
Solution
- We evaluated a complete product strategy in terms of matching current consumer expectations and looking at beating the existing competition by providing a little more, like Proof of Age products
- Help the creative and marketing teams to go to market with a rebranded youth-oriented brand
- A diverse yet flexible digital ecosystem, including:
- Brand new native apps to allow better reach and connect in the digital age
- A brand-new website for advertising the product, posting blogs, and consuming content
- A streamlined sales web application capable of catering to the sale of existing and new discount card products
- A new slick discount authoring system that helped source and add discounts that would need to be consumed by the end users eventually
- A future-proof micro-services stack that supported all functions from card sales, discounts, user management, student verification frameworks, and many more
- A best-of-breed open-source technology stack is powering all products. This includes the use of:
- AWS cloud infrastructure
- Java microservices
- Web applications built in AngularJs, ReactJs and VueJs
- Native apps in Android and iOS built using the best frameworks
- Use of the latest CaaS services like Contentful for easier and more powerful CMS
- Continuous integration and deployment via DevOps tools like Bitbucket, Jenkins, CircleCI, AWS DataDog
- Comprehensive reporting using RedShift DW, PowerBI, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics and VWO for conversion rate optimisation
- Integrations with 3rd party email and messaging services like SendinBlue and OneSignal
- Dedicated product development and support teams, including engineers, architects, product owners, and data analysts with a DevOps culture
- Support the legacy infrastructure in the transitory phase, including ASP.NET applications and integrations with print partners
With a product mindset and hybrid Agile methods, a team of 30+ at Arrk delivered this in under a year, with the first big launch in less than six months.
Hybrid Agile Delivery
Flexible Digital Ecosystem
Best of Breed Technology
3rd Party integrations
Outcomes
- An active million-plus user base
- The increasing average daily active user count on apps is currently at 10K, including both apps
- 100,000 unique site visitors every week accessing the latest discounts on offer
- Increase in ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) by creating compelling higher-value product offerings and targeting them appropriately at the user base
- Improved B2B product and high-impact media offerings for brand partners
- Increased revenues are invested back into product development and foster future potential for innovation in the student market