Ainscough reach new customers following the implementation of Customer Account Portal

Background

Ainscough Crane Hire Ltd (ACH) is the UK’s leading provider of lifting solutions, offering a wide range of crane hire and contract lifting services.

They provide:

• Contract Lifting: Full-service lifting solutions including planning, supervision, and execution
• Special Projects: Complex and bespoke lifting operations
• Wind Energy Support: Installation, maintenance, and decommissioning of wind turbines
• Emergency Response: Rapid deployment for urgent lifting needs

Ainscough Crane Hire

Solution

Discovery

A deep-dive immersion session was held with key stakeholders within the Ainscough team (C-Suite, project teams, marketing teams, customer service teams, and sales teams) to evaluate the scope of the digital transformation required. The goal was to:

• Assess current eCommerce deployment and its’ efficacy
• Better understand client needs and how technology can satisfy those needs
• Target where a transformation project would have the most meaningful impact
• Assess the scope of digital transformation required
• Evaluate the internal team capabilities to manage and maintain new digital assets
• Identify areas where external support in partnership would be essential

This collaborative process led to the creation of a clearly defined MVP (Minimum Viable Product) roadmap, prioritising high-impact features that would deliver immediate business value. A comprehensive digital marketing strategy was also developed to attract, engage, and convert customers through the enhanced features made available via the platform.

Approach

Adopting a “start small, scale fast” methodology, PushON focused on delivering key features incrementally. This approach ensured that ACH teams that touched upon the Adobe Commerce deployment were trained in real-time, allowing for seamless adoption and showcasing tangible benefits to both internal teams and customers.

Deliverables

PushON delivered several critical development projects, with the centrepiece being the Ainscough Customer Account Portal (Dashboard) via Adobe Commerce. This self-service platform was designed to streamline customer interactions and reduce reliance on ACH intervention, providing the customer with what they needed, when they needed it.

Customer Dashboard Features included:

• Book a Crane: Simplified booking process
• Order History: Easy access to past transactions
• Request a Site Visit: Streamlined site assessment requests
• Emissions Data: Meeting customer demands for sustainability reporting (https://www.ainscough.co.uk/blog/reducing-scope-3-emissions-with-ainscough/)
• Invoicing: Centralised billing and payment history
• Get a Quote: Instant quotations for services
•  Crane Tracker: Real-time crane location tracking to assist site managers with logistics and road closures

Ainscough Customer Account Portal Dashboard

Marketing

ACH occupies a unique position in its national coverage with depots across the UK. PushON’s marketing team executed a locally focused search campaign to enhance the visibility, ranking and clicks for local searches relating to crane hire services.

Impact

Following the successful trial and launch of the enhanced customer dashboard, Ainscough Crane Hire experienced a notable increase in contract wins. The unique self-serve experience provided by the Adobe Commerce portal became a key differentiator in the market, significantly improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. The local search focused marketing campaign additionally delivered a ten-fold increase in searches for local terms such as ‘crane hire near me’, and similar terms, and clicks to the ACH website following technical and content build out / improvements to the Ainscough website.