Orange evolves customer services to achieve 12,000 visitors to site each week

Orange first started using the Internet as a business tool in 1995. In this time, the site has been updated continually to reflect the needs of its customers. According to Nigel Shardlow, the new media manager at Orange (Shardlow, 1999), the site started off targeting a relatively limited audience. This was thought to be a lower risk than setting up a major site when the medium was relatively new. The initial audience was thought to be technical, consisting of students, academics and IT staff at organizations with Internet access. The initial content reflected this audience, with a tool for finding out the Orange coverage area and another for asking technical queries.

In June 1996, the company decided to broaden the scope of the site with more information on products and services such as a Talk Plan calculator that suggests to potential users which tariff is most suitable for them and a mechanism to look up the nearest Orange dealership according to postcode. News and press releases and an interactive coverage map followed later in the year.

By the beginning of 1997 the amount of content on the site had made it difficult for customers to find the information they needed, so in June 1997 a complete restructuring of the site was necessary to make it easier for customers to find information. Further information on products was added, but this time broken down into those looking for a phone for the first time, existing phone owners and business users. The buying guide leads each of these types of people through a series of choices available on onscreen forms to put together a suitable package.

Today the site is seen as a useful tool not only by customers, but also dealers, journalists, investors and potential employees. For dealers, it is a central place where up-to-date product and