The challenge
IoIC had grown strongly over the previous decade. But growth had slowed, and the question Jen Sproul, IoIC’s CEO, was wrestling with was why.
When Layercake started looking at the data alongside her, a pattern emerged. Members were joining for professional development, training and community — but engagement with those areas was lower than it should have been. Where members did engage, particularly around professional development, renewal rates were measurably higher. The value was there. Members who found it stayed. The problem was that most weren’t finding it.
Member feedback told the same story in different language. The experience felt cluttered and hard to navigate. The website, in particular, had grown organically over a decade and had come to reflect how IoIC was organised internally rather than what members were actually trying to do — a visible metaphor for a broader plateau.
What we did
The recommendation was to address both dimensions at once: a retention problem rooted in unclear positioning, and a broken experience, fixed together rather than piecemeal. Why Projects led the brand and messaging work; Layercake took on the member experience.
The work began where the insight had: in evidence. Engagement patterns, renewal correlations and member feedback set clear priorities before any design decisions were made, keeping the project anchored to what actually mattered rather than internal preference.
Restructuring the information architecture was the foundation — navigation simplified, content grouped around what members were trying to do rather than how IoIC was structured internally, duplication removed. From there, attention turned to the journeys most directly linked to value and renewal, worked through against a prioritised backlog rather than a single big-bang redesign.
The work was delivered within the constraints of an existing CMS platform. Rather than rebuilding from scratch, Layercake introduced a UX framework and reusable component set applied through targeted CSS overrides and modular page structures — meaningful, lasting change without disrupting the systems underneath.
Results
The redesigned experience launched alongside Why Projects’ rebrand, by design: a stronger positioning needed somewhere to live, and a cleaner experience needed something worth guiding members towards.
IoIC now has a digital experience built around member intent, with priority journeys designed to move people more directly into the areas most closely linked to staying.
What is next
The most important journeys are being worked through systematically against the prioritised backlog established during the rebuild, each redesigned in turn to move members forward more directly — a foundation for ongoing improvement rather than a one-time fix.