Specialist UX & CRO agency

We overhaul ageing websites, brands and SaaS platforms for specialist contractors, SaaS companies and growing businesses, making them clearer, more distinctive and better at attracting high-value customers.

Talk to our team ↗View our work

Trusted by growth-focused brands

The Higher Ground UX team working round a laptop in the Ancoats studio

Meet the team in Ancoats

UPTIME 365 fleet dashboard for Wrightbus, designed by Higher Ground

Wrightbus · UPTIME 365 SaaS UX

Fettle · new Webflow website

conversion rate within four months. Fettle was later acquired by Kwik Fit.

Read the Fettle case study

Trusted by growth-focused brands

From user research to full journey redesigns, we identify what should improve on your software or website.

Not sure where your best enquiries actually come from?

It all starts with analysis and learning about your business.

Usually it starts with a conversation about your business, your customers and where your enquiries come from. Then we look at how people really use your website.

Never heard of a heatmap? Most of the contractors we work with hadn’t either. We’ll show you what it means, simply.

We read where visitors click, scroll and stall, then fix what's actually costing you enquiries, not what we guess is wrong.

See CRO analysis →

We map how each buyer arrives, what they need and where they drop out, so every page routes them to the right next step.

See user research →

Clickable prototypes your team and customers can tap through and test before a line of code is written.

See UX design →

Example heatmap

Example journey map

We look at where your users are going

01 Where they arrive

Google

Referral

Direct

02 Where they hesitate

Unclear service pages“Is this right for me?”

Help users find
the right service

03 What they need next

Ready to buyGet a quote

Need reassuranceView case studies

Need adviceTalk to us

Clearer routes. Fewer dead ends.More enquiries

Example prototype flow

Know something needs fixing, but not sure what?

What needs transforming?

Strategy, UX, branding, development and CRO, brought together by one experienced team. Pick the one that sounds like you.

SaaS platform redesign

Simplify complex workflows, modernise the interface and create a design system that can grow with your product.

SaaS UX design ↗

Website and rebrand

Bring an ageing identity, proposition and website up to date, with stronger branding and a clearer journey from first impression to enquiry.

New websites ↗

CRO and journey optimisation

Use customer behaviour and conversion data to turn more existing visitors into valuable enquiries, bookings or sales.

CRO ↗

Websites for specialist contractors

Win better projects online with a Webflow website, SEO and CRO built around how architects, main contractors and clients find and shortlist you.

Explore contractor websites ↗

Use AI properly across your business

We sit with your team and turn proposals, CAD drawings, reports and data into interactive prototypes, dashboards and illustrations people actually use.

AI and UX consultancy ↗

Wondering what better UX would actually change for you?

Good UX shows up in the numbers.

We measure what the business cares about: enquiries, bookings, sales and search. Here's what changed for a few clients.

Fettle · conversion rate after launch

0.5%Jul

1%Aug

2%Sep

4%Oct

Conversion quadrupled within four months of the new UX and Webflow build. Fettle was later acquired by Kwik Fit.

years making websites and software work harder.

UX & CRO

on Google for SIP contractor and SIP builders searches.

McVeigh Offsite

+300%

large-excavator enquiries after a UX audit and redesign.

JCB

40+

clients served, with 40+ reviews.

Higher Ground

Want proof before you pick up the phone?

UX specialists and CRO experts delivering results for our clients.

View all case studies ↗

UX auditCRO

Redesign that grew JCB’s machine enquiries by 66%.

JCB · +300% large-excavator enquiries

JCB products menu and telehandler listing designed by Higher Ground

Product UIDesign system

Software that powers the biggest bus deal in history.

Wrightbus · SaaS application design for a vehicle telematics platform

Wrightbus dashboard components for Uptime365 and All Service One

WebflowCRO

Bookings stalling? Fettle's quadrupled with a new website.

Fettle.cc · acquired by Kwik Fit

WebsiteMobile

A homepage for one of the UK’s largest universities.

University of Leeds

PrototypesWebsite

Website prototypes and design for a major infrastructure company.

Clancy Group · launched on budget in four months

Clancy Group website designs on desktop and mobile

WebflowSEO

Number one for SIP contractor and SIP builders.

McVeigh Offsite

Try it

Does your website do this? If not, why not?

Most websites stop at a PDF and a phone number. We took a specialist contractor's plans, elevations and spec and turned them into an interactive quote. Turn the house, pull it apart, pick a layer and flip an option: the model and the price change together.

Example kit · 263 m² · illustrative

Drag to turn · scroll to zoom

Pull it apart

Layers

Pick one to isolate it.

Options

Kit price, as configuredplus VAT · kit, steel, delivery and erection · illustrative

Built from a real client's drawings and spec, with illustrative figures. The same approach works for any technical product: a model, a configurator or a quote tool.

Websites for contractors ↗

The Higher Ground team working together around laptops in the Manchester studio

Embarrassed to send prospects to your own website?

UX and CRO for businesses that have outgrown their website

Services change, products grow and customers get more demanding, but the website still shows the company you were years ago. We clarify what you offer and build journeys that make it easy to understand, trust and choose you.

What we bring up to date

WebsitesSaaS platformsBrandingPropositionsUser journeysEcommerce stores

A Higher Ground designer mapping a customer journey with sticky notes during a CRO workshop

Already tried AI, but nothing has really changed?

AI accelerates the thinking. We design, build and deploy the experience.

Anyone can use AI to research a market or suggest improvements. The hard part is turning those answers into a website or platform customers can actually use. We combine the speed of AI with human judgement, UX, design, development and CRO.

Talk to our team ↗

Do people trust you before they've read a word?

Why branding matters to UX

People decide whether to trust you before they read the detail. A clear identity, proposition and tone of voice make a website feel credible, so we bring brand strategy, visual design and UX together on every website project.

Need help once, or every month? Either works.

UX & CRO packages tailored to your needs.

Our team works in-house with yours, whether that’s a one-off UX project, a new Webflow website or monthly CRO and search.

A UX agency that increases conversion rates

Research, journey mapping, prototypes and interface design for websites and software, tested with real users before anything is built.

Includes: UX audits, user testing, prototypes and design systems.

Webflow

Smarter websites built for conversion and search

Full website management and search marketing from £750 a month: new pages, keyword research, SEO, CRO and monthly reporting, on a Webflow website your team can edit too. Built to be found on Google and recommended by AI tools.

From £750 a month. Learn about Webflow on our website design page.

CRO

Conversion optimisation that delivers results

Analytics, recordings and A/B and multivariate tests on the pages that matter, so more of your existing visitors become enquiries, bookings or sales.

Includes: CRO audits, A/B testing, Shopify and Adobe Commerce CRO.

SaaS UX

UX for SaaS that merges data, user actions and interface design

Workflows, dashboards and design systems for software teams with ageing products, designed with your developers so it ships.

Example: Wrightbus runs two fleet platforms on one design system we built.

Trusted by many

“Higher Ground are working with us to update our online presence and marketing strategy and it's become very apparent that the depth of knowledge on offer goes well beyond the technical aspects of web design and into user experience and marketing strategy. Highly recommended.”

James Hockey

Managing Director of Trace Basement Systems

"Worked with Rob and the team for a number of years now, and they've always done work of the absolute highest quality. Top team, top work, trusted partners of ours."

Emma Cooney

Arvia Technologies

"They provided a new way of website planning and strategy, but delivered it in a lean fashion. Rob was an excellent communicator and was able to explain to the traditional (non-digital) parts of the business why certain changes and design features were required to maximise the efficiency of the digital assets we were delivering."

Simon Parkinson

Absolute Taste