Wiltshire Together
Platform administration, growth and community engagement.
Since 2023, Made Open has provided ongoing platform administration and support for Wiltshire Together - growing active users from 1.9k to 10k and helping establish it as a key piece of local digital infrastructure for community support and engagement.
Strong foundations, but untapped potential.
When we began supporting Wiltshire Together in 2023, the platform already had a committed community behind it but there was significant room to grow. With around 1,900 active users and approximately 7,900 monthly page views, the platform was a promising local resource that hadn't yet reached its full potential.
Activity listings stood at 20–30 per month, volunteer pledges were just 1-2 per month, and search functionality was leaving many users without results. Over 100 keywords were returning no matches - meaning people were arriving on the platform but not finding what they needed.
From 1.9k to 10k active users in three years.
By January 2026, Wiltshire Together had grown significantly across every key measure:
- Active users grew from 1,900 to 10,000.
- Monthly page views increased from 7,900 to 15,000.
- Activity listings rose from 20–30 per month to consistently over 100.
- Volunteer pledges grew from 1–2 per month to between 15 and 40 per month.
This steady, sustained growth reflects the platform's increasing reach and relevance within the Wiltshire community.
I actually used Wiltshire Together many years ago as a personal member when I was looking for voluntary work, and it's lovely to see it still feels very straightforward to use. I'm really happy with everything so far and looking forward to making the most of the platform.
Kerise
Inclusion Support Hub, September 2025
Ensuring every search leads somewhere useful.
A critical part of improving the platform was addressing its search experience. In 2022, we identified over 100 keywords that were returning no results at all - a significant barrier for users trying to find local support.
By the end of 2024, we had systematically worked through every keyword and location combination, ensuring that at least one relevant activity or listing existed for each. This work significantly improved search relevance, reduced dead-ends and made the overall experience more useful and trustworthy for residents and professionals alike.
Building advocacy and wider local ownership.
Beyond technical improvements, a significant strand of the work has been stakeholder engagement and culture change. We successfully shifted perceptions of the platform among key partners, from initial scepticism to active advocacy, resulting in increased word-of-mouth promotion and stronger local ownership of the service.
Key system change achievements include:
- 2022–2024: Worked with the local council to migrate a families and children support directory from an outdated, difficult-to-access model into a dynamic, user-managed system on the platform.
- 2023 onwards: Partnered with a local Health & Wellbeing Forum, hosting their members and directory and training the Chair to confidently demonstrate and promote the platform independently.
- 2024: Designed and delivered a session for social prescribers — previously working in isolation across GP practices — showing how the platform could replace fragmented paper-based directories with a unified digital signposting tool.
- 2023–2025: Collaborated with an existing village hall directory to build alignment, strengthen relationships and avoid duplication of effort across systems.
"Made Open are nothing less than first class! Their integrity, commitment and patience in building both the relationship with their clients and the community platform, means we have felt supported and listened to throughout our journey with them."
Amber Skyring
Former CEO, Wessex Community Action
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