- October, 2023
Transforming Local Home Improvement Business Through Digital Optimization
Case Study: Boosting Web Leads & Sales
Our client, a local home improvement business, struggled with lead generation, particularly through their website. As we are sharing detailed analytics from this project, this client will remain anonymous.
Despite the quality of the company’s services, the digital sphere remained a challenging frontier, especially since their customers found their existing website hard to navigate. They needed a way to capture and convert potential leads, leveraging their online presence to its fullest potential.
The Situation
The Challenge
Establishing a Baseline
Before starting a new project, it’s important to establish baseline data. This ensures changes can be easily measured to determine if they are truly improvements or drawbacks.
Web analytics were not fully implemented prior to their engagement with Achieve. Therefore, the two months preceding our website redesign will be used as a baseline (September and October 2017).
It was clear that the site was underperforming in terms of attracting visitors, generating leads, and converting these leads into sales. Without a robust online strategy and a website optimized for conversions, they were missing out on a significant portion of potential business.
Difficult Navigation
The company primarily targets an older demographic, who seek a straightforward method to gather information and inquire about its home improvement services.
The prior website presented navigational challenges, hindering customers from accessing vital product details.
The conversion rate, at approximately 2%, was notably subpar for the industry standards, with potential customers finding it difficult to submit an inquiry.
Low Rankings
Search engine positioning was lackluster. Merely 25% of the average monthly traffic originated from organic searches, resulting in a limited number of visitors and subsequent leads.
Fresh Website, SEO and Continual Improvements
Starting in August 2017, we embarked on this transformative journey. Implementing the redesign was the initial focus, followed by continuous A/B testing to optimize user experience and conversion rates. Concurrently, SEO strategies were put in place, and advertising campaigns were launched, monitored, and refined for maximum impact.
Our strategy encompassed three major steps:
- Website Redesign and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): We overhauled the existing website to be more user-friendly and engaging. Through continuous CRO, the site was fine-tuned to convert more visitors into leads.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): To drive organic traffic, we employed SEO tactics, targeting keywords tailored to Company’s offerings. This boosted their site’s visibility on search engines, leading to an influx of organic visitors.
- Omnichannel Advertising: Beyond the digital realm, we executed a comprehensive advertising strategy, both online and offline, to promote Company’s services and direct potential customers to the revamped website.
Our Solution
Fig 1. showcases the relatively low conversion rate as well as low number of leads before the website redesign, implemented by the end of October 2017.
The Results
Improvements Across the Board
Conversion rates improved nearly straight away as the website redesign was implemented, with further traffic coming from organic (and other) sources.
Not only were improvements clearly made in the first year, but continual advances were made in nearly all tracked metrics. Even taking account for industry seasonality, here are a few highlights:
Website Users/Visitors | Organic Traffic Share | Number of Leads | Conversion Rate | |
Year 1 Improvement from Baseline | +14% | +68% | +124% | +97% |
Year 5 Improvement from Baseline | +245% | +115% | +786% | +153% |
Capitalizing on Macroeconomic Trends
The years 2020 through 2022 witnessed an unprecedented surge in industry web traffic. The COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdowns around the world led to significant changes in consumer behavior. People were spending more time at home, leading to a heightened interest in home improvement projects and a surge in online searches related to the industry.
Fortunately, Company was already well-positioned in the SEO landscape, with high-ranking pages that captured this burgeoning interest and many target keywords ranking in positions 1-5 (all first page) on Google. While many businesses were caught off-guard by this sudden shift, our client was ready and poised to capitalize on this unforeseen macroeconomic trend.
By the time the surge subsided in 2023, many businesses saw a decline in their web traffic. However, thanks to our ongoing optimization efforts and the strong foundation we had built, the company not only sustained but continued to grow their web traffic, maintaining near-historic levels.
Cont. Results
Fig 2. showcases sustained growth despite macroeconomic changes.
Conclusion
We're Here to Help You
The digital transformation journey for this client was comprehensive and marked by continuous improvement. Not only did we revamp their digital presence, but we also ensured that the traffic visiting their site was of high quality and had a higher likelihood of conversion. The results speak for themselves, and the company is now poised as a dominant force in the local home improvement scene.