What’s in a website?
In years past, the definitive answer may have been merely a collection of pages of information linked together through hyperlinks, However, with the growth of digital marketing, the website has become a journey into a brand. An efficient and interesting journey can keep a user visiting time and time again. However, a poorly crafted website can lead the the user never returning.
With millions of websites clamoring for attention, knowing how a consumer experiences a brand’s online offerings has become more important than ever. And this is exactly what Williams Scotsman, a modular space solutions company, wanted to figure out prior to a new launch.
Finding the space
In 1955, Williams Mobile Offices is incorporated, when Albert Vaughn (“A.V.”) Williams patented the technology used to build a mobile office.
This patent has since expanded into a global corporation known as Williams Scotsman, with a customer base that has grown to more than 25,000 and involves 450 diverse industries.
The fleet of approximately 100,000 mobile offices, classrooms and storage units can provide businesses and organizations a temporary environment in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
However, as the consumer base has grown, so to should the message, or so Williams Scotsman decided in 2016, when it met with R2integrated to reimagine its website.
A consumer’s eye perspective
The modular building market, much like many other markets, serves a diverse collection of consumers. And as Eric Loy, Content Marketing Manager at R2integrated, explains, different consumers have their own set of unique needs, motivations, and pain points.
“In order to effectively speak to these various customers, the new site needed to align its visual design, content strategy, and digital experience to each of these audience type’s decision-making journey in order to quickly connect them with the right products to drive engagement and sales,” says Loy.
So, the objective for Williams Scotsman became to optimize the user experience on the web page, in the hopes that it may provide for greater loyalty and lead generations.
The companies, R2integrated, according to Loy, had a variety of target industries, such as construction, education, energy, industrial, commercial/retail, healthcare, and government.
In order to create such an experience for a wide array of industries, Loy says, the company used a specific design model combined with different campaigns.
“This campaign centered around a new build and UX design for www.willscot.com along with corresponding paid search, content campaigns, social campaigns, and sales representative outreach to help promote it,” says Loy.
If you build it, they will come
The new website went live on July 19, 2016.
And last month, the website won the First Place Award of Distinction in the Modular Building Institute Awards in the marketing website category.
It was well deserved, as the website reported an 11% increase in traffic, a 10% uptick in unique visitors, and total goal conversions (including requests for quote, general info, and service) rising by 2%. In addition leads generated from the web page resulted in 8% more business orders.
The success, according to Loy, could be attributed to prioritizing the site’s content and information architecture, by reducing click paths to key content from 7-8 clicks to 3-4.
“By emphasizing the importance of visual design, content strategy, and digital experience, they transformed their website into a sales tool for their team to effectively speak to the full spectrum of their customers and quickly connect them with appropriate products, ultimately supporting company-wide goals and initiatives,” says Loy.
