One of our projects this summer was to design a new website for OC Spas & Hot Tubs, a local Orange County business that sells new, used and refurbished hot tubs. The client came to us because their sales were not what they wanted them to be, and they were hoping that Bixa Media could help them improve this. OC Spas & Hot Tubs is a great digital marketing case study that demonstrates how a small business can increase sales by taking advantage of relevant online marketing platforms.
Web Design
Although OC Spas & Hot Tubs already had a pre-exiting website, it was unbranded (a Google site), poorly designed, and difficult to navigate. On top of that, it did not show potential customers what type of inventory they had on location.
The most important indicator of a website’s success (or lack thereof), is its ability to generate new clients and business. In this case, the old Google website was not performing as it should. Therefore, we decided to start from scratch and redesign a new website on a new URL.
With the new website, our goals were to:
- create a branded website,
- showcase OC Spas & Hot Tubs’ inventory, and
- generate leads and potential customers.
1. Website Branding
First, we purchased a branded domain name: www.ocspasandhottubs.com. Then, we created a website design based around the new OC Hot Spas & Hot Tubs logo. (They did not originally have a logo). Link and button colors were pulled from the logo in order to have a cohesive-looking site. Because we wanted the focus of the new site to be on the spa inventory, we kept the rest of the design quite simple.
2. Inventory Showcase
OC Spas & Hot Tubs did not want to sell their product directly online, especially because they specialize in used and refurbished hot tubs (a type of inventory that changes quickly). Therefore, we decided not to create an e-commerce website and instead just show product images and specs that could be rotated in and out when available. To help potential customers see if OC Spas & Hot Tubs stock fit their needs, we added a custom product search where results can be filtered by manufacturer, condition, seating capacity, water requirements and electrical requirements.
3. Lead Generation
To help increase sales leads coming through the website, we added two forms to the site. The first was your run-of-the-mill contact form. While this may seem like nothing extraordinary, many potential customers prefer to use email over the phone. By adding a contact form, you are able to track the lead source (Yelp, Google, etc…) and consequently return-on-investment, which you are not able to do with just a clickable email address. The second form we added was a free backyard consultation request. This feature helps OC Spas & Hot Tubs recognize high-potential leads. Potential customers that contact them through this form are more likely to convert into customers because they already know they want a hot tub. They just need some guidance in picking the best one for their yard.
“We are getting a lot of activity off the website and Yelp. Our closing sales this month (January 2013) match our summer numbers. Thanks for all your help.”
The Next Steps To Drive Business
Since redesigning their website, OC Spas & Hot Tubs has seen sales growth. Their winter revenue is now close to their summer revenue (their high season). And potential customers that find their website like it; they spend an average of 2 minutes 30 seconds on the website viewing approximately 4 pages per visit. These are good indicators of the website’s success and relevancy.
However, to continue to improve sales, the next step for OC Spas & Hot Tubs is to invest in search engine optimization (SEO). SEO will allow them to improve their website’s search engine ranking for relevant key phrases like “spas and hot tubs”, “hot tubs for sale”, “used hot tubs”, etc. With an increased ranking comes increased web traffic. When you already have a website that converts potential customers into clients, like OC Spas & Hot Tubs has, increased traffic = more clients.
The conclusion of this digital marketing case study? Designing a website should be with a focus on converting visitors into clients. When a website does this well and you drive traffic to the site, your online presence will start to make up a significant portion of your revenue. However, if potential customers cannot find you online, then you are losing out on tons of business. People are already searching for your product or service on the Internet, so you need to make sure they see your website before your competitor’s!