Case Study:
Marketing Website
The Client:
Highland Wholesale Foods Inc. is a food distribution company that has been established since 1999.
They provide value to food programs in the corrections industry, retail markets, non-profit food agencies, food banks, school programs, and other specialized markets.
The Opportunity:
Their website hasn't been updated since it was built circa 2008.
Highland was missing out on opportunities to reach new clients on their website.
Four Months
(April - August 2020)
Duration:
My Role:
Lead Designer
Facilitate Research
Analyze Feedback
Build Product in Wix
Research
Visual Design
Prototyping
Design System
User Testing
Methods Used:
Outcome:
First day of the live site resulted in the acquisition of a new client through the form submission
Discovery Phase:
Heuristic Analysis
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It is clear that the whole website requires a total visual overhaul
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Reduction of the pages in the navigation
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Need for a contact form and updated contact information
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Update and simplification of business's information
Discovery Phase:
Research
Research shows that websites influence 97% of client's purchasing decisions
According to a study done by RainToday.com having a professional website can significantly increase your client base. With the power of a well designed website a business can:
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Establish that they are professional : through professional design, writing, and arrangement of content.
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Establish that they are worthy of consideration : through an overview of their services, their client list, biographies of their professionals, and show how they helped clients and delivered what they promised.
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Establish themselves as an authority : through blog posts, publications, videos, and other resources to help build credibility, reliability, and trust-all essential elements necessary to win clients
Discovery Phase:
Information Architecture &
Content Strategy
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The "Logistics" page was not a clear label in relation to the information on the page
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The information on the "Logistics" page was excessive and needed to be paired down
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The "Become a Customer or Vendor" page was unnecessary
Analysis Phase:
Feature Prioritization
This website needed a complete visual makeover and an update to the information architecture was needed.
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Home page: including multiple calls to action and impact
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About page: that breaks down the info into bite-size chunks
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Products page: that showcases private labels and description of offerings
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Services page: offering classification and information
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Contacts: a list of significant employees that includes their email and also a form submission feature for people who don't know whom to contact
Final Design:
Features
Design for Impact
The Highland brand was missing from the old website. Part of my mission for this project was to display the physical quality of Highland. I took a couple of trips to the office to take photographs of the property (and the people). Displaying the trucks that Highland uses on a daily basis builds trust with potential and current clients.
Design for Impact
Including the main points of the mission statement followed by another call to action in order to develop trust from clients.
Design for Information
Giving details about the variety of services Highland has to offer in a distinct manner offers clarity to potential clients and makes Highland worthy of consideration.
Design for Action
Creating a form submission page allows for potential clients to reach out with a generalized request if they don't know who to e-mail.
The first day the new website launched a legitimate new client reached out through the form submission. That client became a routine customer who would purchase loads of product for delivery every two weeks.
Final Design:
Live Site
Every day since the website has gone live there have been multiple form submissions a week. Resulting in new clients that would not have otherwise been reached without this update.
Read about another feature added to the website which made institutional bids easier to win.