Project Overview
Salon Savings, a leading e-tailer of discount hair care products, was not managing their website productively. The site was very restrictive in how a product or a category could be handled. The management at Salon Savings was constantly frustrated by phone calls from customers who couldn’t find the products they were looking for or they couldn’t easily complete their purchase. The Salon Savings managers were also frustrated that they could not effectively and efficiently expand the product line or make changes without expensive design or programming work with each small change. After a few years of growing the business and growing frustration, Salon Savings hired Active Web Group (“AWG”) to help analyze and solve their growing eCommerce problems so they could focus on growing their business. They knew AWG had experience and expertise in eCommerce and wanted an industry leader to work with.
Challenges
The Salon Savings Content Management System (CMS) system had many limitations it only allowed one level of category to be added and products could only be in a single category. For example, Redken Hair Conditioner could only be either under the category “hair conditioners” or under a category for the brand name “Redken”, not both. This made for overcrowded categories that had dozens of pages to click through. Another significant problem was the dated and unattractive design. The design was a single column design with almost no administrative control over page content. There were many other problems such as limited account features, a poorly laid out check-out system and extremely slow load times. An added challenge to this project was that the website needed to be tied into the current accounting system and automatically feed inventory and pricing to the web site while have orders downloaded directly into it. They were printing and typing orders and calling angry customers when products where either no longer available or out of stock. The reality was that Salon Savings was selling beauty products and required a major face lift!
Goals
The primary goal of the project was to greatly increase the user experience on the Salon Savings website. Customers and shoppers needed to be able to find the products they wanted quickly, easily and purchase them. Active Web Group needed to provide a smooth experience for a shopper to buy their products, while up-sell products and additional items could be displayed without hindering checkout. An important secondary goal of the project was to greatly improve the control that Salon Savings management would have over the content on the site. The third goal of the project was to improve online customer service.
Solution
Active Web Group provided Salon Savings with a brand new cutting-edge website and organized SEO and Pay Per Click campaigns for this website. The new website has advanced content management, which allows broad product management, page and category creation as well as sub-category creation. There are over 50 different attributes that Salon Savings is able to control on each product! The shopping cart smoothly takes a browser and allows them to become a buyer. The account section of the website was greatly improved and many features including order status, past orders, multiple ship-to addresses, etc. were added. Advanced marketing features now allow Salon Savings management to A/B test shipping rates and price points as well as various design elements. This improved conversions and profits. Well-structured website allows organize effective PPC campaigns for each website product. The new website is designed to handle all the growth Salon Savings expects over the next several years and is easily scalable for expansion.
Success
Salon Savings is thrilled with the results! The new website has helped Salon Savings more than double the business. Customer service has been greatly reduced, and Salon Savings management has been able to expand the product line. The multi-tiered category system that Active Web Group created for Salon Savings has enabled them to display products the way their customers want them. They can search by brand, type or price point. The conversion rate on visitors has improved a great deal and more people now have become multi-buyers. This is one face lift where the patient looks great!
Services Provided
Active Web Group has provided Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click consulting, Email Marketing and Programming for Salon Savings.