Anyone can call themselves a web design company. There’s no certification required to offer logo design, search engine optimization or search engine marketing. Some agencies make a lot of claims, and they know just enough to look flashy. The proof, though, isn’t in their claims, but in their portfolio. We offer these retail business case studies to show how our services directly relate to revenue.
How to Spot a Reliable Web Design Company
Top web design agencies have a list of satisfied clients with live websites. There’s data to show they didn’t just build a site, they created growth. Real web design experts nourish that growth after launch with continual improvement. They understand it’s not enough for a site to exist, it must be both user and search engine friendly. At Spade Design, we also do the following:
- We listen to your ideas. As you’ll see in the stories below, we don’t just hear stakeholder feedback, we seek it out. We encourage it.
- We know responsive design. Your users are searching on multiple types of device. That’s not going away. We make your business look good no matter what your audiences use.
- We build sites to last. When your site is designed correctly in the first place, you don’t need to redesign over and over. It’s easier and more cost-effective to do it right the first time.
- We have local, national and international experience. We’ll help your business stand out at every level.
- We keep up with trends. If you’re realizing your site looks dated, we can help.
- We’re not the cheapest option. We provide value, and what we do brings our clients profit. Read on to find out just how much.
In many situations, our clients come to us because what they currently have isn’t working. In our case studies one company struggled with information consistency and it created lost sales and disappointed customers. Another company disappeared from search engines and it was almost like they didn’t exist. In both situations, many problems stemmed from poor web design.
Common Problems For Small Business Retailers
For businesses just starting out, it seems to make sense to cut costs on web design. Almost anyone can work with the template and new ones pop up every day. They seem user friendly, they’re easy to set up, they cost very little. We get it.
Other businesses have an old site and making a change seems like a daunting process. Or they’ve invested in redesign before and all they gained was a hole in their pockets. Sometimes issues come from sources outside their website. Here are some of the most common problems that cause people to seek our help.
- The website is dated and every attempt to fix it has just made things worse.
- The business isn’t showing up on search engine results pages.
- Customers repeatedly complain the site is hard to use and they can’t find what they’re looking for or they have problems checking out, so they abandon their order.
- A redesigned site looked pretty, but leads dropped to nothing.
- The redesign and/or directory registrations created name, address, phone number inconsistencies.
Giving a Snowball a Chance
New Orleans resident Kerry Crosley told his fiancée his dream was to have a snowball stand. His soon-to-be wife Monika urged him not to wait. He created a revolutionary recipe that involved cheesecake-stuffed snowballs and made them available year round.
He gave his store a coffee-shop vibe with free wi-fi and snowball tastings. Everyone who visited didn’t just love what they tasted, they told their friends.
Like most new businesses, Kerry and Monika faced an almost endless list of challenges. They only had so much cash flow to work with, so they designed their own site. Their products spoke for themselves, so at first there wasn’t much need for marketing.
Business grew, and their time shrank. They were busy trying to balance customer service, administrative tasks and new product creation. There was no time left to even think about their online presence.
Little things started to happen, blips on the radar that indicated a larger problem beneath the surface. Customers arrived after hours, stood outside the door looking confused and walked away in frustration. When Kerry and Monika checked, they realized someone had altered their online business hours.
Other would-be patrons arrived looking for items they didn’t sell and never had. They too left disappointed.
Kerry and Monika added catering as one of their services. Fans of their business raved about what a good job they did and how much they loved the snowballs they provided. Somehow, those great reviews never turned into new business.
Gradually the couple realized they were missing out. They turned to Spade Design. Read more about this business, see how we helped and read specific data that shows improvement in our article Retail Business Case Study – Snola Snowballs.
Gilding Doesn’t Fix Everything
When Debbie Shores and Traci Brevard bought Gold Leaf Gallery, they wanted everything about their business to be built on quality and integrity. They inherited an outdated website that didn’t reflect that goal, so they decided to start over.
Unfortunately they had a series of bad experiences. They paid thousands of dollars for more than one redesign involving separate individuals or agencies. Their problems just kept getting worse, and included issues like these:
- Searchers were repeatedly directed to their old domain.
- Site navigation was confusing, so visitors gave up.
- Visitors had to exit their site to view important content.
- Their site wasn’t usable on a mobile device.
Most importantly, their site was costing them leads. Their main service is custom framing, and a large portion of their new customers were people moving into the area. One owner said they knew traffic came to them through online search because people mentioned they were replacing items that had been broken during relocation. All of the sudden they didn’t have any of that traffic. Months went by and the problem continued.
The business was no longer visible when users searched. It was costing them thousands of dollars every month. Their site wasn’t built correctly, so no matter how good it looked, it wasn’t what they needed.
They called Spade Design and things changed. Read what we did and how their business was impacted in percentages and dollars in our article Retail Business Case Study – Gold Leaf Gallery.
Does Your Web Design Agency Publish Case Studies?
Before you hire a web design company, look for proof of what they claim. Do they have satisfied customers who can prove that agency did what they hired them to do? Can they quantify that in terms of customer traffic and sales increase? We can. Let’s talk about how we can do the same for you. Get in touch.
