RHSports Web redesign… behind the scenesSales conference August 2011

TOPICS1. What do we want to achieve with a redesign?2. Who are our web users?3. How do web users typically behave?4. How do we increase traffic to the site?5. How do we convert traffic to sales?6. What are the popular design trends?7. What do our competitor websites look like?8. The new RHS website… and ideas for the future

What do we want to achieve with a redesign?

1. Increase traffic to the website2. Increase conversions from potential customers to new customers3. Increase sales

4. Portray a more professional and modern appearance5. Provide a user friendly website that offers substantial information6. Meet user goals7. Accommodate user behavior8. Improve search engine ranking

Who are our web users?

1. Customers – potential and existing2. RHS - Customer Service, Territory Managers, Apparel

Development3. Suppliers4. Competitors5. Company investors

What are their goals?Why are they visiting the website? What are they hoping to achieve?

Potential customers

1. Browse or search for products (sports gear and/or apparel)2. Compare products and prices to competitors3. Learn about ordering (shipping, delivery, sign-up, terms and conditions)4. Learn about RHSports (staff, history, location, customers)5. Register a new customer account

What are their goals?Existing customers

1. Buy products2. Download the catalogue3. Browser or search for products4. View online specials and clearouts5. Download information sheets6. Contact RHS (Territory manager, Sales rep, Customer service)

What are their goals?Customer service

1. Complete customer orders2. Find product information and prices3. Download information sheets

Territory Managers

4. Complete customer orders5. Find product information and prices6. Download information sheets7. Teach customers how to use the website (navigation, shopping cart)8. Show customers additional benefits of the site (info sheets)9. Compile quotes for customers

What are their goals?Competitors

1. Compare products and prices2. View online specials and clearouts3. Download the catalogue4. Read company information5. Subscribe to mailing list

How do users behave

Users are highly goal driven

Visit a website for a specific reason / goal Want to find their goal quickly and easily without having to think

Follow a “SCAN, CLINK LINK or CLICK BACK” strategy

Scan text looking for clues such as “How can I find what I’m looking for” Focus on words and phrases that match their goal As soon as they find a link that seems like it might lead to what they’re looking for, they

will click it. Users don’t often click on the best option, but the first reasonable option. If they cannot easily and quickly find what we are looking for….. they will CLICK BACK and

try again

How do users behave

Users are impatient and make snap decisions

Don’t often wait for a page to fully download before deciding to click back or not. Often decide in as little as 1/20th of a second whether a site is appealing or not.

Users spend less time on a homepage on subsequent visits. They will go straight for the menu and click where they want to go, ignoring everything else.

Visits Time spent on homepage

1st visit 31 seconds

2nd visit 25 seconds

3rd visit 22 seconds

4th visit 19 seconds

User Time spent on homepage

Low web experience 35 seconds

High web experience 25 seconds

How do users behave?

Why are users goal driven and impatient?

Modern life is hectic, time is valuable and we’re usually in a hurry We know we don’t have to read everything Scanning gets us to our goal quicker… and we’re good at it

Websites compete for attention… a competitor’s website is only a click away

Looking at a screen for long periods of time strains the eye Reading from computer screens is about 25% slower than reading from print Scanning is much easier on the eye

How do we increase traffic?1. Help people find your website (Search engine optimization)

Showing up on search engines is the most critical way of attracting people to your website.

If your website is not listed when people search for keywords, they will not find your website.

2. What is SEO?

Process of improving the visibility of your website in search engine results The higher your web page appears in the search result list, the more visitors it will

receive.

How do we increase traffic?

2. How do we improve search engine ranking?

2.1. Build up popularity

Search engine ranking is a popularity contest. The more sites you link to and the more sites that link back to you, the more

popular you are and the higher your ranking. Don’t just link to any site…. Sites must be of quality and relevant to your site. Submit your website to online directories (white pages, true local,

schoolresources.com.au, ozebiz etc) Can we get links on school websites?

How do we increase traffic?2.2. Optimize your content……Keywords

Think about the words users would type to find your pages Add those keywords to the content Use those keywords as links

Top keywords used to search for www.rhsports.com.au

1. rhsports 6. Nyda sports

2. Ross haywood sports 7. Nyda

3. Rh sports 8. Ross haywood sports ringwood

4. Rhs sports 9. Rhs sports australia

5. Ross haywood 10. School sports equipment

How do we increase traffic?What other keywords should we focus on?

Example….Sports equipment School sports gear

How do we increase traffic?2.3. Optimize your content……Provide meaningful content

A page with images and minimal content will not be ranked well in search engines.

Write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content. Provide content that targets your products and user goals.

2.4. Optimize your content……Use meaningful words for headings

Google places greater importance on words used in headings

2.5. Optimize your content……Use meaningful words for links

Ie: Download RHSports catalogue…. Instead of Click here

How do we increase traffic?

2.6. Avoid images for words

Google crawlers cannot read text contained in images. This means your page will not be listed well in Google, it will be hard to find and have a low

ranking. Use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links.

How do we increase traffic?2.7. Provide a meaningful title and description to each page

This is displayed in the search engine results. First chance of capturing the user’s attention in search results. Users scan the words to determine whether they will visit your website or not.

How do we increase sales?Once we get people to the website, how do we increase sales?

1. Grab their attention on the homepage

The homepage must tell users in seconds: Who is RHS? What do they sell? How does it benefit them? Why they should be here and not at a competitor’s website

How do we increase sales?

2. Use clear taglines

State the website’s purpose up front and clearly on the homepage

Good taglines One sentence long Doesn’t start with “the” or “Welcome” Conveys a clear benefit to the user Informative Gets straight to the point Positioned below, above or next to the logo in the header

Examples of taglines

How do we increase sales?3. Facilitate the “scan-click link or click back” strategy

Identify user’s goals on each page and design for those goals

Remove any elements that distracts them from achieving their goal

Emphasize links and elements that takes them closer to their goal

How do we increase sales?

4. Make your content readable

4.1 Do not use more than 3 font sizes Unstructured Cluttered Unprofessional

4.2. Use bold text sparingly

Too much bold text competes for attention, creates extra noise and decreases readability.

Use bold for: Headings Sub-headings Links

How do we increase sales?

4.3. Use capital letters sparingly

Gives the impression of being aggressive, unprofessional and childish. Difficult and slower to read.

ALL CAP TEXT REDUCES READING SPEED BY 10% BECAUSE IT MAKES LETTERS A SIMILAR HEIGHT AND SHAPE. THEY APPEAR BLOCKY, RUN TOGETHER, TIRING TO READ AND LOSE THEIR EFFECTIVENESS WHEN OVER USED.

All cap text reduces reading speed by 10% because it makes letters a similar height and shape. They appear blocky, run together, tiring to read and lose their effectiveness when over used.

How do we increase sales?

4.4. Use underlines for links only

People expect underlined words to be hyperlinks. Don’t confuse users.

4.5 . Use half the word count

Keep messages short Use less words than you would in print One idea per paragraph Use lists where possible Use concise, every day words – no technical or vague terms

How do we increase sales?

4.6 . Use meaningful trigger words for links

Do not use these words for links: Click here | Find out more | Learn more

They clutter the page, make it difficult to scan and force the user to read an entire sentence before deciding to click or not.

Use action words: Buy now | Download catalogue | Shipping details

Meaningless links

RHSports offer products over 26 sports including sports gear for football, cricket, basketball and swimming. Learn more

If you can't find a product, let us know and we will attempt to source it for you. Find out more

Meaningful links

RHSports offer products over 26 sports including sports gear for football, cricket, basketball and swimming.

If you can't find a product, contact RHSports and we will attempt to source it for you.

Popular design trends

1. Center aligned, fixed width layout

2. Simple layout with white space, fewer columns

3. Big fonts

4. Distinct top section

Bold background color used to separate the top section from the rest of the website

Top section contains; Logo – typically on the left Tagline – makes a bold statement Menu Login / Search box

Popular design trends5. Simple navigation

Horizontal bar Large, bold, clear and obvious words Simple font

Popular design trends

4. Large footers

Used as secondary navigation Large in size

Competitor Websites

Are their common elements?

Do they follow design trends?

How can we improve on their web design?

1. Hart

1. Hart

Does it meet user’s goals?

Does it facilitate typical user behavior?

Does it provide enough information?

Do you think it would rank well in search engines?

What is RHSports

What do RHS sell?

How will it benefit me?

How do I find what I’m looking for?

Ideas for the futureWhat else would you like to see on the website / homepage?

1. Product of the month2. Latest products3. Top selling / Most popular product4. Some items on sale5. Links page (links to customer websites)