Exciting news as ColourFence have reached the finals of the Franchise Marketing Awards 2017. The team are finalists in the “Best Website” and “Best Overall Marketing Campaign” categories.
Last year, the ColourFence website had a complete overhaul. The new platform was designed to showcase the company’s key products and unique selling points. The site had to be easy for head office and franchisees to manage and update. It needed to be device responsive and easy to navigate. Strong branding and lead generation were the final requirements.
Consultancy with key stakeholders – including management, franchisees, customers and marketing professionals yielded the perfect design.
So how was the judging criteria met?
Innovative Design
With a clean, innovative design that enhances the visual aspects of ColourFence.
- Publication of prices to ensure transparency for customers who may have misgivings about less scrupulous companies.
- The ‘No Pressure Promise’ to reassure customers of ethical practices in sales and customer care.
- Long term product guarantees – which distinguish ColourFence an ColourRail from inferior fencing products.
Finally, a time-lapse video shows the installation process on several pages.
Branding
Clear, consistent branding across the site and franchisee subsites. Franchisees have the autonomy to update their own content while adhering to corporate branding and guidelines. This ensures a clean, cohesive website.
The sub-sites feature detailed, personalised information about each individual franchise. This includes areas covered, completed jobs, biographies and testimonials. This helps to reassure customers and reinforce franchise credentials.
A Distinct USP
ColourFence is a unique product with multiple USPs.
- Virtually Maintenance Free.
- 25 Year Guarantee.
- Professional Installation by Trained Franchisees.
- No Pressure Promise.
- Published Prices.
- Local Franchises.
This makes a winning combination that really can’t be beaten.
Engaging Content
ColourFence’s brand ambassador Anna Ryder-Richardson greets you from the home page. A home improvement and gardening guru, her photo is welcoming, warm, and attention-grabbing.
Further down the homepage are videos featuring the Alan Titchmarsh show, as well as testimonials from several satisfied customers.
There is also an engaging blog with videos, posts and graphics designed to inform, reassure and help customers.
Content has been kept brief, informative and accessible. Product pages extol the benefits of the product. The website itself uses images and video to showcase the visual impact of ColourFence and ColourRail.
Ease of Navigation
A floating top menu makes navigation easy. Both the menus and the contact details – a call to action – are always clear and visible.
Use of Technology
The website CMS allows franchisees to:
- Update their own gallery and testimonials
- Add customer information and generate guarantee certificates
- Head office can log call leads and assign these to franchisees
The WordPress platform also contains custom plugins that enable franchise owners to easily set up new pages.
Accessibility
The site is designed to be accessible from various devices. The key content is clearly laid out. The company phone number features prominently in the same place on every page. In addition, because one of the main objectives of the website is to generate enquiries for local franchisees, a ‘call to action’ to find suppliers is placed centre screen.
Images are labelled with ‘alternative text’ to make them accessible to visually impaired users who may be using screen readers. Our video content has automatic closed captioning for the hearing impaired.
Ease of Use on Mobile Devices
The website is device responsive and works just as well on a mobile device as a desk or laptop computer. The two main product lines – ColourFence and ColourRail – feauture immediately on the home page, with a strong call to action. What’s more, the company phone number is at the top of every page, and the drop-down menus make mobile site navigation a breeze.
Search Engine Optimisation
ColourFence works closely with a specialist web design and marketing agency, Natural Ranks, to help with SEO. The company assists franchisees with their own local pages, as well as optimising the corporate website on a national basis. Natural Ranks also undertakes PPC activities for the company and its franchisees. ColourFence’s website ranks 1st on 55 key search terms (see image below) on Google, Bing and Google Mobile. Furthermore, Natural Ranks have helped drive a 50% increase in traffic over the past 12 months, holding 93 top 3 rankings and 134 top 10 rankings. What’s even more impressive is the increase in contact forms being completed on franchisees’ own pages (i.e enquires) which have increased 530% from a 78% increase in site visitors.
Summary
The key criteria that are relevant to ColourFence’s website have been met. The new design is both fresh and engaging, with innovations such as the time-lapse video and publication of all pricing. Branding is strong and consistent, focusing on the core USPs of low-maintenance, weatherproof products with an ethical approach to sales and customer care. Technology has been embraced, the site is easily found and navigated, and encourages re-visits. Finally, it is delivering an uplift in enquiries and sales for ColourFence franchisees.
The winners will be announced at the Franchise Marketing Awards ceremony commencing at 5pm on Friday, 13 October at the NEC, Birmingham!
