Case Studies

Hill Laboratories

Celebrating their 75th anniversary with the launch of an industry-leading product configurator and new website

Ecommerce, Website Design

At a Glance

75%

FASTER ROI THAN EXPECTED

38%

LIFT IN WEB REVENUE

NEW WEB ORDERS

48%

INCREASE IN PAGEVIEWS FROM ORGANIC TRAFFIC CHANNEL

ETR remained flexible throughout our engagement and really pushed us (in a good way) to make the best product possible.

Ben Hill Third Generation CEO, Hill Labs

Hill Labs manufactures state-of-art customizable chiropractic and medical tables. At their core, like so many other family businesses, Hill has a strong sense of values and commitment to great products and customer service. Their focus on innovation has made them a global player in the medical table market.

Where We Started

While the quality and features of their products has continued to grow, the brand’s online digital experience has not kept pace. Traditionally, Hill has depended on their third-party dealer network to drive online product exploration and sales. Hill’s main corporate site was dated, text heavy, and did not match the greatness of the brand.

Example of old Hill Labs site — The previous Hill Labs site was dated and did not make it easy to order online.

Unpacking the problem

Early in our discovery process, it was clear that the Hill Labs website needed to be more than just an online catalog. Our interview process uncovered that Hill’s team was using the site as a resource much more than expected but the process was very inefficient. It was a tool used daily by external sales, internal teams, and customers to reference detailed product information, configure settings and prices, and submit inquiries for sales and financial information.

Through a comprehensive SEO-focused content audit we discovered some huge opportunities to improve page rankings by formalizing headings, content, and metadata site wide. Data showed that 8% of the pages on hilllabs.com accounted for 50% of the traffic. This indicates huge gaps and opportunities to improve the majority of the site.

A complete redesign and UX/UI overhaul was needed to better reflect their quality products and the warm, customer-centric focus of the company. Furthermore, the website needed a market-leading product configuration tool that would allow users to explore the tables and all their features in360-degrees.

To guide our redesign process we came up with 6 design requirements to ensure the design upheld the high-level considerations needed for success. The requirements included rules such as the use of human language over internal database language and the balance of serving new visitors as well as repeat, heavy users like internal staff and sales.

We developed design requirements to guide the direction of the design based on what was most crucial for success.

Creating a direct-to-consumer experience

A key growth factor for Hill Labs is to sell direct-to-consumer, allowing customers to purchase products right from the website, while still respecting and supporting their dealer network. This created the need for a new e-commerce solution and configuration tool that allowed for the 360º view of all tables, the ability to customize colors, add and remove features, save your quote, and check-out online through a standard payment and shipping process.

The new product detail page made it easy to view and customize Hill Labs’ in an elegant interface that spoke to the brand’s quality.

Preserving Heritage

Although the digital experience was being fast-forwarded into the future, it was important to preserve the values and legacy that made Hill Labs the success they are today. We didn’t want to lose the faces and warmth of the brand and their commitment to quality to a design that was too modern and cold. We created an art direction that maintained the human element through the use of warmer typography, dedicated sections to show the internal team and values, an animated historical timeline, and clear calls to action to speak to experts directly or to call Hill Labs for help. These small but important touches go a long way in maintaining the personal connection and white-glove service of Hill Labs.

Success in a digital era

The redesign for Hilllabs.com was a complete transformation for Hill Laboratories. Not only was it a comprehensive visual overhaul it changed and improved many business strategies and introduced a proper direct-to-consumer revenue stream. An industry-leading product configurator helped remove bottlenecks created by outdated processes and systems. Automatic reporting of sales activity allows the owner and teams to keep a pulse on sales and maintain customer service. This digital transformation positions Hill Labs for continual growth and a competitive advantage over companies large and small for generations to come.

Furthermore, the launch was a resounding success for Hill Labs. In just a few months, they made back their investment with a massive increase in online orders.

Thinking about a project like this one?

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