#NOMAM2015 CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS

#NOMAM2015 CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS

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CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 3 INTRODUCTION Savant Systems is a world leader and bleeding-edge designer, developer and manufacturer of a comprehensive body of software and hardware solutions for the connected, automated home and/or commercial facility. Savant s products and solutions provide best-in-class automation, control systems, audio/video, telephony, lighting control, energy management and digital display for both residential and commercial applications. Savant s technology integrates seamlessly with Apple s ios operating system and offers a wealth of state-of-the-art, proprietary software platforms for the management of its automation control applications. Savant Systems products and solutions are sold throughout the world through a network of authorized providers and continues to grow its position as a revered, influential player in the home and commercial automation marketplace.

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 4 CHALLENGE Deploy a website user experience (UX) that is both considerate of the buyer s entire customer journey, while also being: 1. deft, simplifying the sales progression to include only the most essential steps; 2. intuitive, ensuring traffic/buyer assumptions aligned closely with the provided UX and; 3. efficient, using buyers time thoughtfully as they qualify Savant as a solutions provider. Additionally, the client had complex SEO challenges that included: long title tags & metadata; or poorly optimized page information that, when optimized properly, helps search engines and buyers understand each webpage. scattered keyword targeting; or pages lacking specific content focus, which weakens search engines ability to identify page purpose/topic. Savant needed a UX that would guide the buyer from casual window shopper, to motivated buyer. But the new solution also needed to ensure content was optimized precisely to achieve high visibility in organic search results in a ferociously competitive online marketplace.

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 5 THE PLAN Develop a customer journey map; or actual chronological schematic of a typical buyer s entire online experience using SavantSystems.com. If multiple buyer types were identified during a buyer persona examination, multiple customer journey maps would be established. Identify the best-performing organic landing pages and areas of SavantSystems.com that have potential to perform well in organic search results. Additionally conduct a comprehensive analysis of historic buyer behavior to determine the typical browsing patterns of Savant s website traffic. Perform exhaustive phrase research to determine the vocabulary and key phrases SavantSystems.com traffic uses to both find Savant in search engine results and shop for Savant s services, products and solutions. Lastly, monitor trends and search volume in Savant s space to ensure that the terms and topics buyers search for align closely with Savant s content footprint.

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 6 THE PLAN (Continued) Optimize SavantSystems.com content map to include phrases that presently rank well in search engine results and that also possess adequate search volume (i.e., people searching for these phrases/topics). Conversely, tactically abandon unnecessary and/or redundant phrases/topics that either do not speak to SavantSystems.com content strategy, nor buyer need. Phrases/topics that are not heavily sought by buyers using search engines would also be excluded from the new content strategy. Optimize and target (i.e., compete for) 1-2 key phrases per page in parentlevel site structure (i.e., about Savant, products, et al), with a focus on the best organic landing pages and other areas for potential success. Lastly, identify the need for better internal linking structure to improve SEO and usability of navigation paths. This exercise would ensure both search engines and users of SavantSystems.com enjoy a seamless browsing experience.

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 7 EXECUTION After initial planning, Single Throw began implementation of new title tags and metadata across every page of SavantSystems.com. At the same time, Single Throw s SEO team ensured that all images/ photographs used throughout SavantSystems.com were optimized with correct naming conventions and appropriate HTML markup. Doing so ensured search engines could identify the presence and nature of each image/photo contained within the website. Additional modifications were made to the menu items and Calls-to-Action contained throughout SavantSystems.com to provide a more intuitive user experience and shorten the buyer s path to establishing buyer-to-seller contact with Savant (conversions). Such conversion enhancements included alphabetizing individual menu items meant to make it easier for visitors to find content. The addition of new right-side Calls-to-Action served as quick links between related content areas (i.e. Quick links between Corporate Solutions and Home Automation Solutions).

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 8 EXECUTION (Continued) Single Throw also ensured that anchor links within content (i.e., a string of words that are clickable) were only linking to appropriately related content and in the properly optimized fashion. The change was made throughout SavantSystems.com because the previous use of text-written links (also know as anchor text ) lacked focus, buyer conversion strategy and employed optimization practices not endorsed by prevailing SEO best practices. Because authorized Savant dealers use SavantSystems.com to locate product names and serial numbers, the final steps Single Throw implemented included optimizing product pages, with a sharpened focus on product names and serial numbers. This ensured dealers a smoother, more usercentric experience, as it dramatically improved internal site search results for dealers in general.

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 9 RESULTS 34% Total Traffic 62% Organic Traffic Total Traffic SavantSystems.com total traffic rose dramatically by 33.39% between 2012 and 2013. Organic Traffic Organic traffic coming to SavantSystems.com recorded an even more impressive 62.26% rise from 2012 to 2013.

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 10 RESULTS 68% New Organic Visits 145% Goal Completion New Visits (Organic) New visits coming by way of organic search climbed by as much as 67.84% from 2012 to 2013. Goal Completion Goal completion (amount of visitors that complete a desired action) skyrocketed by 145.58% between 2012 and 2013.

CASE STUDY: SAVANT SYSTEMS 11 CONCLUSIONS Savant Systems possessed two fundamental challenges typical of virtually any business seeking to find and secure customers using a website. These challenges included: 1. Possessing a website that narrows the gap between what the buyer expects of your website and what your website ultimately delivers. 2. Possessing a digital presence containing a content strategy that is both optimized to communicate soundly with search engines and an assortment of buyers alike. Search engines do not owe website owners anything. Search engines obligate themselves to supply searchers with an experience that is lean, efficient and never wasteful of their time by serving up results that don t hit the mark. Search engines want to satisfy searchers and searchers, make no mistake, are your customers. Savant Systems continues to enjoy digital success because their website, as this case study outlines, satisfies search engines and buyers with one, unified approach to appealing to both equally.