By Volusion
Since 1993, eXpress Badging has been a leader in the B2B field of custom-printed identification. Serving segments from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies, the company has to manage technological changes on a regular basis, whether that means expanding the security provided by its products or finding creative ways to reach new markets. Each of these changes brings with it its own set of challenges and opportunities.
Integrating online and offline marketing strategy
“I just wasn’t getting a return on investment,” Joe said, “I put a lot of money and a lot of hours into making these connections, all for 2-3 leads a week. At the time I thought these were good numbers, but I definitely needed more.”
As the identification market matured over the last decade, and the web becoming the new market place, eXpress badging’s overall profit margins were lowered to the point that could not be justified with only outside sales. Consumers found they could learn more about the products by having an on-site demonstration, and then shop online for each component that was provided on their professionally configured proposal. The consumer’s primary go-to resource was their friendly online customer service representative that had the best price. The ability to compete with the call center model became the primary focus. To build a web presence that represents a strong knowledge of industry, and display published prices that are backed with a long-term commitment to provide knowledgeable service, became the objectives for eXpress badging, and the job of Volusion to deliver!
Previous experiences with all-in-one local internet contractors gave Joe hesitation. “However, I didn’t want to be at the beck-and-call of coders,” he said, “especially since I’m capable of a lot of development and design myself. And I didn’t want my investment used to just keep someone employed; I needed to see a return on that investment.”
eXpress badging leverages Volusion’s Design and Marketing Services
Joe took advantage of the natural division in eXpress Badging’s product line—“We Print” IDs custom printed by eXpress and “You Print” devices for in-house ID creation—and turned the marketing reigns of the We Print pages over to Volusion, who would handle the design and SEO for that segment while his internal team focused on You Print products and pages. Seeing the success of the “We Print” product line, the “You Print” thread was recently handed over to Volusion and redesigned.
“What struck me about [Volusion] was the level of professional communication I received at every level, from the support folks who helped me every day to the specialist assigned to help me design and market my site. I also wanted to work with someone who took web design as seriously as I did, and it was obvious from [Volusion’s] website that this was the case,” Joe said.
As a B2B business that depended primarily on phone leads, even from their website, Joe knew that eXpress Badging’s ROI would be difficult to calculate and would require substantially different goals than those that Volusion’s marketing specialists were accustomed to dealing with, but he was able to work with his specialists to prioritize phone call conversions over direct online sales and establish means of measuring success.
And experiences 50% growth in profits
eXpress Badging’s 2-3 leads per week quickly became up to 3 leads per day, and designers were able to help Joe realize his vision of a site that displayed product and was more than just an online price list and brochure. “Our lead forms and phone calls tripled, if not quadrupled,” Joe reported, “and our profits grew by 50%–not our sales, mind you, but our actual profits.” Time that was once wasted on unproductive lead generation can now be spent managing a quickly-growing enterprise. As a next step, a Volusion managed pay-per-click campaign to include “follow me” ads was launched, and two months into the campaign, the quality of leads improved significantly.
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Via:: Volusion Online Business
