The stories behind the sites we build...

We are proud to present the designs and stories behind some of the website we've designed for our clients ...

Jan '10 Case Study: Website Design for iButton Locks

The Story Behind the Site


If you want to sell online, take a look at our iButton Locks site. It’s a full-featured shopping cart site that is easy-to-maintain, reliable, and secure. It will show you what’s it takes to have a successful Web-based sales engine.

Highlights:

Click to visit: http://www.ibutton-locks-online.com/

A great new product, but it needed some explanation

When the Keyless Lock Store decided to sell a completely new line of keyless locks, they needed a new strategy.
Since many of the keyless lock features would be unfamiliar to most of their customers, more description and imageswould be needed to educate people about this new line.
This meant we could not just add the new locks to an existing website along side lots of other locks. There just would not be enough room to do what was needed.

Put the spot light the product & keep it there!

A better approach would be to brand new, website—just for this product line—so we could really focus on presenting the product clearly and attractively.  This approach meant a lot more information up front about the new product to help the customer come to a "buy" decision.
This approach would also give customers an simpler set of choices (the famous more is less approach) and at the same time make search engine optimization easier (keywords, metatags, reciprocal links, etc) easier and less expensive.
Clearly, we needed a shopping cart application that was quick and inexpensive to develop, worked reliably, was loaded with all the bells and whistles. But we also needed one that could be customized with the new product brand. That meant an open source shopping cart application.

Don't start from scratch ...

Shopping carts are complex software applications and can be quite expensive. But fortunately, they are so commonly used that there are now many applications available. So we recommeded a buy-it-don't-build-it approach. Ok, but which one?
Clearly, we needed open-source, template-based shopping cart that could accommodate the handful of extra pages in the early part of the process flow would be ideal.  But, there were hundreds of shopping cart applications available and each claimed to be best.
Click to visit: http://www.ibutton-locks-online.com/

Pick a good one ...

Here are a few of the steps we followed to make our recommendation:
  • Contacted other webmasters with storefronts that looked good

  • Looked up shopping cart applications supported by credit card processors and fulfillment houses

  • Ssearched vendors' websites for packages, pricing, feature listings

  • Checked user forums, tech support
  • Read reviews, blogs, postings in user communities

  • Downloadied trial versions

    And, finally, worked up prototypes to make a final selection.

 

The results? 

Take a look for yourself and let us know what you think.
For more information about iButton Locks, visit their website or contact them at: 866-561-1476.
To learn what we can do for your company, contact us at:
UNETY Systems, Inc. 630-955-9500



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1 comment:

  1. Fascinating... My cousin was searching this kind of info. He will be very happy when I give him your url. Thanks!
    Ana

    ReplyDelete