responsive Website Redesign
Tropic Seas Spas
Background
Tropic Seas Spas is a private line under May Manufacturing LLC. This project delves into the heart of a brand that epitomizes sophistication and rejuvenation. The aim was to create a website that not only mirrors the premium quality of Tropic Seas hot tubs, but also enhances the user experience for consumers considering the world of luxury relaxation.
My Role
I led the research, design, and development of this project from start to finish. I was mentored by our web developer (Phil) throughout the entire project. We also worked with our web support specialists from Synoptek to translate our older tools to the new hosting environment.
Problem
Tropic Seas Spas faced significant challenges that necessitated a comprehensive website redesign. For the first six months of 2023, the website produced an average of 4 leads per month. The primary concerns centered around bringing the private line up to par with the standards set by its parent company.
Goals
We wanted to redefine the aesthetic appeal of the Tropic Seas website to reflect a modern, luxurious, and cohesive visual identity.
We aimed to enhance the overall user journey by implementing intuitive navigation. This will ensure a seamless and engaging experience for visitors.
We wanted to strategically position our lead gen forms at key touchpoints, aligning them with user intent and preferences. By placing these forms where users are most likely to engage, we aim to increase lead quantity and quality.
Design Process
Research
The research phase for Tropic Seas drew inspiration from proven strategies. By leveraging the insights we gained from the successful Artesian Spas website redesign, we aimed to test out new strategies with Tropic.
A few questions I asked myself:
How can we make the homepage more engaging than Artesian’s?
How can we restructure the product specifications in an easy-to-digest but appealing way?
What ways can the navigation be changed to improve the user journey?
Ideation
With a condensed timeline, our ideation process swiftly transitioned into a medium to high-fidelity prototype. This was made possible by leveraging insights from our recent website redesign project for Artesian. The focus for Tropic Seas was on improving user interaction and ensuring a logical flow throughout the website.
Reorganization of Features & Accessories
A key initiative involved optimizing the "Features & Accessories" pages for better user comprehension. By refining content and reorganizing information, these pages were transformed to provide more meaningful and accessible insights for users.
Strategically placed contact forms
To enhance user engagement and lead generation, we strategically placed contact forms at the bottom of each model page. These forms come preselected with the preferred model of the page. This helped simplify the inquiry process and encouraged users to express interest seamlessly. This user-centric approach aimed to not only streamline navigation but also to facilitate a more intuitive and efficient interaction with the Tropic Seas Spas product lineup.
Final Design
Impact
Hurray! We launched the website on August 1, 2023!
This site was not set up properly on Google Analytics, so we were not able to capture the KPIs
What I've Learned
Don’t get too attached
In my mockup, I thought that scrollable sections would help keep the overall layout clean. I spent a few hours trying to get it exactly how I wanted it to look (a hard task on Divi), only to find out that in use, it’s impractical. After researching how other manufacturing companies lay out their product specs, I was able to build a layout that was easy to absorb and that I felt proud of. I wouldn’t have gotten to this point if I hadn’t let go of the scrollable sections!
The power of troubleshooting
I was still fairly new to Divi, so Google was my best friend. And when Google wasn’t giving me the answers I needed, I had to get my hands dirty and figure out how each setting affected the overall layout. Troubleshooting especially helped with changing the logo image after it became a sticky object.
How to balance different priorities
Because Tropic Seas is a private line, it came secondary to Artesian. And while we were trying to get the website design up to date, I had to constantly remind myself of the goal: improve the aesthetic, user journey, and lead capture. With all this considered, I had to put SEO on the backburner so that Tropic doesn’t cannibalize Artesian. This was a difficult task, but it reflects a strategic choice to balance different priorities during the website redesign process.