| We recently were contacted by Exito Travel, a | | | | was, and what option they should use that fit their |
| company based in Ft. Collins, Colorado that provides | | | | needs. |
| travel deals for passengers going to South and | | | | In the previous design, important calls-to-action were |
| Central America. They needed our expertise in | | | | placed below the fold in 1024x768 meaning most |
| design, usability and search engine optimization. Their | | | | users would completely miss them. This most |
| current site needed some help in these three areas. | | | | certainly meant lost leads. We made the most of the |
| The goals for the project were to:o Redesign with a | | | | real estate above the fold by moving up these |
| cleaner, more modern look and feel that appeals to | | | | important calls-to-action that support key user paths. |
| their target audience. Use design to drive user actions | | | | The current design had some great elements, and |
| like performing a flight search, or calling Exito.o | | | | then some that weren't necessarily working toward |
| Increase leads by improving the lead generating | | | | an end goal. We redesigned to appeal to a young |
| forms.o Create a central navigational system that | | | | target audience (20-40) by using modern colors, |
| considers key user paths.o Rewrite the code in order | | | | rounded, contemporary, 2.0 looking shapes, and |
| to increase organic search engine ranking. | | | | removing stock illustrations |
| All of these goals supported increasing site traffic, | | | | Usability |
| page views, time spent on the site, and of course | | | | Users complained of "getting lost" and not knowing |
| leads and bookings. | | | | how to get back. To improve usability, we created a |
| Here's what we did: | | | | central top navigational system that was missing |
| Design | | | | from the previous site so users could navigate |
| When redesigning a site, Fusionbox always considers | | | | around to different sections without getting lost. We |
| the following rules:o What is the first thing you want | | | | also added a breadcrumb trail to help users orient |
| a user to do when on your site? How will the design | | | | themselves on the site. We developed a left nav |
| support this critical user action?o What is the second | | | | that was very clear and also managed to use |
| thing you want a user to do on your site? What are | | | | keywords, i.e., Flights to Mexico, Belize Tours, etc. |
| the key user paths and how are we going to make | | | | We put the all important Booking Tool on every page |
| them as efficient and readily available as possible?o | | | | in the same place so users could take advantage of |
| How will we tackle the 30 Second Rule? (Showing | | | | booking from anywhere on the site. This way, users |
| users who you are, what you do, and what the user | | | | could be reading about a Tour in Guatemala, and then |
| should do next within 30 seconds.)o How are we | | | | book that tour immediately on the same page. This |
| going to most effectively use prime real estate - the | | | | increased bookings dramatically. |
| area of the site above the fold in a user's browser?o | | | | Before the redesign, the lead generation forms were |
| What design look and feel supports the brand and | | | | lengthy and bulking. We recreated the forms and |
| appeals to the target audience? | | | | eliminated unnecessary information from the tools. |
| For Exito Travel, the first thing they wanted users to | | | | Fields like Mr./Ms./Mrs, Fax Number and auto filling |
| do was pick up the phone and call them. The second | | | | information whenever possible. We also presented |
| action was to do a flight search. With these key | | | | the information in the form in steps rather than one |
| actions in mind, we made the phone number much | | | | long form that is intimidating to users. |
| more visible and placed the flight search tool at the | | | | Search Engine Improvements |
| top right of the page where users expect to | | | | The most dramatic success of redesigning Exito |
| perform an action (this is according to eyetracking | | | | Travel's site was the boost in site traffic by 50%. |
| studies). | | | | This is due to the search improvements we made to |
| We tackled the 30 second rule simply by keeping the | | | | the existing code. By optimizing and streamlining the |
| logo at the top left of the page where the eye goes | | | | code, Exito Travel's organic search engine results |
| first, and creating calls-to-action that underscore what | | | | improved dramatically. We did not launch any other |
| Exito does and what the user should do. For example: | | | | internet marketing strategies, and did not change the |
| Book a Flight, Search Group Flights, and Search Flights | | | | content in any way, but Exito still increased unique |
| to Mexico. This way users knew exactly who Exito | | | | page views by half. |