{"id":93,"date":"2017-08-09T12:03:58","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T18:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.topspotims.com\/blog\/?p=93"},"modified":"2022-08-11T16:40:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T22:40:16","slug":"digital-marketing-success-for-transportation-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.topspotims.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/digital-marketing-success-for-transportation-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Integrated Approach Success Story: Transportation Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great Western Leasing & Sales is a new and used commercial semi-trailer dealer for the transportation & logistics industry and a client of TopSpot\u2019s who has utilized both Search Engine Optimization<\/a> and Pay Per Click services<\/a> since 2013.<\/p>\n

As an SEO client, Great Western Leasing was assigned to one of TopSpot\u2019s Customer Relationship Teams<\/a> (or CRTs for short). These teams consist of a Team Lead, 2 SEO Specialists, a Conversion Improvement Specialist and a PPC Account Manager.<\/p>\n

Great Western Leasing\u2019s CRT was recently awarded a Crystal Award<\/a> for the data driven strategies they used to guide the website design & development<\/a> and ongoing marketing. We\u2019ve outlined the details of their integrated marketing approach<\/a> below.<\/p>\n

Data Driven Website Design & Development: Our Website Approach<\/h2>\n

Using the Google Analytics data collected from 2013 – 2016, TopSpot was tasked with building a responsive website that would drive more form completions and an increased number of total phone calls for the transportation provider.<\/p>\n

Sitemap with SEO as the Foundation<\/strong> – When Great Western Leasing began working with TopSpot, their website\u2019s pages were structured in a way that guided users by trailer type first. Once a user found the type of trailer they were looking for, they were provided information on new and used models, all within the same page. (shown below)<\/p>\n

Previous Website\u2019s Trailer Pages <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Previous<\/a><\/p>\n

When reviewing PPC search queries in Google Analytics<\/a> during the sitemap creation process, it was shown that users were using the modifiers \u201cnew\u201d and \u201cused\u201d in their searches. Based on this data, the new website\u2019s sitemap included a \u201cNew Trailers\u201d section in addition to a separate \u201cUsed Trailers\u201d section, both of which were featured in the new website\u2019s main navigation.<\/p>\n

Sample Search Query Data<\/strong><\/p>\n


\"New<\/a>
<\/div>

\"Used<\/a><\/p><\/div>
<\/div>
\"B-SMART<\/a>Website Functionality <\/strong>– The team also identified that users were searching for trailers by year, manufacturer and trailer width\/length when looking for trailers online. (shown on the right)<\/p>\n

To assist users in finding the specific inventory that matched their initial searches, Filter & Sort functions were incorporated into the design of the website\u2019s trailer inventory pages.<\/p>\n

These modifiers were also incorporated into the on-page optimization of the product detail pages before launch to increase traffic upon the site\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n

Website Navigation Across All Devices<\/strong> \u2013 Upon reviewing the data coming through the website\u2019s internal site search feature, it was found that sessions where the internal site search was utilized had higher form conversion rates (2.40%) versus sessions where the user did not use the site search (.98%).<\/p>\n

Site Search Usage Metrics from 2013-2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Site<\/a><\/p>\n

It was also noted that on mobile phones, only 0.14% sessions utilized the site search feature, pointing to an area of opportunity for increasing mobile form completions on the new responsive website.<\/p>\n

Based on this data, the internal site search was prominent on the desktop, tablet, and mobile devices to help drive leads.<\/p>\n

Mobile Design Strategy<\/strong> – Based on Google Analytics data, forms were being abandoned 94% of the time when accessed on mobile phones and needed to be made easier to use. This was done by incorporating multiple conversion points on each page, including a shortened form on each landing page. Form fields were also made large enough for easy usage on mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Generating more phone calls was an important goal as well. The current site listed all 3 of Great Western Leasing\u2019s current locations in the top right-hand corner in small font, and down the right-hand side of each page, taking up valuable real estate. To make this mobile-friendly while highlighting all 5 locations that were included on the new site, each location was displayed in a larger font across the width of the header. On a mobile phone, the message \u201cGive Us A Call Today\u201d was at the top of each page with an easy to click drop down where each phone number could be selected.<\/p>\n

Post Launch Strategies: Our Integrated Approach<\/h2>\n

The website launched in May of 2016 and the strategies below were implemented in the following months based on post-launch data identified by the team:<\/p>\n

Location Based Marketing<\/strong> \u2013 The launch of the new website was in line with the launch of some new locations for Great Western Leasing and while the overall traffic to the new site was trending upward, traffic from the newer locations was stagnant.<\/p>\n

To drive additional traffic to their (two new and three more established locations, Inventory by Location pages were created. Unique content was written for each page and inventory was pulled in via Great Western Leasing\u2019s online database, showcasing what trailers were available per storefront.<\/p>\n

The location pages were added to the website at the end of June and indexed shortly after.<\/p>\n

The PPC program was also structured to drive traffic by each location, allowing the team to make quick budget adjustments when needed based on supply and demand.<\/p>\n

Continued Use of the B-SMART Method\u00ae<\/strong> – The program\u2019s keyword strategy continued to utilize the B-SMART Method\u00ae<\/a> by including keywords containing the trailer year, manufacturer, type or width\/length. When a specific search was done, an ad matching the search query was done.<\/p>\n

The B-SMART Method\u00ae Being Utilized In PPC Ads<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"B-SMART<\/a><\/p>\n

Advanced SEO Techniques<\/strong> – Before the new site, Great Western Leasing was not able to take advantage of adding product schema markup due to backend limitations and did not disclose price on the site. After discussing the pros and cons of doing so with the new website, the client agreed to test it out for all trailer inventory landing pages. Product Schema Markup was implemented in July of 2016 and it began showing in the Search Engine Results shortly after. (shown below)<\/p>\n

Product Schema Markup for Great Western Leasing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Product<\/a><\/p>\n

Digital Marketing Results<\/h2>\n

The website launched on May 10th<\/sup>, 2016.  When comparing post-launch results (5\/10\/2016 – 5\/9\/2017) to the previous time period (5\/11\/2015-5\/9\/2016<\/span>) the team saw some significant wins for the transportation & logistics provider:<\/p>\n

Overall phone calls from the website increased by 40.28% with increases coming from all 3 tracked mediums with Organic phone calls increasing by 45.57%, Paid Search phone calls increasing by 35.35% and phone calls from tracked online directories increasing by 52.63%.<\/p>\n

\"Phone<\/a><\/p>\n

The new website saw some great improvements in regards to their forms across all devices:<\/p>\n