Colt Industries was a split entity; one part was completely defense oriented, working with our military as well as our allies, and the other part was dedicated to commercial sales via registered gun shops. Both had separate websites and they both had issues. Colt had recently tried to update their commercial website and had a bad experience, especially with un-responsive customer service from their vendor.
Our solution was to approach each site completely separate as they had completely different audiences with different needs and perspectives. The only thing that was common was how we set up a 24 hr response rate on any issue or need Colt might have.
For the Defense side of the business we created a completely new website where we utilized custom photography in the same style as Colt’s catalog. All elements had the same look and feel as all of their marketing material and were laid out in a format that was both familiar yet very visual to buyers within the police, security and defense marketplace. All aspects of the site were made to be efficient and enable easy downloading of information necessary for buyers within this niche.
Our solution for their commercial sales and service side of the business was to create an entirely new web presence. Within this new web framework was programming that took many processes, which were previously and laboriously done by sales staff, and batch automated them. Sales could now concentrate on sales and not paperwork. A full CMS platform was implemented so that Colt could make product additions, add photos, create specials – anything needed so that wait time for changes were mere minutes.
Additionally, we also cut way back on text and made the site very visual. All photography of rifles and guns was brought up to professional grade thereby reflecting the true quality found in a Colt.
ROI more than tripled from the site and the platform allowed Colt to add in additional product lines and accessories options available to its customers and dealers while cutting back extensively on the back office operations.