With the aim of making it easier and faster for online visitors to find the information they need, Lubrication Engineers, Inc has launched a new company website with a new URL at www.LElubricants.com.
The easy-to-navigate site presents a wealth of information to help customers around the world with their decision-making process, whether they are experts or new to the industry.
Visitor numbers have remained consistently high since the new site went live. One week after turning the switch, LE experienced its highest per-day visitor number in company history. In addition, the average number of page views per visitor has doubled, as has the average length of time each visitor spends on the site. The previous LE site had been in use since 2006, with an earlier version dating back to the 1990s.
"Our goal was to create a platform that allowed us to provide more information to the customer and make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for," said Gregg Barnes, Internet services manager. "The feedback we are getting is that the site is significantly faster and simpler to navigate than our previous site. Even better, we are hearing that it is a step ahead of other industrial companies’ websites – in content and format."
A common complaint heard by industrial customers is the difficulty in finding information when they visit company sites. The most noticeable benefit of LE’s new site is product information being easy to find upfront on product pages, rather than buried in PDFs. This also makes the content more search-engine friendly.
In addition to information delivery improvements, LE created a more dynamic, visual experience – with sophisticated use of colors, photos and overall design. To develop the site, LE partnered with ThomasNet, an industrial search engine that has been connecting industrial buyers and suppliers for more than 100 years. ThomasNet has a web development component that helps companies create user-friendly, content-rich, searchable websites.
"We chose ThomasNet based on their experience building web solutions for industrial companies," Barnes said. "In particular, they had an existing content management tool that we could use to populate our online catalogue pages."
Another upgrade is RFQ capability, with visitors able to create a "Request for Quote" directly from product pages. This better meets the needs of the estimated 53% of technical buyers and engineers who regularly turn to supplier websites to conduct product research, according to ThomasNet’s Industrial Purchasing Barometer, Oct. 2011).
Search by industry or by lubricant
The navigational structure of the new site gives visitors the flexibility to search for solutions by industry or by product. With a vast and varied customer base, LE chose to highlight solutions for 17 major industries that it has had the most experience in, such as power generation, wastewater, food, fleet, construction, cement, steel, mining and agriculture. Future plans call for the addition of specific application pages. For example, the Oil & Gas section would branch out to pages on gas compressor stations, drilling rigs and hydraulic fracturing rigs – each with specific product solutions.
Visitors also can search for a solution by lubricant category. Among the 15 lubricant categories featured on the LE site are greases, gear oils, food grade lubricants, turbine oils, engine oils, synthetic lubricants, wire rope lubricants and open gear lubricants.
Reliability solutions moved to forefront
Another prominent change is the addition of a ‘Reliability Solutions’ section to the home page, featured right alongside the ‘Industries’ and ‘Lubricants’ main sections. In 2006, LE began partnering with a select group of vendors to offer LE customers lubricant-related reliability solutions such as Clear Grease Guns, desiccant breathers, automatic lubricators, filters, storage carts. Since that time, this piece of LE’s business has become increasingly important as the company has moved away from being solely a lubricant supplier to being a provider of comprehensive lubricant reliability programmes.
"We brought the reliability piece of our business out front to be more prominent," Barnes said. "This change better reflects our current philosophy, which has evolved from offering parts and pieces to providing an overall solution."