FA Tiling Group
Improving their online presence with their local and future customers
Duration
June 2021 to September 2021
Project
Freelance website design project for a local victorian tiling company
Focus
Website design, Research, Usability test
FA Tiling Group is a small local tiling company located in Melbourne. As a small business and the rapid movement of technology advancement, they are trying to navigate more efficient and effective ways to communicate with potential and existing clients through their website rather than having reliance over platforms such as HiPages.
In 3 months, we helped identify the key proposition of the website, redesigned the website layout through conducting numerous discussions with Farid and building a wire-frame, and ultimately crafted the new visual look and feel of
the website through WordPress.
MY ROLE
Website & UX Designer
TEAM
Katherine Low (Website designer)
The Problem…
How might we have an interactive website that can increase online engagement from people that are requiring tiling services rather than through word of mouth?
The major hurdles that my client was experiencing were:
1. The increasing cost of maintaining an account on 3rd party platforms for construction workers to attract new customers (e.g. Hi-pages)
2. Low online footprint through their current website where majority of new enquiries occur either through word of mouth and/or 3rd party platformed
3. Difficult to manage time with different consultations/quotation coming through different channels
Building our design foundation
During the first few sessions with the client, we had discussion sessions to identify what FA Tiling Group represents and how to approach our re-design process. These sessions included competitor analysis, a sketching workshop and branding discussions.
One of the major changing directions to redesigning the platform was that our client wanted a website that represented him as a business owner and a website that was would improve his management of clients. This helped us set the tone to defining the intention of the business’s brand and intention of the website.
Usability Testing on their current website
Our usability testing focused on gaining insights from new customers browsing for potential tilers.
We spoke to 4 people that had no prior knowledge to the small business. We asked them how they would approach in reviewing the website and what motivates them. Lastly, understanding how they will proceed in contacting the business for a quote or booking for a consultation.
Ultimately, the consistent feedback was that they were not able to distinguish our clients from other tilers. It gave them little confidence and motivation to proceed in getting a quote.
Key Proposition
Our goal was to redesign the website that represents the personality of Farid (Our client) to create distinguishing point between other tilers and enable a smoother process in booking for a consultation from Farid.
We based our redesign based on Farid’s personality and his ways of working in tiling …
Authentic. Radiant. Simple. Reliable. Caring.
Solutions
Coming up with a Lo-Fi Prototype: Wire framing the layout of the website and interaction flow
Katie and I performed a few discussions with Farid to discuss the main pages and functionalities that will be built onto the website and explored the various styles that we could build towards. We gathered these asks and drafted a wire-frame to assist us on building the website. We were able to run this lo-fi prototype with Farid for him to understand where we are aiming to create.
Designing and implementing the “Book for a free consultation” process
Firstly, we mapped out the user flow for the booking system where it begins with how the user will land onto the booking system, receive a booking confirmation email that Farid has accepted the booking, to Farid coming to inspect the tiles. We had to ensure that it was easy for the user to see the schedule of Farid’s and also allow Farid to review the bookings to suit when it was convenient for him to perform consultations.
When implementing the booking system onto the website, we made sure that the form was simple and easy to use for potential clients (As shown below) and also from an operational standpoint be able to be integrated with on Farid’s gmail calendar. We were able to add auto-generated emails for when Farid accepts or rejects the consultation throughout the booking process. This function was tested continuously throughout the journey.
Our finalised visual direction and LIVE Website
The Website was built on Word Press and was released live during June.
