Redesigning the NZ Made website
Designing for business outcomes... and eliminating stock images
Someone once said to me that three months equals one year of web time. Things change fast on the web. That makes our website six ‘web years’ old, and while the digital engine still has plenty of mileage, the body was due for a touch up.
This article provides context beyond ‘what should our website look like?’ so that New Zealand manufacturers embarking on a website refresh might ask some powerful questions up front.
The Current State of the Internet
Let’s start with the assumptions we made.
The social internet occurs on newsfeeds not on websites.
Independent website commerce is being replaced / complemented by platforms such as Amazon.
Google takes search queries to the best answer not the homepage.
These impact how you design your funnel.
What’s The Buy NZ Made Website For?
This question demands simplicity. The Buy New Zealand Made website is primarily for two things:
- Become An Official NZ Made Licence Holder and be able to
- Check eligibility
- Apply for a New Zealand Made licence
2. For New Zealanders to check a licence status and be able to
- Check business licence status
- Check product licence status
- Report Trademark breach
Our previous website was trying to do too much. It wanted to help international tourists and Kiwi consumers find New Zealand Made products to buy. That confused what the site was for. The homepage didn’t exactly inspire action either.
That brings me to the second question before anyone redesigns your website.
Who Is the Buy NZ Made Website For?
The Buy New Zealand Made website is for two audiences.
- The person who runs the business.
- The person in charge of marketing.
These two roles may have lots of different titles, but what they do day to day won’t differ significantly from business to business. We decided that the website was not for consumers who are searching for New Zealand Made product. For that we already have the Buy NZ Marketplace.
Creating the Site Strawman
With this clear direction in mind, the site was reorganised to prioritise checking eligibility and applying for a licence. This involved Mac Keynote and lots of frameworks of old and new. Not a single line of code was written and no web agency was contacted until we’d got the user journey sorted. That was all done in house until the design had prioritised ‘checking eligibility’ and ‘applying for a licence’ actions. It didn’t look pretty, but the framework started to come together.
I strongly recommend any manufacturer looking to reboot their website goes through this process because it reveals what really drives your business forward. It helps you be clear on what you want before you give your web agency direction of where you’re wanting to head. It will also keep your costs down.
Creating The Hero Landing Page
The hero landing page is not the homepage. Only around 25% of a given websites traffic tends to hit the homepage first thanks to how search and social delivers your site traffic. We wanted to be intentional on what the hero page would deliver for business owners who wanted a provenance marketing strategy.
Our old page was benefit heavy and focussed on what NZ Made provided not on what business owners with a need for a new marketing channel wanted. The old page was light on people and heavy on text. It’s exhausting just looking at it! Look!
Sooo…
It needed to state the outcome New Zealand Made delivers for business.
It needed to show what businesses and marketers are already gaining a market origin advantage.
It needed business owners to feel like they belonged together with us.
It needed to show how the Kiwi trademark is making a difference.
It needed to address the specific needs to speak to new businesses, exporters, manufacturers and makers.
…and it needed to make a promise that we could deliver on.
See for yourself here: Your Market Origin Advantage
Driving Traffic To The Hero Landing Page
Our newsfeeds have delivered almost half a million video views in the last 6 months and those views have generated an 18% growth in new licence applications, all on the old website. This hero landing page won’t increase social newsfeed views but it should increase the conversion rate from business owners evaluating their provenance marketing options.
Who Has Joined Already That Is Like Us?
Social proof is powerful so business owners and marketers will look for who is already benefiting from a Provenance Marketing strategy. While it’s great having customer quotes, they’re not as believable as they once were. We went one further and produced a page of 30+ business stories.
Read the Making It New Zealand business stories
Stock Photos Aren’t Trust Signals
Stock photos don’t represent your business authentically and as authenticity is one of our brand values, we decided we wouldn’t use stock photos, stock videos or stock anything.
In the age of fake news and Photoshop, people are looking for real connections even if that real isn’t quite as perfect as it could be. I call this the ‘perfect flaw’ strategy. Make your marketing real and it is more likely to believed.
There are no stock photos on the Buy New Zealand Made site.
Instead, we’ve featured a range of businesses who represent the kinds of makers, manufacturers and exporters we have in New Zealand. Each of the images are simply a screenshot from the videos we’ve filmed at their business and you can watch them too. It’s not perfect. It’s a perfect flaw.
What Should Manufacturers Do
Get closer to your customer. It’s never been easier to build a direct to consumer strategy. If you can do it in a way that doesn’t create channel conflict then build your direct to consumer strategy, be clear on what your website is for and who it’s for and be clear on what your provenance marketing strategy is.
Performance Marketing Bonus Giveaway
If you like the insight in this article, there are plenty more like this in Chapter Six Performance Marketing of my book 100% Kiwi Business. This chapter talks about the difference between marketing as medicine you take to treat a business symptom versus marketing your practice in the same way you exercise to keep healthy.
It’s worth downloading for the insights on the three marketing agency models alone.
I’ve made it available in PDF format for download free here.
Read More Articles
Provenance Marketing and Why The Word Made Matters
Kiwi Trademark Quick Start Guide For Marketers
The Truth About New Zealand Manufacturing
Become An Official New Zealand Made Licence Holder
@buynzmade
