5X Sales with .5X Operating Costs

Opportunity:
New business and new web property to be built from purchased “dated” house plan website, infrastructure and assets.

The Solution:
Upgraded the 10,000 plan catalog with new images and additional data. Added another 15,000 plans to the catalog for a total of 25,000+ plans. Did a visual makeover of the entire website, added personalization, interactivity and sticky content. For a competitive advantage built several best-in-industry website features including: home design-driven plan search engine, profile-driven recommendations, real-time cost-to-build, personalized printed house plan catalog and more. Developed best practice SEO guide, affiliate marketing programs, and private-label web properties that greatly increased site traffic at a low cost. Built a back-office extranet that integrated supplier payment with product ordering and delivery that lowered operating costs. Blended the call center and website using CRM into one tightly performing sales unit.

The Results:
Average order size doubled to almost $900. Unassisted online orders increased from 20% to nearly 50%. Opt-in email addresses increased 5X. Visitor volume tripled. Repeat visitor rate increased. Session length increased 50%. Visitor to purchase rate doubled. Business was sold in 2007.

Jeff Spring,
former President of Houseplans.com