Screenmobile

Screenmobile

A Case Study of Screenmobile, a mobile screen company with franchisees across the country.

The Problem

Screenmobile had one Web site that tried to simultaneously serve three audiences. They were trying to attract customers for their franchisees, offer Web site support for their franchisees and get people interested in their franchises as a business opportunity. The site was unable to serve any one of these purposes very well.

The Solution

Graphtek did an analysis and helped Screenmobile realize that they needed to separate these pieces and talk to each audience directly, not collectively. The solution Graphtek proposed involved creating three separate sites, one for each audience.

Their first audience was consumers of custom screening products. Because Screenmobile’s original site tried to serve three audiences, potential customers were often confused about whom to contact for more information. This would lead them to contact the corporate office to find out if there was a local affiliate to service them. The potential customer information was taken by a corporate employee and passed on to the affiliate. To eliminate this in their new site, Graphtek created a membership module that allowed affiliates to be assigned to territories and those territories were assigned ZIP codes.

Screenmobile’s previous site had a ZIP code locator, but it was not prominently placed and was hard to find. On their new consumer site, a ZIP code locator tied to the membership module’s data was placed prominently on every page so that potential customers could look up their ZIP code and easily find an affiliate. This solution allows users to find dealers who are close to them based on ZIP codes from the custom membership module.

A second problem encountered by the affiliates in communicating to potential customers was the lack of customized messages that could be displayed on the previous site’s ZIP code landing page. The new ZIP code landing page has two editable areas that affiliates can use to communicate special deals and local news to potential customers. This is controlled in the dealer extranet and reviewable by the administrator through the same membership module that allows affiliates to be associated with territories (and thus with ZIP codes).

Screenmobile’s second audience was people interested in becoming franchisees. Because the information for becoming a franchisee was on the same site as the information for custom screening products, the wrong set of people was targeted. While Screenmobile was looking for those interested in investing at least $20,000, most interest came from those with 401(k)s that had as little as $5,000. A new site was created and aimed specifically at people interested in becoming a franchisee. A testimonial section controlled by a custom content tool now allows the administrator to show how real people are doing with their Screenmobile franchises. This delineation in sites has lead to more solid leads for attracting potential franchisees.

Screenmobile’s final audience was their franchisees (or affiliates). They needed a support extranet allowing them to edit their news and specials on the ZIP code landing page, get help from and communicate with each other in a discussion board environment, and purchase franchisee-specific items such as brochures, truck lettering and business cards. The solution Graphtek came up with addressed each of these needs. Members can now place news items and specials in each of their territories (and thus directly communicate with potential customers who visit the consumer site), review and post (provided access has been granted by their administrator) items to a discussion board allowing affiliates to network and help one another, and affiliates can now place orders through a secure e-commerce solution. All of these solutions were custom built on the CMS platform and are controlled by the administrator via CMS.

What Screenmobile started with was one confusing site directed to three audiences and serving none of them very well. What they ended up with was three distinct sites, all with the same branding and an ability to talk to each audience in a concise, meaningful manner.