THE ELECTRICITY CASE
Designing a website for a local electricity compagny
The website had to be relatively straightforward. There was no hard limit on the age, gender or economic background of the target audience. Everybody needs an electrician.Someone who is looking for a good electrician will certainly look at the “about” page to get more details on who they are calling. But what the future client really wants is to be able to contact an electrician fast enough.
Most calls are made after an emergency came up: Power blackout, Sparkling cables, Burnt breakers… All the websites offer this possibility on the contact page but few will show their phone number on their landing page. Less clicks means more conversions. Hence, the following landing page: simple, intuitive, uncomplicated and allows an effortless navigation.
One of the most symbolic items to represent an electrician is an electric circuit. When I was looking for illustrations, I realized the colors that stood out were always the same ones. Blue green and brown. I used the color picker to find out the exact hues.
Each and every layout decision is taken with great care. The screens are modeled to be uncluttered as they provide a better user experience. Giving enough breathing room for the elements in the UI is all the more important here as the user's main focus must be the contact info.
Albeit an electrician does not own a business which has a stock of items to sell, users are accustomed to paying online and ready to do so for any service. I couldn’t find one electrician website offering this possibility. So I thought it was a niche to consider. I designed a page dedicated to an online payment.
The challenge was to find the appropriate payment structure that would benefit both the user and the electrician. I had to be devoid of any complicated elements.
The electrician already had assigned numbers for his invoices so the smoothest way to go was to find the right software that would support a sequential numbering system and allow an online payment.
The regular system used by most companies is the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network to transfer funds between banks. The customer authentication is protected by the serial number provided by the electrician.
The logo idea came right from the start as every business should have a logo of their own. However, as it was not a request from the client, I just left it on the side up until I finished my work.
At this moment I thought it was probably important for the client to realize a good logo aids in building a physiological connection and could attract and keep more customers. Thus, I started creating some samples and handed them over. The client ended up choosing the logo he felt more related to.
It was an interesting journey from the initial idea to the final prototype of the website. At the end of the process, I was able to incorporate all of the initial goals in the design while keeping the interface minimal and easy to use.In order to get better leads I recommended to add some content marketing. They are extremely valuable and almost common on any website now.
No matter what you share, your content should be engaging to your audience. After reading it, they shouldknow something new about your electrical business, something they may need, or have simply been entertained by an infographic or other content related to your industry. For instance, blogs as they create a steady stream of new content which Google loves. This can help your search engine rankings!
There’s always room for improvement, right? Maybe this recommendation will be a subject for another project.