Website Critique: Family Pools and Spas

screen shot of Family Pools and Spas websitewww.familypoolsandspas.com

This Ohio retailer with two locations wanted a website that better represented how the company sells family fun, and so in July of 2010, Family Pools & Spas launched a more colorful and vibrant site, which Mary Pheneger, a store manager, says is still a work in progress. "We keep adding things and updating, and while we don't have it exactly where we want it, we feel like it's directing people to us and the store."

Ms. Pheneger says they receive quite a few leads from the Website — five to six a week — though she's not sure how many of those leads turn into big-ticket sales. When it comes to smaller items, Ms. Pheneger has noticed a more-direct connection. "On regular retail things, I would say in the last month, we had maybe 10 customers that have come to us for the very first time and quite a few of them, about eight, were from our website. The others had noticed the store while driving by."

Lead generation is a primary goal for most pool and spa websites, and such is the case with Family's site. To encourage people to contact the dealer, familypoolsandspa.com has a "Get Started Now!" email form in the upper right of every page on the site.

A couple of things Ms. Pheneger is still working on are a page that shows the building process in photos or perhaps a video, and the company's Facebook presence. "We're in the process of integrating a new software system from RB Controls and have noticed that RB posts to its Facebook page every day, so we're realizing we need to be a little more active there. We think it can be a really inexpensive way to advertise."

Critique

PRESENTATION: Instead of showing people having fun in a pool, show examples of your work (people interested in pools know it's fun already).

CALLS TO ACTION: Need much stronger calls to action. Phone numbers are small and buried at the bottom of the page. The "Get Started Now" section is stronger, but the "Service" section is fairly jarring.

MESSAGING: When you go to the pool page, it's confusing. They show three pools, but each seems to be done by a different company.

BEST PART: Contact page is filled with strong calls to action, but, as mentioned earlier, much of that should be on the home page.

Comments or thoughts on this article? Please e-mail [email protected].

Buyer's Guide
Find manufacturers and suppliers in the most extensive searchable database in the industry.
Learn More
Buyer's Guide
Content Library
Dig through our best stories from the magazine, all sorted by category for easy surfing.
Read More
Content Library