Website Design Captures the Essence of Corrpro's Vision

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OBATA creates a new website for a total corrosion solutions company at the forefront of cathodic protection

OBATA successfully launched Corrpro’s new website in January 2023. We were hired to create its visual online presence. But to get there required a lot of work done behind the scenes.

Corrpro is among the world’s largest corrosion engineering, cathodic protection, and corrosion monitoring business for the protection and preservation of infrastructure. Aegion, Corrpro’s parent company, owns several brands serving the corrosion protection and infrastructure solutions marketplace.

While Corrpro had its own logo, its content, and visual brand were confined to the structure, look and feel of its parent company’s website.

Website Audit and Competitor Review

We initiated a website audit, analytics analysis and competitor review. We typically suggest a website audit when a website is undergoing a redesign. Our audit results presented Corrpro with opportunities to improve site traffic and website performance.

Assessing current competitor messaging and visuals gave us insights into further developing differentiation. These findings would fuel the new website design and content development.

Audit Findings

• Corrpro content sat below corporate-level navigation. Its content was intermingled with its parent company.

• Several cross-linked content topics were labeled inconsistently which led users to the same content. In some instances, the linked content was wordy and diffuse. In our view, this leads to user confusion.

• There was no distinct or discernable Corrpro brand voice.

• Images were not optimized and lacked alt text, which is a missed opportunity to enhance SEO.

Analytics Analysis

• We discovered where user behavior influenced the most-viewed website content. During users’ first and secondary interactions with the website, careers and location webpages and the company capabilities webpage were the most viewed webpages. These results would lead to a more informed global navigation plan.

• Keyword gap analysis revealed minimal shared keywords within their core competitors. Also, the shared keywords were irrelevant.

Competitor Review Findings

• Corrpro identified 10 competitors in the corrosive protection industry for our team to review. Our discovery was focused on user experience and content.

• Our discovery found mixed results of visual presentation for each competitor. The same was true for clarity of service offerings. We attributed these results to each competitors size and scale of service offerings.

• The better industry websites offered clear navigation, clean and unclutter design and presented their services in a direct manner.

Technology Findings

• Corrpro would handle website hosting and already identified a hosting company

• Recommended hosting packages, consultation and site migration.

Recommendations from our findings became the core focus for our redesign strategy.

STRATEGY

• Simplify global navigation to support minimal clicks to critical content outlined in our analytics analysis results
• Differentiate messaging from top competitors focusing on what users are looking for through prior search patterns.
• Maintain Aegion keyword overlap for corrosion-related keywords
• Design an easy and pleasing user experience that conveys an industry leader focused on strategy, engineering, technology, and installations.
• Remove redundant content, edit, and create content throughout the site.

FINDING CORRPRO’S VOICE

Corrpro employees support their customers. The message, People Powered Cathodic Protection, was a phrase used in other communications materials. We elevated this messaging because it seemed a logical fit for our core brand voice. Secondary messaging eludes to the breadth of service offerings and their many years of experience.

WIREFRAME / UX

OBATA began design iteration with wireframing. The UX was reimagined using the user flow studies and analytics review along with our competitor analysis. All of the most visited content is accessible via the home page with traditional top navigation for deeper content exploration.

DESIGN

The design of the homepage and Market’s webpages feature photo illustrations combining technical drawings layered with photography. Their purpose is to illustrate engineering as the basis for key Corrpro offerings.

Iconography depicts the service areas of the company. A slider – a revolving carousel – displays a quick overview of Corrpro Markets including links to each respective webpage on the website.

Since locations are one of the most visited pages, a Call to Action (CTA) is available in the footer of the home page and on each market page, which links to an interactive Google map that has been customized per the design of the site.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

“This website is a success and captures the essence of our vision. Letter grade equals A+.”

Corrpro Companies – Vice President, Sales & Marketing

RESULTS

In the three months prior to the new launch, the website averaged 2,450 visits per month.

In the three months post launch, monthly visits have increased to about 2,700, a more than 10 percent increase.

A baseline from the previous year showed that Corrpro increased leads by more than 25% per month.