1. ekbbusiness december 2016
essentialonlinemarketing
70 www.kbbdaily.com
web watchTrade-facing sites
web doctor
moores.co.uk
In a series of virtual health checks, our Web Doctor monitors the pulse of one company’s
online offering. This month, it’s Moores – so what’s the diagnosis?
A
nother year goes by. As with
most things, the more things
change, the more they stay the
same. The Doc is now down to one
spaniel who, being a pup, thinks
humans pretending to play the
trombone is a genius move. The Doc
is also still banging on about many
of the same user-experience snags
that cropped up last Xmas. So let us
recap. Zero mobile optimisation is
digital death and should be on your
‘Must Do’ list if your brand is an offender.
About that text size – if you have to
move your head either away or towards
the screen and squint, it’s the wrong
size. It’s the job of your designer to keep
up with best practices and it’s your job
as brand owner to provide practical
end-user feedback before it goes live and
to never stop asking awkward questions.
Marketing preferences – you need to be
transparent and if you don’t want to
annoy your visitors, don’t auto-subscribe
anyone who just wants a brochure
download or fills in one of your contact
forms. Leave unwanted communication
to the trolls.
Speaking of your job rather than your
designer’s, you may not feel confident
talking to them about wireframes,
back-end coding or the layout matrix,
but you can be your customers’ first,
best advocate.
Trade clients are ‘in the know’. They are
the most clued-up customers a business
can have. They know what they want and
they are not fickle, unless you mess them
about. They know your distribution lead
times, whether your after-sales service is
up to scratch and if you offer deals or
bulk sales discounts, which is why
Do these sites give professional customers
what they need or are they fobbed off
with specifications and sales centres?
sinckitchens.com
Sinc Kitchens
A ‘My Account’ section called MySinc lets users check live order and
quote histories, download quotes and dispatch information. This kind
of up-to-date data is likely to encourage professionals to use the brand
again and again and be reluctant to go elsewhere
Top marks The home screen hero image at the top includes two task
panels inviting visitors to get a ‘quick kitchen quote’ or ‘browse trade kitchens’,
thus making this section work that bit harder to move the customer deeper
into the site
Works well The FAQs available on the home screen are absolutely targeted
to the trade, answering questions that matter to professionals such as “Can I
have one point of contact?” and “What is your carcase specification?”
Could do better I couldn’t work out what the light blue progress bars were
under each new kitchen on the home screen
Suggestion box Make more of the fact that new customers get a 55%
discount on their first order. It’s a bit hidden away way below the fold
Attraction factor Large typefaces make this a navigational breeze HHHH
plumbcenter.co.uk
Plumb Center
Even though this is a very packed
site, the mobile version is cleverly
streamlined with the same content
Top marks The ordering system
has all the trademarks of sites such
as Amazon. As it’s primarily trade-
facing, customers can check stock
availability at a nearby branch and
create wishlists
Works well A pop-up screen
immediately appears when you visit,
so existing customers can log in
straight away and get the benefits
Could do better Every category
landing screen has a panel of text
that could go
Suggestion box Could ‘Quick Order’
have a more prominent button?
Attraction factor When signing
up for an account, it asks: “Are you
happy for us to contact you?” by
phone, post, text or email by ticking
a box. That’s good practice HHH
tkcomponents.co.uk
TK Components
Lots of super-sized images mean
trade visitors have a feast for the
eyes – and why shouldn’t they?
Top marks Instead of a bog-
standard footer, TKC has hidden it
behind a bright white and magenta
chunky link to apply for a trade
account. If you click the plus sign, the
footer, with all contact details and
opening hours, appears below it
Works well Clever coding means the
three-line burger menu shows fewer
options the smaller your screen gets.
On a large desktop display you have
two dropdown menus and images
alongside, on a mobile just the
dropdowns, saving loading time
Could do better Nothing much!
Suggestion box Perhaps try to cut
the 207-word, four-paragraph home-
screen welcome message down a bit?
Attraction factor Stylishly canny –
the options filter works great HHH
euroline.org.uk
Euroline Sales & Marketing
The home screen hero image is a
mood-setting video of a surface-
mounted extractor sucking up
steam from a pan. Looks fancy!
Top marks The ‘Our Team’ cartoon
portraits are genius, charming and
a breath of fresh air – and for those
employees that have a shy side this
is the perfect compromise
Works well The socials are fab
and feature trade giveaways.
Maybe add a Twitter feed panel?
Could do better Yes it’s a one-
screen site, but having the burger
menu follow you down as you
scroll would be cool
Suggestion box The web address
euroline.co.uk is just a holding screen,
so it might be a good idea to point it
to the .org.uk?
Attraction factor Chunky
buttons, chunky text, slimline
navigation HHH

2. essentialonlinemarketing
ekbbusiness december 2016
71www.kbbdaily.com
First past the post...
Due to the importance of providing a site that functions beautifully on
whatever size screen, Sinc Kitchens’ filter panel that pops out on the
left-hand side as you browse the kitchens sections is a thumb-friendly
surprise. It’s much easier to use on a mobile screen than the normal
dropdown menus and there’s a strong likelihood this flat panel design
will catch on with other brands with a large product range. Nicely done!
trade-focused sites can be the biggest
moneymakers or the biggest white elephants
on the internet. Done right, they provide
a task-orientated environment that
communicates your brand identity to new
arrivals. Ever wonder why the Daily Mail
website is the most visited English-language
newspaper website in the world? Like it or
loathe it, the DM knows its customer base
and slops up a daily dose of what they want.
That’s your job too.
There are two reasons that Moores is Top
Dog this month, despite there being a strong
contingent. One is that when you put Moores
into Google the results are worth taking note
of. The first result is Moores.co.uk. Check out
the description: “Manufacturers of kitchen,
bedroom and bathroom furniture for the
public and private sector.” Search Engine
Optimisation gold. You can buy that kind of
result if you choose to spend more than you
need to, but the best web developers will
achieve that result just by ticking all the
basic buttons in their repertoire .
The other reason is that it’s just very
pretty. Just kidding. Although the blank
white space and full-screen images are
immersive, Moores has considered the
nuances of the trade market. The ‘About’
screen proves that with information on new
builds, affordable housing and something
targeted to retail and the building trade.
If nothing else, the Moores site proves that
the days of naff design are over when it
comes to communicating with a professional
audience and there is no reason to stint on
glamour, usability and inspiration. Don’t
spend your Christmas break just wondering
what day it is and where the turkey baster
went. Spend some time visiting this month’s
sites to see what you can copy and what
you can do even better. Happy holidays! ■
Want your website reviewed?
Send your request for a complimentary website review to
emma.hedges@burdamagazines.co.uk
onthelevel.co.uk
On The Level
Large, thumb-friendly home screen
icons make choosing your trade
category very quick on a mobile
Top marks With testimonials and
case studies, OTL has taken care to
establish industry credentials to give
new visitors a sense of reliability
Works well Generous white space
and simple, easy-to-read text, mean
the design never distracts
Could do better The brochure,
which is the 2013 version, as well as
technical details, are hidden away in
a ‘Downloads’ section that you will
only find linked to on the footer
Suggestion box There is a heck of
a lot of text on the home screen that
very few visitors will read
Attraction factor A highly
prominent telephone number at the
top right corner emphasises the
human touch, which is reiterated
many times on the site HHH
frontlinebathrooms.co.uk
Frontline
Because the visual cues are
simplified on the mobile version,
it’s more successful
Top marks Considering the brand’s
size, most of its existing customer
base will bookmark the ‘Trade Login’
area and go straight there
Works well An app on iTunes and
Androidgivesprosawayofpresenting
the bathrooms to clients. In the
future I can imagine the trade having
access to apps that encourage their
customers to add to a wishlist and
refer to it before they finalise a design
Could do betterThat abundance of
clutter is a lot to take in, however,
there’s a good chance that the next
iteration of the site will be less busy,
and the main horizontal navigation
bar will take up less visual space
Suggestion boxEdit,edit,edit
Attraction factor Big,butnotyet
beautiful HHH
symphony-group.co.uk
The Symphony Group
Lots of white space results in a
chilled-out browsing experience
Top marks In each main category
landing screen there is a set of filters
under the tagline ‘Show Me Only
Ranges that Are...’ with categories
such as ‘Modern’, ‘Shaker’, ‘Gloss’ etc.
Perfect for pros who are looking for
specific products but it doesn’t deter
casual browsers new to the brand
Works well Want to know how
to do a ‘News’ section? Images
and no padding out
Could do better There is a missing
image on the ‘News’. No biggie really
in the grand scheme of things
Suggestion box Love the ‘Media
Centre’ as journos spend too much
time chasing high-res images. Could
there be a ‘Register Me’ link or button
for new press contacts?
Attraction factor The Extranet
feature makes a lot of sense HHH
uform.co.uk
Uform
A fresh red and white colourway
matched with no-nonsense content
Top marks The ‘Help & Support’
section is well-targeted to the trade,
explaining how to begin using Uform,
who to contact, the ordering process,
plus details on delivery and returns
Works well You can take a virtual
tour around the showroom via
a Google Maps presentation
Could do better No issues asking
for contact details when a customer
wants a brochure, but could there be
a downloadable version offered?
Suggestion box Hard to think of an
element that hasn’t been thought out
Attraction factor A new
‘uformonline’ area provides the trade
with every tool it will ever need and
the registration form is very short.
As with the rest of the site, the
process is intelligently described,
so there's no head scratching HHH
hafele.co.uk
Häfele UK
A lot going on visually and that’s
just the dropdown menus
Top marks The ‘Popular Brands’
label on the main navigation bar is
a neat idea. Could there also be a
‘Most Popular’ panel as a shortcut to
show the most visited news stories?
Works well ‘Quick Order’ lets you
swiftly access your usuals and get
them bought
Could do better You can view the
brochure via an app, or request a
catalogue via a long form. If you
want to view it online, it’s an
e-catalogue that utilises Flash, which
is pretty much a dodo for many of
the latest web browsers
Suggestion box Colour gradients
such as the home screen boxes on
‘Lighting’, ‘Hinges’, ‘Fixings’ and ‘Sliding
Doors’ may be ageing the design
Attraction factor No mobile
optimisation costs Häfele a star HH