Simply Amish Sees Traffic Boost on Web Site

January 19, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on January 20, 2012 Case goods supplier Simply Amish recently revamped its online presence and netted a surge in traffic at the Web site.

The Web site, which was redesigned to meet the needs of retailers and consumers, was relaunched in the middle of last year. Since that time, the company reported a 97 percent increase in the number of new visitors online.

"We are continually looking at ways to better present our product and give value-added information to it," said Ryan Stead, director of marketing communications.

By nearly doubling the number of visits, the Web site also logged a 338 percent increase in the number of viewed pages, and time spent on the site jumped 123 percent. The company also said consumers searched for the closest Simply Amish retailer 30 percent more often than before.

"Overall, this effort improved access to our product and increased our visibility to search engines," Stead said. "Users now have an improved ability to find information €” and to find us to begin with, if they know about us already."

For retailers, Simply Amish added better online reporting options, easier access to clearance and quick-ship items and more marketing materials. Company co-founder Kevin Kauffman is most proud of the training materials added to the Web site.

"In June of 2011, we introduced an extensive training program for our dealers and put the training materials online," he said. "After downloading the information and going through the program, the sales people were given a certification test."

More than 300 salespeople have taken the test and passed with a score of 90 percent or better to earn the "Certified Simply Amish Consultant" title.

"It's been proven that the more our salespeople know about Simply Amish, the more they can sell," Kauffman said. "This is one tool that we provide for our retailers to get the most out of their investment in Simply Amish for their store."

Four names were drawn from retail salespeople who became Simply Amish certified. They were given certificates for $1,000 worth of Simply Amish furniture for their personal use. Those winners were: Bobbi Stevenson, Waterstone Products, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada; Mario Lodato, United House Wrecking, Stamford, Conn.; Lisa Oliver, Anderson Furniture, Duluth, Minn.; and Kristi Jensen, Becker Furniture World, Becker, Minn.

Simply Amish plans to update the Web site with more retailer-focused features, including the ability to look up pricing on individual products with the retailer's unique markup already applied.