When structure, UX, SEO, and the customer journey are connected, conversion increases
Fotoklok had some visibility in Google, but it was unstable and difficult to convert. The problem was that visibility, content, and the customer journey were not connected. Traffic was unstable, users abandoned the customer journey, and the link between search, landing page, and conversion was not working. We solved it by restructuring how the website connects search, content, and the customer journey, and turned SEO into something that drives business and increases growth, not just traffic. The result was a 30% increase in traffic and a 25% increase in conversion.
The Challenge
Fotoklok sells photo products that customers design themselves, which means the user needs to go through several steps before a purchase is made. This means that every part of the experience – from the first click to the completed order – affects the outcome. The problem was that few visitors made it all the way to purchase, which was the result of structure, content, and UX not working together. This resulted in many visitors leaving before they even started creating a product.
1. Fragmented structure
Fotoklok’s visibility for important keywords such as photo book and photo calendar varied significantly, for example, making traffic unpredictable and even harder to convert. The cause was the website’s fragmented structure. The pages were not connected in a logical way, which made it unclear to Google what was relevant, and to the user where the right content was.
It was not clear enough what the user should do, how to proceed, or what the next step entailed. The design was also outdated and did not provide the right support in the decision-making process. For a user who was not already familiar with the service, the threshold was high.
This is a situation we often see. The traffic exists, but the experience is not clear or relevant enough to convert.
2. Different messages in search and on the site
At the same time, there was a gap between what Fotoklok communicated in the search result and what they communicated on the site. The content was not sufficiently adapted to the user’s intent and the message in the search result was not followed up on the landing page. This created wrong expectations and increased drop-offs.
This directly impacted the customer journey. Navigation, category pages, and content did not provide sufficient support to take the user forward, and the path to purchase became unnecessarily complicated and required more decisions than necessary.
3. Technical deficiencies
Underlying technical deficiencies further compounded the problems by affecting indexing, performance, and stability. Our challenge therefore became to get SEO, UX, and technology to work together, so that the right users not only find the website, but also convert.
Goal
The goal was to increase conversion from both existing and new traffic. This meant both increasing the inflow of relevant traffic from Google and simultaneously getting more visitors to complete purchases. The focus was not on individual SEO metrics or design changes in themselves, but on improving conversion and the customer journey, and thereby the actual business result.
Strategy and Approach
Our strategy was to work with how the entire experience functions, not to optimize individual parts separately. We started from a fundamental question: What does it take for a visitor to actually become a customer? To answer that, we needed to understand both what the user is searching for and what they expect when they arrive on the site.
We focused on three areas: Structure and content, consistent messaging, and UX and the customer journey.
1. Structure and content
We analyzed which searches convert and how the website performed in relation to them. Based on that, we defined which pages were needed, how they should be structured, and what content they should have. This made the signals to Google clearer and the content more relevant to the user.
2. Consistent messaging
We ensured that messaging and content were connected between search results and landing pages, so that the user encountered the same offer throughout. This reduced drop-offs and increased the precision of the traffic.
3. UX and the customer journey
To simplify the customer journey, we also developed UX-related requirements specifications and mockups that our Ukrainian partner Turum-burum brought to life. They also contributed important expertise in conversion.
The navigation was simplified, the category pages provided better overview, and the product pages made it clear what the user should do next. This reduced friction and made the path to purchase shorter and more intuitive. In parallel with this, we addressed technical issues affecting indexing, performance, and stability, prioritized by business impact.
The work was driven as an implementation project where analysis, prioritization, and implementation were connected, which created momentum and ensured that changes were actually carried out.
The Result: 30% more traffic and 25% more conversion
When structure, content, SEO, and UX started working together, traffic increased by 30% and conversion by 25%. In addition, the customer journey became clearer and the website more user-friendly.
More stable rankings generated more relevant traffic. A consistent message reduced drop-offs. A clearer customer journey made it easier to go from search to purchase. The effect was also visible in advertising. When more visitors converted, the value of the purchased traffic increased, without the cost of traffic needing to increase.
The most important result was therefore not a single figure, but that the business per visitor improved. That resulted in very dramatic improvements.