Brinker Brother
Self-Storage
Project Overview
Brinker Brother Self-Storage, A family-owned and operated business had been using an outdated GoDaddy service which compromised the website's accessibility, intuitiveness, and potential customer satisfaction.
My client's main goal was to update their website to contain updated service information, reflecting Brinker Brothers' current business profile of services offered, and create a new website look and feel.
Navigating the old website customers were not able to view unit prices or a detailed list of what home furnishings could fit in each unit, which increased customer calls and inquires.
My Role
• Sole UX designer
• Information Architecture
• Content Strategy
Tools
Sketch
WordPress
GoDaddy
Google Sheets
Pencil & Paper
The Goal
1. Enable and empower customers with the information needed to feel educated, and confident on client services and products offered.
2. Create a usable updated website that is aesthetically pleasing, which directs customers naturally to useful information.
Brinker Brothers Homepage: Before redesign
Brinker Brothers Homepage: After the redesign
The Solution
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Improving customer accessibility
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Add storage unit pricing, decreasing customer calls and inquiries about prices.
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Providing trust within the company
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Update content and services to an accurate company profile
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Add location(s) addresses
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Navigate the website without additional noise
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Add white space to let the site breathe
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Allow customers to create confident decision-making from a buyer's perspective.
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Longstanding reputation, and trusted community name
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Add customer reviews to reassure new customers this a business they can trust.
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Increase SEO, by increasing "near me" searches by new community members who are potential customers.
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Client reputation, servicing their local community for 13 years, primarily obtaining business through word of mouth.
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Brinker Brothers Homepage - Post redesign
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Auditing The Old
The main opportunity here is to create a hierarchy to help the client highlight showcase their updated services resulting. This hierarchy results in a decreased cognitive load for the customer, empowering them to make confident decisions when purchasing content and services online with Brinker Brothers.
The discovery phase started with the outdated GoDaddy website site.
This consisted of the identification and removal of outdated services, and the addition of essential content updates including their new location address, a map to the flagship store, FAQ & space for storage auction details.
Brinker Brothers Services - Pre redesign
The Process
I started this project off by taking an inventory of content on Brinker Brothers' current website, creating a spreadsheet that captured each page word for word.
Why a content audit?
Eliminate outdated content
Establish what content I would be working with
Create familiarity with the client's content, industry language, and website details
Group similar content to strategically present this information to website visitors appropriately.
Brinker Brothers content audit sample
Market Research
How did other storage companies display unit sizes and inform customers of their prices?
What language they were using to describe their services and products?
Research sparked the creation of a "size guide" that included detailed information on what furnishings would fit inside of offered units.
Unit costs cards were found to be the most common, effective, and visually appealing way to show pricing at a glance.
Website Iterations
Brinker Brother website additions included adding customer reviews, unit pricing, and website details. The previous site updates included the removal of snowmobile and RV services and the addition of new unit size, in addition to the new user friendly aesthetic.
Reviews
1. Bring credibility to the company and its services
2. Increase new customer confidence
3. Stimulate decisions to buy
4. Improves SEO
Pricing
1. Present prices, eliminate the hassle of calling or emailing
2. Help customers make faster decisions
3. Upfront transparency, showing honesty at first touchpoint.
Details
1. Furnishing details of storage unit sizes
2. Map & storage locations added
3. Auction & FAQ page added
4. Locally owned context added
Website Architecture
Creating a site map helped structure the layout of the site, making it visibly clear what pages were needed and where they belonged within the website.
Redesign Mockup Proposal
I created a mockup using Sketch to get a better idea of how the new components would fit into a final design. The client was pleased with the design, I proposed having an "about us" section with pictures of the owners to complete the locally owned and operated aesthetic but one of the stakeholders declined. We discussed website and brand colors which there was no existing style guide.
Due to accessibility for green colorblindness and blue color theory meaning of trust, we decided to change Brinker Brothers Self-Storage primary brand color to blue, seen in final website mockup
Homepage mockup proposal
Services mockup proposal
GoDaddy Mockup
I designed a new website using Godaddy's themes as seen below, after discussing the limitations of font size and choice, color, and customization with the GoDaddy cms my client wanted to change hosting to WordPress instead of GoDaddy.
WordPress Mockup
Here is the final design using WordPress, my client was excited about the new website aesthetic and liked how clean it looked. I was able to provide a new look and feel in addition to updating outdated content.
By taking a customer first approach, website visitors are now able to read about other customer experiences, receive detailed information regarding unit sizes and furnishings, view unit prices, and are provided with a map to Brinker Brother Self-Storage's primary location.
Takeaways
By conducting a website audit early canvasing website details it eliminated outdated content which not only left me with the current content to rearrange but it allowed me to group the most needed elements while redesigning these pages. I then was about to strategically plan when to introduce content to website visitors when the information was needed most, allowing them to create informed decisions throughout the website experience.
Market research was key in developing additional pages and components for this redesign. It helped me get acclimated to the storage industry which allowed me to suggest components to my client that provided as much information to their customers as possible.
This work was done remotely, which was a new concept for me. It was helpful to gain experience working in an environment that required additional attention in communicating designs and its rationale.