International Genealogical Search

New site design = 6 times more quote requests.
Paid advertising expertise = 2.3 times more conversions

SUMMARY

International Genealogical Search has been finding missing heirs since 1967. it is their mission to find missing heirs for legal searches and financial institutions. Their business-to-business service is guaranteed and their unique selling proposition is that they operate on a flat rate rather than a percentage-based commission.

IGS had used all types of offline marketing methods in their 40+ years of providing service to the legal and financial sectors. They had been successfully using paid advertising online for some time before they came to Stir asking the question, "Can a system that is generating leads for us be improved upon?" They were seeking to discover how much business they could generate from the internet if they were more aggressive and employed expert strategies and tactics.

CHALLENGE

International Genealogical Search came to Stir Communications Group because they wanted to:

increase their online reach
be the most recognized name in their industry
increase their relevant web-generated leads
build data-collection systems
improve their online advertising conversions

1. THE PLAN TO RE-DESIGN THE WEBSITE

Working with their General Manager and their Sales Director, Stir created a brand new highly-usable website. Our focus was to not only match the quality of their competitor's websites, but to surpass them. We started with several brainstorming sessions and decided on the most important visual and written aspects of the site.

Well-established

It was important to IGS that in their industry, businesses could see that they were well-established and weren't a fly-by-night company. The answer? A banner on the homepage announcing that they have been in business since 1967.

Personal

The old website design was impersonal and cold. IGS knew that people like to see someone like themselves when they get to a website. They chose to feature friendly professional people in their site design to provide a sense of connection.

The Team

Since IGS does almost all of its work by phone or email, they rarely meet their clients. In order to personalize this, they chose to put photos of their team members on the website.

Call-to-Action

When people are looking at a website, they will "read" it from left to right with their eye-movements. They will spend time looking at the top right and then move to the top left. We encouraged IGS to place 3 Calls-to-Action in the top right sitewide to encourage the site visitor to call or download important information. In fact, since we know that a client is hoping their website will increase their bottom line, we put SEVEN calls-to-action on the homepage of www.heirsearch.com.

Trustworthy

IGS works with all the major financial institutions in the USA. They chose to display a variety of logos in their site design to visually inform the site visitor that they provide service to various institutions throughout the USA.

Data Collection

Using the StirSuite system, IGS is collecting data from each and every interaction with the site including metrics, database collection and the development of lists for continued communication through newsletters.

RESULTS OF THE NEW WEBSITE DESIGN

Without adding one cent to the marketing budget, IGS saw an immediate six-fold increase of people asking for quotes through their website. So, for every ONE person who used to ask for a quote, they were now receiving SIX requests to quote on work. There was no increase in the numbers of people visiting the site, this was a pure conversion increase.

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2. THE PLAN TO IMPROVE PAID ADVERTISING CONVERSIONS

Using Google's multivariate testing as well as Google's A/B split testing, Stir was able to discover the best landing page design to convert advertising traffic into quote requests. We decreased the cost of a paid conversion by 74%.

RESULTS OF THE PPC MARKETING TWEAKS

74% decrease in cost per conversion through paid advertising
3. 8 times more conversions for the same budget
2.3 times the conversion rate in paid advertising

CLIENT FEEDBACK

"It is without hesitation that I recommend Stir. Their team of professionals has excellent communication and customer service skills. Stir's work is always delivered on time, and with outstanding quality."
Carlos Berea, General Manager, International Genealogical Society