Increasing Visitor Time Spent on Site with a New Design Launch

Key Takeaways

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After introducing a website rebrand in April 2021, Salomon saw an increase in both the number of pages viewed per session (+66%) and the average amount of time spent on the site (+34%). This was fostered by updating and enhancing:  

1. Product Pages: Salomon implements features on their homepage to avoid decision fatigue when presenting individual products. Buyers can hover over a product to see more information about reviews and variants. This avoids sharing information for products that buyers may not be interested in. Product pages themselves are seamless and present a variety of touch points for product knowledge such as scales that highlight the product’s ideal usage, comfort and fit. 
   

2. Discovery: For buyers aiming to learn more about the product in relation to specific sports, Salomon has segmented their main areas of athleticism on the homepage to help direct buyers to their interests. The category landing pages are robust and enable further exploration through product types, gender and learning. 
   

3. Blog Content: Present throughout the homepage, the Explore segment on category pages, and blog content called 'Stories & Guides' appears frequently on Salomon’s website. Well designed and educational content is provided to match their discovery segments. These blog posts contribute to Salomon’s organic search traffic by providing detailed and in-demand content for people to learn with.
   

4. User-Generated Content: The homepage and most product pages feature user-generated content that shows others wearing the Salomon brand. They enable users to share through Olapic, a tool that lets others easily submit their content. They also encourage the use of their hashtag #timetoplay which has generated over 1.2M posts on Instagram. 
   

5. Footer: While an often overlooked aspect of the website, Salomon has built a succinct and detailed footer that represents the websites navigation in a more manageable way and re-introduces important information for the buyer. 

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On April 12, 2021, Salomon launched their new website design to cater to a brighter and more structured site layout for the user journey. 

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After the launch of the redesign, Salomon saw an increase of +66% in the number of pages visited during a session from March to May 2021. 

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The average time spent on the site also saw an increase of +34% post-launch from 04:29 to 06:28.

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From January - May 2021, Salomon received an average of 792K monthly web visitors. While there are a higher percentage of Mobile users, Desktop sees higher Average Visit Times and Number of Pages Visited. However, 51% of Salomon’s audience switch between Mobile and Desktop to view their content. 

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Salomon focused on building strong stylistic and user experience elements to their website through the following aspects:

1. PRODUCT PAGE. A strong product presence was built on the homepage to translate into informational heavy product description pages. Buyers can now answer many questions quickly and efficiently.
2. DISCOVERY. Discovery was made accessible for buyers who are easily influenced by decision fatigue. Easy and relatable product category pages are introduced to draw sports participants to specific lines.
3. BLOG CONTENT. A robust blog section has been built into the website to highlight all sport product categories with a mixture of how-to content and performance growth guides. The posts use a mixture of written and video content to send their message.
4. UCG. User-generated content (UGC) plays a huge role on the website throughout the homepage as well as product pages. Salomon relies on UGC to show and incorporate relatable imagery into the purchase journey so buyers have the full picture.
5. FOOTER. A clean, re-iterative and helpful footer was designed to end the user’s experience on any page and properly direct them to other content on the site. Strong elements of branding and noting of important buyer benefits are enabled here.

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The homepage boasts a section to highlight different shoe styles visually with a short general description.

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When a user hovers over a product, additional variants and brief review information is presented to let the buyer know more about the product. 

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Shoes built for outdoor activities feature detailed breakdowns for ideal usage, feel and fit. An overview description adds background information on the product.

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As a primarily outdoor brand, Salomon has tailored the user experience to filter and identify products based on activity. 

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The category pages are built to support browsing and various ways of segmentation such as product type, gender, age and learning. 

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To compliment the discovery strategy, a blog content section called “Stories & Guides” was created under the “Explore” section.

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The “Stories & Guides” are a large contributor to Salomon’s organic reach. Throughout 2021, advice stories alone made up 7% of top organic content with 14K ranking keywords.

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Salomon’s ‘Stories & Guides’ posts fall into the following categories:

• BRAND. 47% of posts fall under the ‘brand’ category. These posts include Salomon sponsored athletes and events that take place in performance product.
• BUYING GUIDE. 15% of Salomon’s posts are ‘buying guides’. These feature in-depth reviews on the best products to buy based on activity, use and technology.
• CARE TIPS. 7% of posts are care tips. These feature a mixture of videos and blog posts to help take viewers through a step by step guide to maintain their products.
• SKILLS & ADVICE. 31% of Salomon’s organic content lands under the ‘skills and advice’. These feature “how to”s to teach buyers the best techniques for their sport.
  

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Salomon incorporates a strong brand voice throughout their website, encouraging buyers to use the hashtag #timetoplay which is also their slogan.

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The UGC is filtered through the hashtag as well as Olapic, which is a platform that allows buyers to upload images to Salomon if they don’t end up posting it online.

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The #timetoplay hashtag has generated over 1.2M posts which also get filtered into specific pages based on products featured in the images. 

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The footer acts as a clean access point for any buyers who eventually reach the end of the site. Branding and easy contact points are listed for navigation.