Project context
Willys-Overland Motors makes the Repli-Tub, a bolt-on replacement body for classic Jeep models.
They were one of my first SEO clients at The AD Leaf, and by autumn, things were going well. Google Search impressions were up 46% and clicks by 27% compared to when we started, but there was one problem: that increase in traffic wasn't translating to more leads, and the client was now concerned.
In a fast-paced marketing agency, time is a precious resource. I would need to identify and prioritize opportunities quickly, and implement changes even quicker. From identification to implementation of the first round of solutions was just one week.
Charting a path with data
Insights from analytics
- The Repli-Tubs page was the most common landing page for both organic and paid traffic.
- It was also the most common pathway to the Contact Us page.
- At the time, just 13% of organic visitors made it from the Repli-Tubs page to the Contact Us page. The number for paid traffic was even worse, at under 7%.
Now, I had a target: increase the flow of users from the Repli-Tubs page to the Contact Us page.
Looking at session replays, I found several very long visits to the Repli-Tubs page that never continued to the contact form. They were clearly searching for something, but what? I turned to the heatmaps for answers.
Finding patterns in the heatmaps
- Alarmingly, people were clicking the Repli-Tubs page in the navigation bar... while on the Repli-Tubs page. And they did it frequently.
- People were also clicking on the bullet list of available models, which did nothing.
- Also clicks on the grid of models above the footer of the page. These did something, but it just sent users to the top of the Repli-Tubs page they were just on because the individual models did not have pages of their own. That must have been frustrating!
So, people wanted to learn more about which models were supported. Makes sense!
Solutions
Clarifying how to buy
The only mention of pricing was for the optional rust protection. There wasn't even a suggestion of how to get pricing. In other words, there was no path to conversion.
I revised the copy to make it clear that visitors would need to reach out for pricing. The button was also given a simpler action phrase.
Highlighting key benefits
After reviewing notes from my conversations with the client and taking a critical look at the presentation of content on the page, it was clear that it wasn't effectively communicating the value of the Repli-Tub.
- Other replacement bodies might come with misaligned or outright missing holes, requiring the buyer to have the skills and tools necessary to modify the body to fit.
- By contrast, the Repli-Tub comes custom-fitted to the buyer's exact Jeep model, so it can be mounted in about an hour.
This key differentiator was buried in the prose while the subheadings only served to organize the content.
We know from eye-tracking studies that people tend to only scan text, briefly resting their eyes on high-contrast elements like headings, bulleted lists, and images. So, what if we put the benefits and unique selling points in more prominent places?
Building out individual model pages with the content team
Users clearly wanted model pages, so who was I to say no? I worked with the client and the content writer on the project to prioritize the most popular models, eventually writing pages for all 11 Jeep models that had proper Repli-Tubs. It was good for SEO, too, with the dedicated pages ranking well for high-intent searches like “cj5 tub.”
Putting models, parts, and a path to conversion in the same place
In a subsequent round of adjustments, I brought the grid of model pictures up to replace the bullet list full of dead clicks, and those pictures would then link to the appropriate page for each model as the pages were written. This section became the drop-off point on the scroll heatmap for most users, because they found what they were looking for!
Results
The copy changes and placement of CTA buttons made an immediate and dramatic improvement to performance. From the day of the change through the next 10 days, the “Get Your Repli-Tub” button in the hero section of the page was the second most clicked element on the page. The “Click here for pricing or more information” button down with the model and parts list was number one.
Our micro conversion—getting to the contact form—saw its rate on this page increase from 13% for organic traffic up to 33%, with spikes to 40% depending on the day. That's between 2.5 and 3 times better performance.
In the 90 days after the first major change, form submissions from organic search were 123% higher than the previous 90 days. Overall form submissions were up 130%.
The client sold the business and retired in December 2024, and, having been pleased with performance at the time, recommended that the new owner continue services with us.
The new owner later reported that Repli-Tub deliveries in January 2025 were nearly double that of January 2024.