Complete digital marketing solution for a luxury London brand

DAVIDSON LONDON have been making handmade luxury furniture for more than 30 years. In that time, this family-run business has championed the finest British craftsmanship to create an ever-evolving portfolio of beautifully hand-crafted pieces ranging from dining tables and consoles, to desks and dressing tables.

They pride themselves on offering clients a truly bespoke experience so when they asked us to help them completely redevelop their website and provide all their digital marketing, we knew we needed to create something special.  A custom-built website where the furniture is the hero was the only way forward.

 

walk-through

 

Digital Potion have their finger on the pulse! Their technical expertise and knowledge of SEO push them far ahead of any other company and we have never felt in such good hands. Every member of the team is a pleasure to work with.

Claudia Davidson - Marketing Director

 

issues

With big ambitions for growth and new products and collections on the horizon, DAVIDSON needed a website that matched their ambition. Their Google rankings had plateaued and declined in recent years and they wanted to turn their unloved, templated Magento website into a gorgeous shop window, that would convert visitors into customers. They also wanted to share their deep knowledge of design, finishes and customisation with their customers.

So, after getting to know their business, their vision and their goals we recommended a fresh start, complete with updated look and feel – that remained true to their brand – and a brand-new easy-to-use, highly functional content management system. As since DAVIDSON wanted Google to learn more about what they do we also agreed to provide regular editorial expertise.

 

Solutions

Change from Magento to Umbraco

Magento is, first and foremost, an ecommerce platform. But since the DAVIDSON site was not being used to manage transactions, they weren’t getting the ecommerce benefits this system offers. Neither was the platform fit for a company looking to boost its content and functionality. What’s more, the constrained theme template and restrictions on URL creation made it harder to create that bespoke feel that every DAVIDSON client should expect.

A robust CMS tailored to their specific needs was needed to house all the new content that we were going to help them create. So, we chose Umbraco for the job.

 

Increased page speed

Loading speed is crucial for any modern website but when you need to rely heavily on very high-quality photography, this can create problems and DAVIDSON found themselves losing potential clients before the homepage had even had a chance to load. By using a well-structured content management system and creating a new site map with a URL structure that was more in tune with Google’s notoriously tricky algorithm we were able to cut loading speeds by 19 seconds and bring much richer media, features and functionality.

 

Much more content

DAVIDSON pour their heart and soul into every piece of furniture that they make. The trouble is that no one visiting their previous website would have known this. The site’s lack of content also meant that Google’s algorithm was struggling to understand what the company did and how to categorise it.

With Google’s natural language processing skills improving all the time, written content is by far the best way to convey information about specific products and services that are unique to any business. The more you fill your site with unique, high-quality, in-depth copy the more it can distinguish between a luxury bespoke furniture business and a mass-produced, off-the-shelf furniture company. 

So, one of our first editorial tasks was to work with the team to boost the copy on their product pages. And since we wanted this site to look as beautiful as the furniture it is showcasing, we also spent time gathering all the accompanying visual assets – everything from photography to sketches to video. 

 

Launch of Magazine

A great way to boost your site’s content is by creating a blog or a magazine – not only does it help Google get to know your business but it’s a great way to share stories and expertise with your clients.

In DAVIDSON’s case we wanted to help them reflect their expertise, values and commitment to the finest British craftsmanship. To do that we created the DAVIDSON magazine, a high quality journal packed with editorial and photography covering everything from the origins behind some of their most successful pieces to interviews with some of the biggest names in interior design. In short, the magazine gives the team the freedom to talk about the things they love, while giving prospective clients access to tips and advice on interior design and a behind-the-scenes look at what they do.

We created author attribution functionality so that posts could be attributed to individual team members, adding an additional personal touch to each magazine page and designed a ‘Curated by Claudia’ section in which company director Claudia could share her favourite pieces with their audience.

 

THE DESIGN / VISUAL

Custom design

Showcasing DAVIDSON’s passion for fine materials and finishes was paramount to the new website’s design. And to do that we introduced a series of contemporary, abstract textures throughout the site. The aim was to create a website that felt like an extension of their luxury printed literature and to complement their photo shoots, which make use of opulent, hand-painted, textured backdrops.

Each product page has a clean, minimalist feel, showcasing key details and aspects of each piece – from form to finish and design influences to customisation. And since every piece has its own story to tell we included functionality to add more written detail.

 

Interiors Lookbook functionality

For businesses that rely on high quality visuals, a ‘lookbook’ can be a great way to showcase product while generating excitement in prospective clients. In the world of furniture it can also help people visualise a piece within a room setting, rather than relying on their imagination when looking at standard product cut-outs. A lookbook can tell a larger story about your company, how to style a product and help prospective clients to start to think about how a specific product might look like in their own home.

You don’t just have to have one either. For DAVIDSON, we developed several themed lookbooks, sharing premium lifestyle photography of their furniture in real homes. Many of these images are provided by the interior designers that DAVIDSON has worked with. We designed these galleries to be highly shareable across social media channels, such as Pinterest, so that DAVIDSON, and their clients, could share their work more widely.

 

Instagram feed functionality

In a similar effort to champion customer-generated content, we also developed a smart Instagram gallery plugin that means DAVIDSON can feature pieces as they are being made. As well as providing stimulating visual content, this means everyone visiting the site can check for the latest behind the scenes updates from the workshop and get to know the team a little better.

 

If you are a luxury brand and want a bespoke digital marketing solution from website to email and apps, then please get in touch.