Real-time appointment scheduler application to improve conversions

Client background

Headquartered in Pella, Iowa, privately-held Pella Corporation offers a full range of energy-efficient windows and doors, including residential and commercial products for new construction, remodeling and replacement projects. Known for innovation since the company was founded in 1925, their mantra is they “can offer customers windows and doors to meet virtually any design or budget.” Manufactured at sites across the USA, Pella Windows and Doors are available across North America and in select countries overseas. As a service to customers who choose to have their local Pella representatives coordinate installation of Pella Windows or Doors, Pella allows consumers to conveniently schedule in-home consultations for window or door replacement online through pella.com.

Pella had several business challenges and drivers which included improving upon their prospect/appointment conversion and speeding up the rollout of campaigns and channel opportunities. After reviewing their online presence and objectives they realized they needed to address the following challenges.

Business challenges

Move the RTA, “real-time appointment” setting application on to Oracle WebCenter Sites CMS

Add time slot management functionality

Incorporate QAS address validation

Increase prospect/appointment conversion

Speeding up the rollout of campaigns and channel opportunities

Improve prospect/appointment conversion

Increase personalization and visibility into clients and prospects

Channel rxpansion

Overspending on paid traffic, not enough owned and earned

Increase conversion rates and deployment of campaigns

The solution

The RTA application is an appointment scheduler comprised of several HTML-based data input screens whose data, upon completion, are serialized into XML, and placed on a JMS queue where it is fed into the corporate CRM system

Developed using the Oracle CSDT and SVN, which allowed the HGS Digital team and the Pella team to work both remotely and collaboratively

Front end was built using AJAX, JSON and Jquery and supports all modern browsers

Migration from SharePoint to WebCenter sites for ease of maintenance and ability to implement personalization strategies to help increase targeted messaging online

Full implementation plan including the integration of WebCenter content and Eloqua

Results

Faster rollout of campaigns and channel opportunities

Higher conversion of appointments resulting in increased revenue

Reduced dependency on external partner spend

Process efficiency gains through consolidation of content repositories and integration of solutions

Leverage content marketing to drive organic traffic, target top of the funnel traffic

Visualization of project outcomes:

Global locations

USA • UK • Canada • UAE • India • Philippines • Jamaica