Helmer Scientific

The Client

Helmer Scientific is a growing manufacturer of professional, medical-grade equipment serving customers in the healthcare and life science research industries selling into 160 countries. Helmer's main product line consists of cold storage solutions designed to safeguard vaccines, medications, research samples and other life-saving compounds in a uniquely secure manner.  

The Situation

Like many companies, Helmer had an aging web platform. It knew that if it wanted to see an overall lift in organic search traffic, sales opportunities through qualified lead generation and revenue, it would have to replace it with an integrated content and commerce engine — one that would better reflect the quality of its brand and better serve its domestic and international customers. 

The Challenge

Helmer’s highest conversion rates came from organic search traffic, but there was a problem: not enough traffic arriving on the site. Additionally, the company’s commerce and content sites were completely separate, leading to an inconsistent user experience and presenting a challenge for SEO. If Helmer wanted to create a seamless customer experience capable of guiding customers to select the most appropriate product for their specific needs, things needed to change.

The Solution

Partnering with Igility Solutions, the teams began with an extensive content strategy and discovery process, which informed design, site architecture and feature decisions. Content and commerce were combined into a seamless customer experience using Drupal Commerce and Acquia Search, and faceted search and product comparison tools delivered a superlative user experience. Product comparison tools and knowledge centers helped empower customers to make informed decisions, and translation and localization expanded the site’s audience.

Additionally, the e-commerce integration between the Helmer’s Dynamics CRM and ERP systems ensured an efficient back-end order fulfillment process. This integration was built using a custom-developed field and entity mapping tool within Drupal, which allows code-free flexibility for making modifications and has since been extended to other projects. 

The Results

Within the first months of launch Helmer experienced:

• Organic traffic increased 21%
• Qualified leads increased 34%
• Pageviews increased 37%
• Parts and accessories online revenue increased 36% 
• Equipment quote revenue increased 36% 
• Opportunities won increased 39%
• Bounce Rate decreased 28%