Pintail D&C Inc. is a medium sized restoration business in Houston, TX that faced a much larger sized problem. Their website was outdated, and my mission was to modernize it with a focus on responsive design.
Older businesses with established clients have a bad habit of getting comfortable with their website design. Years go by and new technologies emerge, and at some point the old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it" stops ringing true.
After meeting with the owners, their main talking point was noticing a large decline in the number of calls for water damage. Luckily, they had Google Analytics connected and I was able to further understand the issue. Over the past year, 84% of their web traffic through search queries related to emergency services was mobile. Their website was not responsive or filled with means to easily contact the company, and I deemed this combination of shortcomings to be the culprit.
This makes sense, if I'm standing in my yard watching my house flood I'm probably not going to walk inside and sit down at the family PC to search for a solution. Most everyone would pull out a phone and search for a water damage specialty company.
Now I know the goal, a mobile-first design with quick contact options.
In the user research phase, I reached out directly to several water damage customers (not those referred by insurance companies) who had contacted Pintail, Inc. in the past year. I asked them how they initially found Pintail, gaining firsthand insights into the decision-making process during an emergency. Several customers mentioned that they had to navigate to the contact page and search for our phone number, which added unnecessary delay.
Additionally, I conducted guerrilla research by inviting acquaintances to stand in their front yards, simulating a flooding scenario, and asking them to act naturally in finding help. This revealed instinctive behaviors and underscored the need for a mobile-first, immediately accessible contact interface.
I’ve been a fan of Poppins since it was released in 2014 for its clean, geometric shapes and excellent legibility. In this redesign, I chose Poppins to convey a modern and professional tone that aligns with Pintail’s commitment to quality. Its balanced letterforms help maintain clarity at various sizes—especially important for mobile screens—while adding a friendly, approachable feel that instills trust in users looking for restoration services.
The goal was clear, increase phone calls for emergency services. I redesigned the website under the operation that the average user won't even scroll down the homepage to look for information. Everything needed to be instantly visible and accessible. The owners were pleased with the final site, as was I.
Before the redesign of the website, every 100 mobile site visitors yielded 2.2 phone calls. After the redesign, the owners averaged 7.6 phone calls per 100 mobile website visitors–a respectable increase of 245%. This average was taken over a two month period following the redesign and is a true testament to common sense in design.
