David Smith St Ives

Fresh, modern online presence for timber engineering firm

David Smith St Ives (DSSI) is a timber engineering specialist and timber product manufacturer. The firm manufactures bespoke doorsets, staircases, roof trusses and floor joists for a diverse range of customers within the construction industry.

DSSI wanted to step up its marketing activity and present a more modern and fresh image to the world.

The firm’s existing website wasn’t generating any new business leads, and the team was keen to make the new website work harder at bringing in more and better quality new business across all of DSSI’s departments.

What we did

Working closely with the DSSI team, we developed a strategy for the new website,
based on DSSI’s core business objectives and some in-depth customer research.

David Smith St Ives website stairs landing page

We began our work with a target audience profiling project, to better understand the needs and challenges faced by DSSI’s different customer groups, and to clarify what each group might need and want from a new DSSI website.

This research fed into a strategy workshop with DSSI’s key stakeholders. During the session, we pinned down the company’s business objectives and priority target markets, and refined a brief for the new website based on the needs of those groups.

Development work started in earnest – including creating all copy, photography and video content – as soon as the brief was confirmed, and in May 2019 the new site went live.

Since then, DSSI has seen a dramatic increase in web traffic and new business enquiries coming through the website. The new site has also given DSSI the confidence to exhibit at major industry events, proudly pointing potential new customers to case studies, videos and other resources now easily accessible online.

David Smith St Ives website product selector

Special features

Doorset product selector

We created an easy-to-use product selector area, to allow architects and specifiers to configure their doorsets online before requesting a quote.

They can also request samples of finishes and materials through a simple Amazon-style basket system.

Filterable case study area

Website visitors can view case studies and photo galleries of DSSI’s products in the comprehensive Portfolio area.

If they are looking for information about a particular product, they can easily filter using the buttons at the top of the page.

Video content

To showcase DSSI’s extensive design and manufacturing capabilities, we filmed and edited a number of videos for use on the website. This included drone footage to show the extent of the factory site, as well as video of the products being made.

The DSSI team have also used the video footage across social media and to showcase the business at industry events.

"The input from LMC was captivating and really helped us focus our thoughts. We had new orders through the website within 24 hours of it going live, which is testament to the team's hard work."

Adam Ding, Head of Stairs and Joists