The Situation
Budget Heating & Air Conditioning supplies HVAC systems and replacement parts to homeowners and contractors across the country. After years of steady growth, the company hit a wall—not because of their products or service, but because their Volusion website couldn't keep up. As customer expectations for fast, mobile-friendly shopping experiences evolved, Budget Heating's outdated platform fell further behind. The gap between what customers expected and what the site delivered was widening, threatening to stall growth and hand market share to competitors who had already modernized.
The Core Challenge
Budget Heating's Volusion platform had two critical problems: speed and navigation. Pages took over five seconds to load—an eternity for customers trying to quickly find a replacement part or compare HVAC systems. The site's structure made even basic tasks difficult: customers couldn't easily tell where to find complete systems versus individual parts, the menu organization didn't match how people actually shopped, and the search function often failed to surface relevant products. On mobile, these problems were even worse—the navigation barely functioned, forcing users to pinch and zoom just to browse. The result was predictable—high bounce rates and abandoned purchases. Potential buyers landed on the site, got frustrated, and left for competitors with faster, easier experiences. The website wasn't just outdated; it was actively costing Budget Heating sales.
Additional Obstacles
Budget Heating's product pages created another layer of friction. With over 10,000 customer reviews on file, the company had plenty of social proof to build buyer confidence. But most shoppers never saw it—reviews sat buried within product pages where customers rushing through a purchase would miss them entirely. Making matters worse, customers who wanted to speak with a sales expert faced an unclear, multi-step process to get help. These usability problems compounded the site's existing speed and navigation issues, giving customers even more reasons to abandon their carts.