About Magnecraft When it comes to product lines, Magnecraft's offering is all relays, all the time. Based in Northfield, Ill., the company makes a huge variety of relays, the component used to start almost every conceivable electronic device, from microwave ovens to nuclear missiles.

A small but industry-leading manufacturer, Magnecraft was founded in 1951 and is owned today by worldwide components giant Schneider Electric, headquartered in Paris, France. Magnecraft has 35 employees and generates about $23 million in sales servicing five key markets: commercial appliances, industrial automation, medical equipment, computers and peripherals and telecommunications.

In addition to selling to certain manufacturers directly (the roster of Fortune 500 clients includes Eaton Corp., Rockwell Automation and Siemens, to name a few ) Magnecraft established relationships over the years with some 50 leading distributors, such as Newark, Allied Electronics, Mouser, Carlton-Bates and Future Electronics.

Challenge: How to edge ahead of the competition and be first to capture prospects A small division of a global powerhouse, Magnecraft strives to be a market leader. Its Business Director and General Manager Matt O'Kane knew they would succeed if they could be first to capture the attention of the R&D and design engineer customer first, before the competition. "We knew that being front and center with engineers, giving them what they want when they want it would drive our business," he acknowledged.

Unfortunately, though, an all-too-basic website was preventing the company from maximizing its deep trove of electromechanical, solid state and hybrid products in an efficient way. Even though its ever-expanding line of technologies ought to have kept the relay maker ahead of the competition, the inability to easily update web content hindered its efforts at providing consistent, accurate product information. That not only kept the company website inefficient, but worse, it also affected the quality of information it shared with its network of distributors. In fact, basic product information was so hard to find online that customer service call volumes were overwhelming the company.

Specific to servicing its top prospect, the R&D and design engineer, the Magnecraft website fell short as well. The rudimentary site hampered engineering those prospects who expected the latest relay information at their fingertips, and who were accustomed to downloading CAD drawings to spec directly into their designs, something Magnecraft did not offer.

"In essence, we realized we were being held back by inefficient sales and marketing compounded by a poor website," said Mr. O'Kane.

Solution: Passing the baton to the engineering prospect to secure a sale "From the moment of our first conversation, I knew ThomasNet was our web partner," said Mr. O'Kane.

The companies took the first step together, building an online catalog that allows Magnecraft to efficiently and attractively display its vast register of products, nearly 3,000 relays and components. The online catalog anticipates a customer's questions much in the same way a live sales person would, and provides a straightforward entrée to search for - and find - products.

Those visiting the Magnecraft site are immediately presented with eight product categories, from plug in and power relays to printed circuit board relays to sockets to accessories. After selecting one, the prospect is greeted with even more specific choices to help find exactly what he's looking for, complemented by rich product descriptions and photos. Prospects can compare up to five choices, side-by-side, for a full evaluation. And for those who know exactly what they're looking for, the online catalog also allows searching by keywords and part number to expedite their process.

That specific, technical language incorporated throughout the site has another advantage – it helps to improve Magnecraft's search engine results, which in turn helps drive new customer leads direct to the online catalog.

One of the more impressive functions of the new site has been the inclusion of a CAD drawing toolset, enabling engineers to download and incorporate 2D and 3D drawings of Magnecraft components directly into their product designs. "We knew that if we could find a way for our relays to be specified directly into the OEM engineer's product design process, it would really help differentiate us from competitors and close sales," said Mr. Kane.

Having the online catalog up and running on the Magnecraft site also enables the company to work better with its distributor partners. Magnecraft's product information is now embedded seamlessly and invisibly on the sites of its distributors with the confidence the information is correct, up to date and overlooks no detail.

"We wanted to leverage our distributors' existing web resources in a way that would make it easier for all of us to sell," said Mr. Kane. "The new site has achieved that end with flying colors."

Results: Easier to find and to do business with, Magnecraft's relays race to the front of the pack Powered by the ThomasNet-built web presence, Magnecraft has recorded significant gains in many important indices. The company's name appears on the first page of search results in almost every one of its product categories. Not coincidentally, the company has enjoyed a marked increase in the total number of Magnecraft website pages visited and a quadrupling in the amount of time visitors are spending there. That traffic is converting to sales.

"We are now seeing more traffic being driven to our site, not only here in the United States, but globally," Mr. Kane reported. "In fact, one of our largest distributors confirmed that since our website went live, they've seen a surge in online sales of over 36 percent, totaling over $50,000."

The new online catalog now displays over 3,000 components, which provides customers with access to full information and specifications for Magnecraft's extensive product line. And though the company's portfolio continues its constant expansion, Magnecraft personnel are able to use ThomasNet tools to make the necessary content changes themselves. The net result is an easily updated site that affords visitors the most accurate and current product data possible.

Because of the site's catalog and 3-D modeling capabilities, more engineers at such global organizations as Boeing, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Northrop Grumman, Caterpillar and DuPont are finding what they need. As a result, the company has trimmed incoming customer service traffic and become more proactive and efficient in serving the needs of existing and prospective clients. "In the first five months following the launch of the site, we saw a month-over-month growth rate of over 15% in CAD downloads, and have now exceeded 2,000 downloaded CADtronics in total.

While ThomasNet clearly met Magnecraft's technology deliverables, Mr. Kane was equally impressed by the company's business practices. "The production timeline for the website was much shorter than I would have anticipated for such a project," he said. "The 90-day turnaround, from contract to going live, is about as efficient a process as I could have hoped for. ThomasNet really delivered as promised," said Mr. Kane.

But by far, the leading and most productive change in Magnecraft's web strategy has been its ability to brand itself with its distributors and integrate its web and catalog content directly into those channel partners' own sites. "Our major distributors are very impressed and excited about our ability to embed our content seamlessly and invisibly into their sites," Mr. Kane noted.

The strategy is paying big-time dividends for both Magnecraft and its participating distributors. "Our partners receive rich, regularly updated content that appears as their own to their visitors, securing more sales and solidifying the partnership along the way."

Indeed, the strategy has created a buzz in the industry. You might say the atmosphere surrounding Magnecraft is positively electric.

If you are interested in learning about the successes of other ThomasNet clients,
go to www.promoteyourbusiness.thomasnet.com or call (800) 879-6757.

June 2010.