About Thwing-Albert Instrument Company For an industrial company to keep successful for more than a century, management must be well aware of the need to innovate. In 1899, Dr. Charles B. Thwing and Mr. Edward J. Albert were innovators who launched a thermocouple business. Keeping ahead of the times, the pair took the business in yet another direction, evolving into an instrument manufacturing company by the 1920’s. Today, this fourth generation family-owned and operated business based in West Berlin, New Jersey is a leading provider of physical testing equipment and services. From the tab on a cough tablet, to the seal on a bag of potato chips, to the fabric of your jeans, Thwing-Albert designs and develops products that test the physical properties of a wide range of materials. With 50 employees, five U.S. sales managers and a few international agents, Thwing-Albert is a giant in physical testing. That’s innovation.


Challenges: Penetrating Healthy International Markets and New Market Segments; Attracting and Keeping CustomersAfter a century growing the business, and with the advent of 21st century practices, Thwing- Albert’s management recognized how significantly their business landscape had changed. Customers were going online to do all their research and purchasing. The company's
Marketing Manager, Brian Kline, was ready to revamp the company’s website to better attract new clients, both nationally and internationally. And Thwing-Albert had ambitious goals. They sought to increase sales 25-30 percent by penetrating new markets, such as the food industry, and by reaching new international locations, such as South America. They also needed to better differentiate themselves from major competitors. They felt achieving higher rankings on search engines would also help.

“We needed a strong online presence and an effective website to achieve these goals, and that is why we came to ThomasNet,” Mr. Kline said. From content to functionality to aesthetics, the company’s earlier site fell short. Mr. Kline noted that Thwing-Albert’s “very extensive product line” required a website that was not only pleasing to the eye, but more importantly, easy to navigate. The layout and type of information provided on the site made it difficult for customers to see that Thwing-Albert could meet their needs. “I knew we were losing customers before talking to them because first impressions speak volumes, “ noted Mr. Kline.

Historically Thwing-Albert relied on existing customers and other “traditional” sales methods – trade shows, print mailings – to generate business in the U.S. and overseas. The effectiveness or return on investment (ROI) of these programs was declining, and Mr. Kline wanted to innovate the company’s strategies, and focused on converting the web channel to a more effective primary sales channel.


Solution: Richer Content and Enhanced Navigation As the sole member of Thwing-Albert’s marketing department, Mr. Kline had his work cut out for him. Upon meeting with ThomasNet’s Web Solutions team of engineers and consultants, though, he instantly knew their strategic industry expertise was just what the company needed. They explained to Mr. Kline that for the same cost investment as a single trade show, Thwing-Albert could create a website that would serve as another senior salesperson, on the job 24/7, year-round. The site would offer detailed information and immediate worldwide accessibility.

This advantage convinced Mr. Kline to engage ThomasNet’s Web Solutions team, building a site that would replicate and integrate their intricate sales process online. ThomasNet’s engineers and consultants worked with Mr. Kline to identify key information about the company’s products, make it easy for new and existing customers to find what they were looking for, and keep them engaged. ThomasNet developed an online catalog that featured Thwing-Albert’s leading testing instruments (angle, peel, thickness, tensile and other testers). For the first time, prospects could instantly see the range of Thwing-Albert’s products through the homepage, perform very specific product searches by name, industry, or test property, and drill down into the catalog to compare products, with detailed specs, side-by-side. Prospects could also send a request for quotation (RFQ) from the site, which has boosted sales both in the U.S. and overseas. ThomasNet’s Catalog Navigator platform also put Thwing-Albert in control of the new site, so they could manage and update all their content immediately.


Results: Sales Up 35 Percent and New Presence in South America Thwing-Albert’s revamped site is credited for driving double digit growth. In 2007, sales were $7.5 million. And in the first quarter of 2008, sales of their Vantage Tensile Tester products rose 35 percent. “Thanks to ThomasNet,” said Mr. Kline. “This type of growth is very unusual in the industry, and we attribute our success to ThomasNet’s website expertise.”

With the new site, Thwing-Albert is seeing at least 10-15 qualified leads a week, which has led to a 30-40% increase in online sales. They have also experienced 90 percent growth in search engine referrals from 2006-2007, and they’re on pace to double that figure in 2008. “I was thrilled to see us reach the majority of our marketing goals in our first year,” said Mr. Kline. “The power of ThomasNet’s online catalog is simply amazing.”

The new site has also propelled Thwing-Albert into new markets – both overseas and in the food industry. “The results have been great so far,” said Mr. Kline. “Sales have grown at least 10-20 percent in the food industry alone.” Thwing-Albert has received orders from companies around the world and across industry segments, ranging from Plaswax – a company located in Colombia – to Arizona Chemical to Multi-Packaging Solutions, and many range between $25,000 and $45,000. And with new rich content, Thwing-Albert has also been able to significantly increase their search engine rankings through more strategic use of keywords, so more worldwide prospects can find them. In the past, Thwing didn't show up on the first page of relevant Web searches. Now that they have restructured their content, “We often show up as number one,
thanks to ThomasNet,” said Mr. Kline. In order to continue the positive momentum, Mr, Kline relied heavily on ThomasNet’s Web Traxs measurement system to determine how customers are getting to their website, identify the top search terms, find out what pages prospects viewed and how long they stayed, etc. These features allowed Thwing to display the hottest items on their homepage for maximum exposure and direct future sales activities to attract and retain even more customers. “I am the marketing department, so anything I can do to be more efficient benefits me.

And Web Traxs gives me the ability to do that and more,” noted Mr. Kline. The innovations that Dr. Thwing and Mr. Albert exemplified live on in the company’s next-generation approach to sales.