iPhone and iMac mockups of Adams Faireacre Farms Website Home Page

 

Adams Fairacre Farms is an icon, a Hudson Valley landmark, a superb example of how a family business can succeed generation after generation by responding to customers’ needs. Founded in 1919, Adams today is a group of four stores, located in Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Newburgh and Wappingers, NY; each containing many departments that are in essence, stores within the store.

When Adams appointed Ashworth Creative for an update in design and content of adamsfarms.com, the challenge felt immediately by the Ashworth team was how to provide a compelling and deep site experience without overwhelming the visitor with “too many buttons” and a cluttered home page.

 

iMac mockup of Adams Faireacre Farms Website Mega Menu

Eve Ashworth acknowledged her company’s pleasure in working with the Adams family. “As a family-owned company ourselves – though obviously a smaller one – we understand how Don, Pat and Steve Adams feel about their stores. Like us, they work hard, seldom take time off, and have pride in the quality of their products. Adams is not ostentatious and they have an aversion to bragging.” Ashworth and Adams had worked together before says Eve, “We created Adams’ previous website in 2011 and it had lasted well. Since then, their stores have multiplied, their departments and offerings increased, and they had simply outgrown the old website.”

The creative team included Phillippa Ewing, Content Strategist, Tracy Dwyer, Web Designer and Jim Fenner, Digital Strategist who led the web development team. Jim Fenner commented, “I had Adams memories going back to when I was a little kid. Phillippa also brought 30 years as an Adams shopper to the project. We each knew how much the stores had grown from the original farmstand, how much their customers love “their” Adams, and we wanted to offer web visitors an experience as varied and exciting as you get when cruising Adams’ aisles.”

Concept

Members of the Ashworth team worked closely with Adams Marketing Director, William “Bill” Lessner, and Tara Tornello, Website Manager. Bill Lessner described the process, “We wanted to engage our customers with lots of in-depth information, so that we meet the interests and needs of our diverse customer base. We arranged for Phillippa to interview many of our department leaders in order to write content that conveys the unique atmosphere across the four stores and many departments.”

 

iMac mockup of Adams Faireacre Farms Website Department Page

 

Design Features

Design features were created to make the site lively and pleasurable for the visitor to use. Adams’ Marketing Department has a vast library of beautiful hand-drawn imagery (all by the amazing staff artist/designer Vicki Frank Day) and, said Jim Fenner, “we wanted to use it effectively with big, dramatic visuals. Another key development was the decision to make navigation simpler by grouping such things as the company history, store locations, and instructional videos under an area that we called, ‘Adams Central.’ Throughout the site there are lots of opportunities for the visitor to stop, look around, explore and learn more.”

Eve Ashworth said, “Adams is able to support prolonged attention on the part of the website consumer. We want to help build customer awareness of all parts of this very diverse and fascinating business. Unlike a normal chain supermarket, Adams is hyper-local, each store is different, with different products stocked to suit the store’s specific clientele. We wanted the website to carry that sense of individuality and reflect the in-store experience.”

Bill Lessner said that customer response to the new website has been positive and is reflected in analytics that show visitors staying longer on the site; “we believe that the enriched site will bring us many repeat visitors.”

If Ashworth Creative can make a website that works for a unique organization like Adams Fairacre Farms, think what we could do for you. Contact Eve Ashworth at Eve@ashworthcreative.com or call 845-877-0410 ext.103.