- 5 min read
Douglas Dynamics - From passive product catalog to active buying journey engine.
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Platform
- WordPress
- Partnership
- Ongoing since 2021
99%
Site uptime
100%
Increase in page speed
It’s important to find partners that can handle your needs in the short term, but also take you into the future. Lightburn continues to hit the mark in both areas.
Project intro
Helping Douglas Dynamics streamline the customer journey.
As a leading manufacturer and upfitter of commercial work truck attachments and equipment, Douglas Dynamics has earned a reputation for products that work when it matters most. In 2021, their digital presence wasn't living up to that standard.
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Five brands, five separate sites
Each operating independently — plugin conflicts, performance drag, and no shared architecture across any of the properties.
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Built to browse, not to convert
Customers could see products but couldn't request a quote, find a dealer, or take any meaningful action.
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A partner problem as much as a website problem
They needed someone invested in the bigger picture — not just a build. They found Lightburn. And we got to work.
2021 — Customer Does the Work
- Browse products
- Read specs
- Figure out what you need
- Find a dealer on your own
- Call to get a quote
Now — The Site Does the Work
- Match the right product with a selector tool
- Find a certified dealer near you
- Send your config directly to that dealer
- Register your equipment after purchase
- Access manuals and parts lists anytime
The Problem
Five compounding problems with no clear path forward.
Infrastructure built for a different scale
Plugin conflicts, performance drag, and no shared architecture across five separate properties.
A dealer network left without leads
Customers could browse products but couldn't request a quote or get routed to a dealer.
Data trapped in silos
Registration data lived in WordPress with no connection to Salesforce — collected, and going nowhere.
Analytics no one could trust
Reliable visibility into performance had broken down, leaving every strategic call feeling like a guess.
No path forward
No roadmap, no improvement rhythm, no partner invested in the bigger picture.
The Solution
Candid, practical, and built for the long term.
Multi-brand website consolidation
We rebuilt all three primary brand properties from scratch on a WordPress Multisite architecture. One shared codebase, distinct brand identities, and a foundation built to scale.
Dealer locator rebuild
The dealer locator was rebuilt from the ground up with Salesforce as the single source of truth, giving dealers accurate, real-time information, and customers a seamless path to find them.
Product selector tools and lead generation
Legacy spreader selector tools were migrated into the primary brand experiences and a new Request a Quote flow routed leads directly to dealers through Salesforce.
CRM integration and data migration
Product registration forms were rebuilt and connected directly to Salesforce, freeing years of trapped customer data and giving the organization visibility it never had before.
SEO and analytics reporting
Ongoing SEO management and custom Looker Studio dashboards gave the internal team reliable visibility into performance across all five brand properties.
It's important to find partners that can handle your needs in the short term, but also take you into the future. Lightburn continues to hit the mark in both areas.
The Results
The work speaks for itself.
Reach that reflects the brands
The sites aren't just better — they're working harder.
A website that generates leads
For the first time, customers can research, configure, and request a quote — all without leaving the brand experience.
Customers are using the tools
Self-service tools that used to not exist are now some of the most-visited experiences on the sites.
Data moving through the organization
Registration data that once died in WordPress silos now flows directly into Salesforce, giving sales, marketing, and operations a shared view of the customer.
Five brands. One manageable ecosystem.
A fragmented collection of disconnected properties is now a unified digital ecosystem — easier to manage, easier to measure, and built to keep improving.
Analytics teams can actually use
Custom Looker Studio dashboards give the internal team clear, reliable visibility across all five properties. No more guessing.
Partnership in Progress
The work is never done. Neither are we.
What started as an RFP response in 2021 is still going strong. The best client relationships don't end at launch — they evolve. Douglas Dynamics treats their websites as a product to be continuously improved, not a project to be completed.
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Ongoing since 2021
Maintenance, monitoring, continuous improvement, SEO, and performance reporting across all five brand properties.
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Active work underway
Dealer detail page redesigns and ongoing measurement of every tool now live across the sites.
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From liability to front door
The sites that were once a liability are now the front door of the sales process. And we are still building.
Our website is an evolving product. It's never finished — and neither is our partnership with Lightburn.
More of our work.
How well-designed CX can reduce website and app friction in manufacturing.
115%
Increase in conversions
19%
Increase in new users
Our insights.
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