Meet Zygo

Website: zygo.com

Zygo Corporation is a leading designer and manufacturer of precision optical and metrology (the study of measurement) solutions, including components and assemblies. Based in Middlefield, CT, Zygo was founded in 1970 and has been a part of AMETEK, Inc. since 2014. 

In this week’s B2B web design review, we are closely examining Zygo’s website. 

Zygo Homepage

Zygo passes the three-second rule with flying colors, with a prominent text snippet at the top of its homepage explaining exactly what the company does, along with a relevant background image. The “Learn More” and directional buttons to specific product categories below make it easy for users to find the correct information quickly. 

Directly below the site’s header is a slideshow, which is something we typically advise against. Few people will sit through an entire slideshow, and using one will add weight and slow down your website. Slideshows also evoke banner advertisements, which many of us have effectively trained our brains to ignore and make the calls to action challenging to interact with. It would be best to separate the various items from the slideshow and display them individually instead. 

Zygo’s homepage is unusually short and compact. Below the slideshow, we find a “What’s New” section and an “Upcoming Events” section. The content here is strong and presents Zygo as a highly knowledgeable company with an international presence. More images in this section would elevate the site to the next level.

Navigation and User Experience 

Zygo’s website uses a navigation bar with dropdown menus offering extensive options to help users find the exact page they need. The text could be slightly more prominent, and we would recommend switching from roll-over to on-click navigation to make the site more accessible on mobile devices. 

The use of the AMETEK logo in the navigation bar is confusing, as it is not immediately apparent to a visitor that AMETEK is Zygo’s parent company or what its relevance is. 

Once we click through to a specific page, Zygo uses navigation menus in the left-hand sidebar. This is an unusual B2B web design layout but works well in this context. Zygo’s cross-linking between pages is also excellent and will positively impact its SEO. By offering multiple ways to get to the same location, the site provides an easy and seamless user experience. 

The various pages are clean and well laid out, with a good content hierarchy and clear directionals in large text. The copy is solid and free from excessive jargon. 

Zygo makes use of embedded videos on its pages. While this is a great strategy, the exact locations of specific videos do not always make sense (for example, a generic “Inside Look at Zygo” video is located on the Optical Components page and would be better placed on the Home or About Us page.) 

Zygo’s website loads quite slowly, and some pages do not cache well, meaning that they have to reload entirely each time the user returns to that page. This can be problematic from a user experience and user retention perspective.  It is also an SEO issue, as Google ranks content more highly when it loads quickly. 

Product Pages

Zygo allows customers to download a brochure or specifications sheet to learn more about specific products, but these are behind a gated form that prospective customers must complete first. 

Gating the content in this way discourages visitors from learning more about the products, as the amount of work required is disproportionate to the benefit on offer. This could have a direct negative impact on inquiries and, ultimately, sales. The form itself is also too long, with several unnecessary fields. 

At the bottom of many of Zygo’s product pages, we see four tabs: “More Info,” “Brochures,” “Tech Papers,” and “Videos.” However, not all pages have all of these items available. We suggest removing tabs in instances where that content is unavailable, as opposed to listing an option with no content beneath it. 

The tabs are also quite easy to miss, which could mean that users are missing out on valuable content entirely. We would suggest removing them and including all the content within the body of the page instead. 

The amount of information displayed on product pages is somewhat inconsistent, with more information and imagery available for some items than others. 

Conclusion 

Ian’s Overall Grade: B for the site, F for hosting

Jeff’s Overall Grade: D

The overall layout of Zygo’s website is good; it has a clean appearance, much of its content and imagery is strong, and it includes some smart on-site SEO strategies. 

However, the slow load speeds are immensely frustrating and likely to lead to a high bounce rate and SEO problems. B2B website users are busy, so B2B design must offer the most seamless and straightforward user experience possible. There is also room for improvement in the site’s navigation. 

You can see this full website design review and all our reviews on our YouTube channel. And if you have a B2B website project in mind, check out our services and contact us to learn how our friendly, experienced team of New Jersey web designers can support you in driving your business forward.