Research, collaboration & heavy-duty engineering lead to a best-in-class digital solution

Trex is the leading provider of composite deck solutions in the US, with current annual revenue of more than $1 billion and a market cap of greater than $6 billion. They came to 3Pillar Global for help completely re-imagining and rebuilding their consumer-facing Deck Designer product. Deck Designer is a web-based tool that prospective customers use to envision, design, and customize their Trex deck from start to finish, up to and including purchasing all the materials needed to build the deck of their dreams.

Trex saw the opportunity to drive significant revenue for their deck products by increasing demand via digital channels. The challenge? To create a first-of-its-kind 3-D design tool that was so easy to use, you didn’t need to be an expert with CAD-style design software to figure it out. All you needed was access to the internet and the ability to point and click.

Trex’s executive team knew that none of the existing products on the market, most of which used the same white-label technology, didn’t meet the high bar of consumer expectations. They were seeking a trusted partner that could help them ideate on what the most important aspects of a reimagined Deck Designer product would be, evaluate those ideas for feasibility and product-market fit, and carry the ideas all the way through to developing an MVP.

3Pillar worked with Trex to gain a deeper understanding of their two distinct buyer categories. One buyer category was DIY homeowners who were handy enough to design and build their own decks and just needed to purchase the right materials. The second buyer category was homeowners who weren’t interested in building a deck themselves but still wanted to have a hand in the design by imagining its look, feel, and additional features like stairs and railings. We uncovered a number of unspoken wants and needs of the two disparate categories by conducting extensive user research, which Trex willingly drew insights from as we moved to the build phase. 3Pillar’s deep engineering expertise in Unity made us the perfect partner required to make the product vision a reality.

Trex’s belief that they could increase revenue by launching a differentiated Deck Designer product proved prescient. The MVP we developed with them provided customers with everything they needed to get started: a blueprint, cost estimate, shopping list, and more. Most importantly, the web-based product was far more user-friendly and intuitive than their previous version of Deck Designer and than other products offered by Trex’s competitors.

To boost sales, we integrated a CRM system into Deck Designer’s backend, equipping their inside sales team with the data and contacts they needed to fill their pipeline and better qualify leads. The company’s revenue more than doubled in each of the 2 years after the updated Deck Designer was released, spurred along by a value-priced product line that appealed to a wider segment of the market.

I like the degree of control it gives you, the idea that you get to see it and get a feel for it.

– Trex customer Megan on the Deck Designer app