"More like ten minutes," adds Thomas, a fellow employee tending to a register at the service counter.

Benjamin Moore stores are filled with an extensive variety of paints, primers, porch and floor enamels, window blinds, patch, caulk, sealants, and the tools of the trade. Not having a predetermined shopping list can translate into hours of asking questions and considering answers from customer service representatives. But what about the online shopping experience?

The Benjamin Moore website is under considerable pressure to deliver the company's brand identity and differentiate its products and services from the competition. Easy, right? Shouldn't experts who specialize in making our houses and offices so appealing be able to create a website that communicates its own brand attributes?

Not always. Translating a brand's identity into an online format can be a difficult process, and many attempts fail because web designers and content providers often focus too much on products and marketing and not enough on branding. Consumers—even online consumers—are more likely to connect, and do business, with brands they know and understand. Customers purchase specific products, of course, but it's the brand promise they want in their lives, whether that be in the corporate lobby, the home dining room, or the deck of their vacation house.

Benjamin Moore realizes that the relationship between its brand and its customers hinges on three important brand attributes: legacy, quality, and customer service. To ascertain the effectiveness of its website, let's compare how these essential qualities measure up to those given priority on the company's website.

Legacy

Companies that have been around as long as Benjamin Moore not only have history and tradition, but they also have a story to tell. People, especially consumers, love stories because they provide a narrative and make intangibles more human, believable, and accessible. What person doesn't like the story of Benjamin Moore and his brother Robert, who, according to the website, were "true entrepreneurs" from Brooklyn, New York, that "started with $2,000 and one product" and turned a local dream into "a network of more than 4,000 independent retailers across North America"?

Not only does the website provide a profile of the company's rise to prominence, but the "Then, Now, Always" area of the "About Us" section offers an orange-infused headshot of the original founder and a blue-hued portrait of billionaire Warren Buffett, who became the de facto director in 2000 when Benjamin Moore was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway. Quite a compelling storyline considering that the plot hinges not on a bloody revenge, or a love triangle, or a bank heist, but a simple commodity: paint. As the site claims, "We've Been Dreaming in Color since 1883."

Quality

Perhaps the greatest challenge designers encounter when building websites is creating the "reality" of a product in cyberspace—how it feels, smells, and the sound it makes when a customer drops it on the floor. Yet, a brand's online appearance is just as important as its in-store presence and the company's representatives who promote its corporate values. Quality brands hire quality web professionals to portray their brands online with informative content, vivid imagery, streamlined functionality, and sensible navigation.

Benjamin Moore has painted itself into an admirable corner of the Internet. From top to bottom the color scheme for the website is aesthetically appealing and consistent, and the content is organized, well written, and—for the most part—focused on the customer's purchasing needs instead of the company's desire to sell. Once a quality web presence has been established, that credibility can be leveraged to further legitimize claims about the superiority of the products being showcased, and the company's brand in general.

On the "Technology and Innovation" page, a bird's-eye view of an open can of orange paint claims, "It's what's in the can that counts." The messaging and imagery are effective and succinctly communicate a broader brand message regarding the company's dedication to quality and innovation. The brand's name recognition, coupled with its impressive online presence, compels visitors to accept the "reality" of what they both see and read—"Superior Quality. Superior Paint." for example. Furthermore, those claims are supported by an informative explanation of what makes quality paint—resins and colorants, of which Benjamin Moore makes its own.

Customer Service

For the Benjamin Moore website, customer service means a free education.

It boggles the mind to think that so many people spend so much money, time, and energy on educating themselves about nuclear thermodynamics, civil rights laws, and neuroscience, but can't figure out why their friends won't come over for a relaxing dinner party in a living room with teal walls, purple trim, and yellow curtains. Thankfully, the Benjamin Moore website is here to help. It offers a color laboratory that caters to the full spectrum of customers, ranging from novice home decorators and experienced architects to designers and contractors.

It's welcome page allows visitors the options of navigating the US English site, the Canadian English site, or the Canadian French site, and then asks them to choose one of three categories: For Your Home, For Architects and Designers, and For Contractors. Upon selecting a profile, visitors are taken to another page that caters to their designated category's specific needs—and, from there, an expansive array of aesthetic and educational paths are available.

And yes, English-speaking Americans and English-speaking Canadians do need separate websites, because Americans require a "Personal Color Viewer" section while the Canadians use a "Personal Colour Viewer" feature. The cornerstone to customer service isn't a wide grin and firm handshake, or images of smiling children dancing around a company's product: Customer service is about attention to detail. And the Benjamin Moore website not only nails it, but paints over it with the color, or colour, of your choice.