The Challenge
The Alliance Theatre, the Southeast’s preeminent Tony Award winning theater company, is known for its world-class entertainment and distinguished acting education program. The theater community consists of dedicated staff members, a board of volunteers, and numerous artists and instructors working daily to put award-winning performances on stage.
With over 40% of user traffic coming from mobile devices, the primary challenge of this new site was to enhance the mobile user’s experience. This was accomplished by creating a native “app-like” feel while expanding the Alliance’s Education and class offerings. Additional challenges were planning for the “off-site” season and functions supporting up to 7 offsite locations for the 2017-18 season. Along with a fresh visual design, allowing for easy access to high-res images and other media resources were key initiatives in the redesign.
The Goal
A key initiative of this website redesign was to attract non-traditional users and increase the percentage/number of external users like outside students, partners, & companies. Increasing brand awareness and advocacy (i.e. donations) as well as educational awareness (i.e. class and educational offering sign-ups) amongst current and new users was the secondary goal.
The launch included an enhanced Drupal version 8 CMS intended to empower the Alliance Theatre to update, curate, and archive web content. While the previous Alliance Theatre redesign from 2013 resulted in a steady increase of visitors, the goal was to take the success metrics to the next level with a focus on mobile device users. The new site aimed to increase both desktop and mobile user engagement (i.e. time on-site, page views, etc.) as well as improve the user experience (i.e. greater conversion rates, increase in online ticket sales, etc.). It was important to maintain cross-browser and mobile functionality to allow for users to locate offsite venues, purchase tickets and sign-up for classes & camps with ease.
The Result
The project was planned around the 2017/18 season and the new site launched in early July 2017. Our delivery of the new site included an integrated Drupal content management system with a modern, user-friendly navigation and design across multiple devices.
Notable New Features:
- Searchable performance productions with new “filters” to drill down
- Calendar date picker for easy date selection and checkout on mobile devices
- Custom map on each production for dining/transportation guidance that was mobile friendly
- Customization for mapping venues that supports the offsite 2017-18 performance season will be repurposed for years to come when the Alliance returns to its home in the Woodruff Arts Center