
Audiences at the Heart: Supercool collection
Audiences at the Heart: Supercool collection
Supercool love crafting websites and digital strategies that make life easier for arts, cultural and heritage organisations – and your audiences. They also love sharing – whether that’s practical tips to improve digital accessibility, things they’ve learnt about how to be more digitally sustainable, or just generally useful/interesting sector-related things. Here’s a treasure-trove of free resources from Supercool, based around the AMA Conference 2023 theme – Audiences at the heart 🧡
Optimising user journeys – one step at a time
Why is optimising user journeys on your website so hard?! In this article, we answer that question – and offer a step-by-step guide to simplifying the process. There are also real-world case studies from Edinburgh International Festival, Chichester Festival Theatre, and Britten Pears Arts.
Almost every new website brief we're sent at Supercool lists 'improving the user journey' as a requirement. Everyone knows we need to improve user journeys, but beyond knowing it’s something we should be doing, it can be hard to know where to start.
You'll likely have a whole range of types of user, all with different requirements. And you probably offer different kinds of bookable activity at your venue – from one-nighters to long-running shows (like Panto), and maybe even classes, courses and timed entry. All of this leads to a complex offer that needs careful planning, consideration, and a lot of collaboration!
Read the full article – and top tips – on Supercool’s website: Optimising user journeys – one step at a time
How to manage the emotional side of digital projects
This is quite a different take on ‘audiences at the heart’. Whilst the article is focused on how to manage change as part of an internal organisational process – at its core is the audience-centric, user-led data that’s leading that change.
You’re working on your new website, or a significant rejig of your current one. Part of this involves streamlining the main navigation and reducing content – simplifying everything to make it more user-focused. Great!
But to do this you need to remove some sections from the main menu – Hire and Support Us, perhaps. You also want to refine and reduce your Archive of past projects and activities.
Even though you know all this will help your website's users – you have data to back that up – your colleagues are upset, perhaps even angry about this. So you’re struggling to get buy-in, which makes the project more challenging.
However, being prepared with some simple strategies can help make this process much easier – for everyone.
Read the full article – and top tips – on Supercool’s website: How to manage the emotional side of digital projects
Practical SEO tips for arts, cultural and heritage organisations
In this article, we share loads of practical, quick wins to help you improve your website's SEO. Plus, tips on how to keep an eye on emerging SEO trends in arts, culture, and heritage.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of making incremental improvements to the quality of your website's content and structure, along with external things like link building.
Why do this? Because it helps search engines to find and understand your content, helping it rank higher in organic searches. The higher the ranking, the easier it is for your audiences to find.
Search engines aren’t the only way people will land on your website – think social media, links sent by friends, press articles, advertising – but they're an important one.
Read the full article – and top tips – on Supercool’s website: Practical SEO tips for arts, cultural and heritage organisations
Case Study: B:Music – putting people first
B:Music is the music charity responsible for sister venues Town Hall and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. We launched their modern, intuitive and upbeat new website in 2021.
It was great working on this all-new project with a team we know so well. We've been the organisation's digital partner since 2015.
Having a deep understanding of the more complex functionality in particular meant we had more time to focus on things like user experience – those little details that make everyone's lives easier – and design impact.
Human connection is so important. And we all know that context matters to people – especially when it comes to donation asks.
The website is structured so that the ways to support B:Music's work can be added to the website wherever they'll be most effective. Whether that's alongside the charitable mission, woven-in to artists' stories, or as part of news articles about community projects.
Read the full Case Study on Supercool’s website: B:Music – putting people first
Case Study: Edinburgh International Festival – improving Access bookings
It would be easy to assume that improving the user experience of buying a ticket online requires a singular, one-size-fits-all solution. In reality, however, barriers to booking aren’t all the same – they’re almost as unique as the individual user.
In this Case Study, we detail the audience-focused approach we took when working on improvements to Edinburgh International Festival’s website – specifically for their Access Pass customers.
The primary benefit of the solution we came up with is that there is no 'othering' of users. Nothing draws attention or unwittingly discriminates by requiring Access Pass holders to perform extra steps within the purchase path. They can simply access any available tickets that are relevant to them.
Read the full Case Study on Supercool’s website: Edinburgh International Festival – improving Access bookings
Case Study: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – ‘Quick Book’ feature
Our first new website launch with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) was way back in 2014. Nine years on, and we’ve just launched the brand new CBSO website. This was a great opportunity to review, simplify and improve user journeys – as well as invest in smart new features. Including ‘Quick Book’ …
With the CBSO team, we identified an opportunity to drastically reduce the ticket buying time for their season bookers. (Those customers who love to be first booking 20+ concerts in one go within a newly-launched season – and have their favourite seats.)
Although season bookers aren’t a huge percentage of the CBSO’s audience, they are their super-fans! They’re the most engaged, the most loyal – and they’re great advocates for the organisation.
Our Spektrix-integrated Quick Book feature has helped reduce ticket-booking time for season bookers by around 66%.
The CBSO have already had some big orders through the feature on the new website, and some great feedback:
“Just a quick note to say how much easier I found it to book tickets today, a great help as I get older.” – CBSO season booker
“The new Quick Book feature is brilliant! It made the process … so much quicker and easier.” – CBSO season booker
Read the full Case Study on Supercool’s website: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – 'Quick Book' feature
Find even more resources from Supercool on CultureHive
Website navigation – putting user experience first
How to create engaging calls-to-action
Personality, Purpose + Heart: How your website can better reflect your brand – Pt 1
Personality, Purpose + Heart: How your website can better reflect your brand – Pt 2
A Supporting Sponsor of Audiences at the Heart, AMA Conference 2023, Leeds.
