The challenge
With potential visitors increasingly preferring to research and book holidays online, the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) needed their website to give greater prominence to searching and booking accommodation and other available products and to provide an engaging user experience.
The solution
Identifying and understanding the intersection of where the needs of the tourist meet the needs of the business was critical to providing the right solution.
Armed with research information and the results of local and interstate user experience (UX) workshops, we conducted completed a rapid redesign that made information uncluttered and easily discoverable while simplifying the booking process. Through a combination of design and complex back-end engineering, the user can find that “perfect little B&B” and have their next holiday booked and paid for in less than 5 clicks.
Key features of the website include:
• Improved usability: UX process and clean design makes information easy to find. The ‘Search & Book’ functionality is prominent and available from every page, ensuring that visitors are able to look for products that can be booked from anywhere in the site. Visitors can find a specific accommodation page with just a few clicks
• Inspiring and engaging design: through the use of evocative imagery and simple navigation, we are inviting people to delve further in to the site. The intent is to increase page views per visit and average time on site as this should lead to an improved rate of bookings
• OpenText CMS: the CMS (upgraded from 7.5 to 10x) has been designed with a much simpler workflow. Editing and publishing new and up to date content has been reduced from hours to minutes with the custom CMS components made available to the web content team. This allows for greater efficiency and easier training in website management.
• Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) and V3 integration: access to ‘real time’ accommodation availability, pricing and booking information from the ATDW
• CRM integration: the website has been integrated with the client’s Traction platform for future direct marketing campaigns
• Google Search Appliance: integration with the GSA supports all site search functionality
To support the launch of the new website, we also produced the launch video which was used for the official Ministerial launch of the website. All video footage and audio was shot and produced in house.
The benefits
In meeting the project’s objectives, a number of benefits were achieved. With the improved CMS interface, the business has seen an immediate reduction in the effort to maintain the site. There has been positive feedback from tour operators, with many SA operators signing up immediately after the launch to ensure the best possible online coverage for their business.
Through well thought-out content design and a well planned site launch, southaustralia.com has retained its search rankings. Although it is early days, the Search & Book function is the most used page on the site, showing it is meeting the primary needs of the SATC and its consumers.
Deloitte continues to work with the SATC to further enhance the site, focusing on new interactive features and tools to provide a richer online experience.
See also the launch video