Cultural Content – building webpages for performances
Manchester Collective's Brand & Communications Director Joanne Karcheva shares her experience for building high converting webpages for creative performances
Hi team Cultural Content,
Today we’ve got a really interesting guest post from Joanne Karcheva. Joanne got in touch after some of the Museum content design posts I’ve put out on Cultural Content as she was mid-way through looking at how Manchester Collective’s webpages could be more effective, specifically looking at the pages promoting upcoming performances. Fast forward and she’s sent me a frankly brilliant account of how she approached her task of re-designing these pages, and the principles and data points she used to guide her decision making. Enjoy!
Performance webpages – strategy and tactics
What should the ideal webpage for a performance contain? In the arts, we have a job of balancing creativity and inspiration with practical considerations that put our audiences’ needs first.
As the Brand & Communications Director for Manchester Collective – an innovative touring company and shape-shifting music ensemble – my primary goal is to help people find and connect with our artistic work. We play in spaces ranging from concert halls to warehouses, nightclubs to festivals. The Collective is known for breaking with convention, both on and off stage, and this mindset has to be reflected in our digital presence also.
Here’s what I have learnt about creating audience-focused performance webpages, and the strategic considerations behind them, which can be applied to all types of cultural experiences. The first section is more of a sense-check to your overall approach, whilst the second looks at the constituent elements of a killer webpage.
Part 1: The Foundation
1. Who is your audience?
Before we commit to any text, imagery, or webpage features, we must establish a crystal-clear understanding within the whole organisation of who we serve, and how that can vary from project to project. Otherwise, we risk ending up in a loop of conflicting demands, which result in a confusing and overwhelming user experience.
Here are some additional questions to consider:
Who comes to our shows, and more importantly, why? Surveys or informal chats with previous attendees can elicit a lot of this information, and a good audience segmentation framework will help organise those people into meaningful groups that facilitate decision-making at all levels.
Who is following our artistic work, and why? Our audience doesn’t just consist of the people who attend our performances. Our community also includes people who encounter our work online, as well as our sector peers and existing/potential collaborators – be that artists, venues, funders or local businesses. They all have distinct needs, but at this point, it’s very important to prioritise and set realistic goals about which audience segments we are seeking to engage with a particular webpage.
Who isn’t engaging with our work just yet but could be, and why? At any point in time, our potential audience far exceeds our existing one. Each performance that we present opens doorways to new audiences, but there may be a host of interrelated factors which prevents them from attending – from the obvious (not knowing about it or having no one to go with) to barriers that are harder to define (unfamiliarity with the cultural context). We must constantly act to understand and address these.
2. Who is visiting your website, and how are they getting there?
The first question is harder to answer (a temporary pop-up survey may be of help here) but we can look for clues in the actions people take when on our website, as well as basic information such as their location and age, both found in Google Analytics.
How someone gets to our site can help us glean invaluable information about the overall visitor journey. Make sure to review what percentage of traffic comes from the following sources and which leads to higher engagement and ultimately, action – organic vs. paid search, organic vs paid social, direct, email, referral. In general, paid traffic tends to be less knowledgeable about who you are and what you are offering than all the other types.
3. What are they looking for, and what drives them to engage?
People can end up on your performance webpage out of curiosity, with minimal knowledge or a clear idea of what they want to find or do whilst there. Or, they can land there with intention.
Consider the following things before refining your page:
What are the key things they need to know to stay and engage further – does it intrigue, inspire, and capture one’s interest?
Why should they care? How does what is immediately in front of them relate to their world and does it ‘speak their language’?
Does what they see on the page meet the primary reason for which they ended up on your website in the first place? If not, has it given them a new one?
Part 2: The Landing Page
Armed with all this knowledge, we can then move onto the constituent elements of a webpage. There is no one formula to create the perfect page, as it’s all about choosing the mix of elements most appropriate to your audience and brand. We can broadly group them into three categories – Inspiration, Information and Action – and pick from the menu of options below to create a unique and engaging user experience.
1. Inspiration
In the arts and culture, our job is to inspire people. We should never forget this, and regardless of whether we operate in the commercial or not-for-profit sector, we must always lead with that motivation. Yes, we must meet our sales and audience figure targets or otherwise our business model will crumble, but ultimately, we don’t exist to grow the shares of stakeholders. More often than not, we start with the practical over the inspirational, but I urge you to consider how your page is genuinely reflecting the cultural experience you are inviting people into, rather than merely informing them about it:
Visuals – consider the impact of the lead image or video banner, which invites the visitor into the production’s world. It should intrigue and encourage them to explore further. If your lead visuals focus on people, even if they are famous and your audience is likely to consist of those who already know them, ensure there is something else to go on – hint of a story, atmosphere, mood. We are in the business of world-building here.
Text – evocative titles and taglines that conjure up images, feelings, and hint at the atmosphere of the event. Same point as above about names – don’t rely on them to do the work for you… A quote may be of help here too.
Experience snapshot – most important of all: how can you show (rather than tell) people what they are about to experience? Trailers, performance snapshots – or if you are presenting new work, embedded video/audio players linking to similar work by the same artist – are our best bet at capturing the audience’s imagination and reducing insecurity about what it is all about.
2. Information
Start with all the key ‘W’ questions from the visitor’s point of view:
What – event title, tagline, tags (e.g. performance type, genre, family-friendly)
When – date(s), start time, end time, duration
Where – venue, city, country if relevant
Who – presenting company, key artist(s)
Why – the overall impression created by the page and relating to the visitor’s ‘why’ e.g. to experience, to socialise, to escape from the everyday
(for) Whom – not as obvious either, but very important: can your intended audience member see themselves reflected in all of the above and what’s to follow?
Signpost the Hows:
How much – ticket prices, concessions, discounts, booking fees, additional extras (e.g. food and drink, parking)
How to book – booking link(s) clearly signposted throughout
How to access – getting to the venue, accessibility (motor, visual, auditory, cognitive) of the production and the venue
How do I know it’s good – testimonials from press, audience, peers
Elaborate on the Whats:
What can I expect – show synopsis, content and themes, the nature of the experience, artistic elements, evocative language bringing out the mood and feel
What is unique about it – spotlight on specific elements, creative team, behind-the-scenes insights
What else might be relevant – venue layout (e.g. seated, standing, in-the-round etc), age suitability, content warnings, detailed programme notes
3. Action
Make sure these calls-to-action appear in the appropriate places and moments in the visitor journey, so as not to overwhelm:
Book – link to box office, ideally signposted both at the top and middle
Watch / Listen / Read – embedded or linked audio, video, visuals or text that bring the experience to life in the mind of the viewer
Ask a Question – opportunity to get in touch with the organisers directly and ask specific questions; this could be a pop-up or an email address
Subscribe – option to sign up to the general mailing list or a specific one for relevant announcements regarding this production (e.g. tickets on-sale notice)
Browse Further – view other similar productions, find out more about the presenting company/artist
Final words…
No matter how much thought is put into the webpage experience (and how many back-and-forths with colleagues), we all have our blind spots. At the end of the day, we are on the inside and try as we may, we cannot really imagine what it all looks like to someone seeing it for the first time. So, reach out to friends and peers who are one step removed, and ask for critical feedback. Can people understand what you are inviting them into? If not; why not, and what can you tweak to get one step closer? Keep experimenting.
If this has been in any way useful to you, and you want to exchange thoughts or swap feedback, email me at joanne@manchestercollective.co.uk