A user-focused merge of print and web

When the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau said they needed to redesign their website, they had several goals they were looking to accomplish and needed a team that could help them bring it all together.

The DMCVB needed a mobile-friendly experience, an amazing event search, clearer navigation, improved mapping capabilities, to combine content from their print magazine, meeting site and blog, a CRM to deliver user information to their members and meeting planners, and they wanted the change to be transparent to visitors and members. In short, it was no small feat they were looking for.

Together with our partners, we leveraged data, analytics and workflows to create personas and user journeys. We led several workshops and review sessions with the DMCVB to ensure that our findings were an accurate reflection of their targets.

As we moved from our define phase into design, we reviewed and tweaked several rounds of wireframes with the DMCVB. We developed a responsive website and plan for CRM integration and leveraged our Hub CMS; a powerful tool that allows for the rapid creation and deployment of content across several distribution platforms.

Our leadership and strategic thinking puts the user first and allows the DMCVB to easily update events, member information and content within the site. The Hub CMS also allows the DMCVB to share much of the content as a feed to Pure Michigan, DDAs, chambers and other outlets.

The DMCVB experienced an uptick in page views from 48,700 the month prior to launch to more than 54,000 during the launch and more than 55,000 the month after launch. Plus, mobile and tablet traffic on the site through midyear 2017 was already at more than 54%.