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Philharmonic Opening Day

PatronMail Client Since: November 2003
Starting E-List Size: 28,789
Current E-List Size: 103,460

Julii Oh is the New York Philharmonic's Associate Marketing Director, and her responsibilities include creating and implementing yearly marketing plans, managing subscription and single ticket campaigns, and managing creative agency and marketing staff responsible for production and distribution of marketing publications, collateral, direct mail, new media, and advertising.

The New York Philharmonic is by far the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world. Founded in 1842 by a group of local musicians led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill, the Orchestra currently plays some 180 concerts a year. On December 18, 2004, the Philharmonic gave its 14,000th concert — a milestone unmatched by any other orchestra in the world.

Last season, you did a complete re-design of the nyphil.org Web site. What was your decision-making process?

First, we conducted an online survey targeting different types of users. The survey was administered via a pop-up at various points of their user session, such as when they were purchasing tickets or when they were browsing, asking them to take a survey about our Web site. We also sent eClub members our survey via e-mail, asking them for their feedback on our site. From this, we received both qualitative and quantitative findings about what they wanted from our site, its usability, and their preferences for current and potential future features.

We also conducted live, real-time user-experience research that entailed observing  respondents as they completed various tasks on our site, led by a researcher. These respondents, representing a small sample of different types of Web users, were asked to complete various tasks, such as purchasing a ticket or finding specific features or elements on our site. This research allowed us to assess the site’s clarity, navigation, and appeal as well as assessing their selection and purchase process, their pathway experience and interest in existing and potential content on the site. The results were very enlightening as we saw our Web site with a "fresher" pair of eyes versus the way we had become accustomed to view it over time. We got to see what confused people across the board, what really annoyed people, what they really appreciated, where they got completely lost, and more.


What were the main elements you focused on for your re-design?

Once we found the main reasons for why people went to our site, we then focused our re-design on these elements: buying tickets/subscriptions, learning about or researching concerts, finding concerts to attend, and listening to broadcasts.  Readability, clean appearance, and the ability to get where they wanted to go quickly were of utmost importance to our visitors. Therefore, we developed better pathways and clear navigation as we worked on a redesign that would really support the various features of our site that users wanted.

One of the easiest examples to share with you on the issue of creating a better user-pathway is our top navigation menu on the homepage. Our old Web navigation buttons had reflected our internal needs and categorization rather than the user’s needs. Specifically, our top navigation menu used to feature two buttons called “Buy a Ticket” and “Attend a Concert.” To us, these two buttons had distinct internal differentiation (i.e., looking for concerts that one would purchase vs. looking for concerts to attend that doesn’t necessarily have a financial transaction attached to it such as the Concerts in the Parks). But of course, to our Web users, it was confusing, as there was no point of distinction between the two choices. So we worked on not only cleaning up our top navigation to include the main topics of entry for users, but we went through a very thorough analysis on the nomenclature of each button to make sure that users were clear on what each button was about.

One thing that really stands out in the re-design of the site is the abundance of video clips. Tell us a bit about what you've been doing with multimedia.

We now have both video clips and podcasts available for each program we're putting on. The videos generally feature an interview with a soloist or other musician, talking about the pieces in the program, and about their own background or history with the piece.

These clips are posted on the main Event Detail page of each program, where the user can find detailed information about the program and purchase tickets to that event.
[Click here to watch Lang Lang discuss Tan Dun's Piano Concerto.]

There are also some general videos on the site; we have one with conductor Lorin Maazel, introducing out Tchaikovsky Festival, and that clip lives on the landing page for the festival itself.
[Click here to watch the video.]

As we’ve started adding podcasts to every program this season, we’re planning on creating various points of entry and efficient pathways for users to find podcasts on our site.

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Now you can read and subscribe to regular updates from Patron Technology's President, Eugene Carr. Gene's blog provides a snapshot of his perspective on what's going on in the e-marketing world now, and how it relates to arts marketing.

If you haven't been reading, here's a quick look at what you missed last week:

What to Do
After last week's rant about poor marketing decisions by large corporations, Gene offers a link to a list of some good suggestions about best practices.

Making Subject Lines Relevant - Today
The subject line is the best chance you have at getting your e-mail read, so why not make it seem particularly relevant? If you can tie in some current event to the content of your newsletter, you might have a better shot at getting your patrons to open it.

Click here to read the blog, and submit your e-mail address in the upper left corner to subscribe to get updates e-mailed to you.