Web design and development>Digital Project Management>Performance Marketing
TaaS for optimal collaboration – Experience Antwerp

Case

TaaS for optimal collaboration – Experience Antwerp

The client

Experience Antwerp is the official partner of the city of Antwerp for tickets and tips. In close collaboration with the City of Antwerp and local providers, they guide day and weekend tourists through all that Antwerp has to offer.

Additionally, Experience Antwerp extends a hand to the Antwerp tourism sector to further position the Scheldt city as a unique tourist destination.

The assignment

Launch of the online booking platform for Antwerp

The team at Experience Antwerp aimed to quickly launch an online booking platform linked to the Gantner booking system to sell individual and group tickets to individuals, schools, and businesses.

We were involved in several tracks of this project.

Branding

They were looking for a partner to first develop their brand strategy and branding (who are we, who is our target audience, and how do we communicate our message?). We conducted a branding workshop and then created designs for the platform and associated newsletter as prototypes.

Technical / functional development and consulting

We were already onboard for the frontend development of the new platform. Additionally, they needed extra expertise for the technical analysis to choose the most suitable platform in terms of technology.

Should they go for a static website, Woocommerce, or a custom-built application? What impact would each of these choices have on their budget, desired functionalities, and deadlines? How does this choice align with their future plans?

In consultation with Experience Antwerp and Gantner, their partner for the booking system, the decision was made to build the website with Woocommerce. Gantner had already planned the development for the corresponding plugins, and with WordPress, we could implement the predefined information architecture and SEO optimizations.

Performance marketing

It was also crucial that digital performance marketing, particularly SEO, was on point from the launch, so the website could make a strong start despite the competition.

We conducted keyword research in 4 languages, developed the ideal information architecture, and worked on SEO copy. After go-live, our team continued to support the development of campaigns, corresponding landing pages, and further optimizations of the website based on results

The challenges

  • Connecting multiple tracks and parties
  • Taking into account various stakeholders: prospects, the Flemish government, the city of Antwerp, and Experience Antwerp’s partners such as city guides and museums
  • Competing with existing platforms via online marketing
  • Building both brand/branding and positioning from scratch, while also accommodating the wishes of partners
  • Adapting to changing search volumes (ads and SEO)
  • Technical decision (proposed by Gantner), with us handling the frontend setup
  • Tight deadline to go live by the end of November 2020

How?

Starting with a kick-off and concept validation

We started this project in May 2020 with an introductory meeting where Zanzibar, the team behind Experience Antwerp, shared their ambitions and plans with us. They had won the contract from the city of Antwerp to build a new platform for Antwerp’s city tourism, focused on guides and walking tours.

The initial scope for us involved the frontend development of the new booking platform and leveraging our online marketing expertise during both the build phase and after the platform’s go-live. During the kick-off, it became clear that there was more to the project than just frontend development and online marketing.

Additional technical team on top of the Experience Antwerp team

Once the initial lines of the project were clear, we could assess which additional expertise Experience Antwerp would need and how the final team could be assembled.

At Experience Antwerp, the team mainly consisted of people with a commercial and sales background. We decided to focus on profiles with a strong technical background in web development to complement the existing team.

Experience Antwerp

Additionally, Experience Antwerp chose to collaborate with Gantner for ticket sales, one of the leading booking platforms on the market. At Gantner, there was also a team of developers and a project manager with whom we collaborated closely.

Flexible use of expertise through hourly packages

Together with Experience Antwerp, it was decided not to bill on a project basis, but to opt for a long-term engagement through the digital partnership.

This provided them with extra flexibility, allowing the hours to be allocated or shifted depending on the required expertise and priorities.

At the beginning of the project, the hours were mainly focused on project management and technical analysis, whereas towards the end, the hours were primarily spent on development and online marketing.

Technical advice: Widgets vs. WooCommerce based on infrastructure

Experience Antwerp needed advice on which type of web platform would be the best option for them. Should they go for the lean and mean widgets from Gantner, choose a CMS (if so, which CMS is most suitable?), or is there a need for a fully custom-built platform? And what would the impact be on the budget, timelines, and future development possibilities?

For this, a training session was set up with Gantner to discuss their platform “Enviso,” along with the associated widgets, WooCommerce plugins, and API integration options in detail. This session aimed to address the known wishlist, which included features such as content management (pages, categories, tags, attractions, blogs, etc.), supporting multiple languages, tracking customers and their orders, as well as robust support for all online marketing initiatives.

Given the tight launch date and budget constraints, it was concluded that Gantner’s WooCommerce plugins, used to synchronize data such as tickets, venues, customers, orders, and payments, were the most ideal solution. This would also allow us to use all the standard WordPress functionalities to build a fully functional website in the short term, including the “must-haves” and some “nice-to-haves.”

Meetings, workshops, PM-tools, RACI

It was an intensive collaboration with various parties, which required at least weekly meetings to brief everyone and ensure alignment. When necessary, additional workshops were held to provide clarification.

We also used Asana and Click-Up to track the backlog and log new ideas, while Google Drive was ideal for exchanging content and information.

Additionally, a RACI matrix was created to map out the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved. This ensured that, at the right time, the appropriate people could take action.

Timeline

Pre-study and Analysis: Backlog with Epics, User Stories, and Wireframes

We started at the beginning by documenting the “wishlist” in the form of a backlog. Of course, we held additional workshop sessions with Experience Antwerp to gain a clear understanding of the expectations for the platform at launch (the MVP) and the desired functionalities for later stages.

The output was a backlog divided into different epics, each with its own user stories and priority settings (must-haves vs. nice-to-haves).

We also decided to create sketches of each type of page on the website to have a tangible prototype of the MVP. This helped us map out the desired long-term functionalities.

This allowed us to validate or update the written user stories as needed.

Keyword Analysis and Defining Ideal Architecture

The website architecture was also mapped out. What attractions, activities, categories, blog articles, and themes are needed, and how can we optimize these with SEO in mind?

To achieve this, our marketing team conducted a performance audit with accompanying keyword and competition analysis in four different languages.

Brand Strategy Workshop

Who is Experience Antwerp? How do they want to be perceived by their target audience? Who is their target audience, and how can we engage them the most? What visuals should accompany this, and what logo and color palettes would be suitable?

We enlisted an external branding specialist to conduct several workshops on brand strategy and brand experience.

These workshops helped us answer various questions and resulted in a brand book, along with a logo, font, and leading visuals. This served as the foundation not only for the web design but also for the overall look and feel of all communications for Experience Antwerp.

Mockups and Design

Once the brand strategy and brand book were finalized, and we had outlined the key design concepts via mockups, the design team got to work refining the final user flows through mockups and developing the final design prototype.

WordPress and Theme Development

For this project, we also handled the frontend development for a custom WordPress theme, including the configuration of WordPress architecture, slugs, URLs, SEO optimizations, categories, roles and permissions, multilingual support, and content entry.

Through plugins, we continuously retrieved real-time data from the Gantner platform, and extended content types with missing fields and necessary data. Custom developments were also made, such as automatically generating translations via WPML, forwarding contact forms to the client’s CRM, implementing an extensive search functionality, and enabling the option for payment via bank transfer.

Final Validation and Testing

Before any features were pushed live, the team from Experience Antwerp conducted the final validation in a test environment. This was provided by Gantner, where we could also implement our adjustments. In addition to our own developments, our team was also involved in the development and validation of the plugins built by Gantner. Once everything was validated by all parties, the changes were pushed to the production environment.

Launch of Teaser Page and Website

In November 2020, the launch of a teaser page with newsletter sign-ups was initiated to attract the first curious visitors.

During the same period, our team continued working diligently on the full WooCommerce website. New ideas and requirements were added to the backlog, analyzed, prioritized, and if necessary, included in the roadmap for the next sprint.

Additionally, the team from Experience Antwerp, along with our marketing team, worked hard to write all the necessary SEO content, onboard the required partners, and validate the website features when needed.

By February 2021, the soft launch of the first MVP was decided upon—a well-deserved reward for the hard work put in over the past months. The period of February and March coincided with the start of the pandemic, which led to the decision to limit the communication surrounding the platform until the summer holidays.

Case - Experience Antwerp

The good news is that a webshop of this scale is never truly “finished” and always requires optimization and additional features to keep up with the needs of end users.
We continued working diligently on missing features and further optimizations for SEO.

Ongoing Partnership for Further Development, Maintenance, and Performance Marketing

Two years later, we can confidently say that, despite the pandemic, Experience Antwerp is well on its way to establishing itself in the market.

This year, they achieved an average of 150k-200k visitors per month.

Case - Experience Antwerp

Since the go-live in February 2021, we have seen a month-on-month increase in the ranking of organic search terms, with the average position improving from 56 to 25.

Case - Experience Antwerp
Case - Experience Antwerp

To this day, we are still working with the Experience Antwerp team for both development and online marketing through an ongoing partnership, where we discuss and schedule new priorities each month to achieve optimal results.