Rebuilding the Coliseum Theatre website
In 2023, Tangible rebuilt the Coliseum Theatre website for West HQ, moving it from Drupal to WordPress. The centrepiece was Seat View, which let guests see a real 360-degree photographed view from their seat before buying a ticket.
Tangible's role
Tangible's work covered strategy, WordPress development, SEO, UX design and 360-degree photography. Working closely with West HQ, the delivery team used an agile methodology to prototype and build the site, which was ready to go live for the public in twelve weeks.
Why West HQ wanted a new website
COVID hit the Coliseum Theatre hard. West HQ wanted the rebuild to better promote the venue's full offering and increase its online presence. The Drupal site gave audiences a satisfactory experience, but did not suit West HQ's more ambitious content creation and distribution needs. West HQ wanted a distinctive site its own team could manage and update easily.
In a cross-functional ideation session led by Tangible, stakeholders from the theatre and West HQ's marketing team said they liked the previous site's simplicity but felt it did not capture the theatre's premium offering and bold personality. Increasing conversion rates, minimising ongoing development costs and removing limits on content updates were important criteria. Tangible proposed WordPress.
A view from the seat before you buy
Seat View was a custom WordPress feature Tangible built around real 360-degree photography rather than a digital rendering. It let guests see what they would see from their seat before buying a ticket and, in some cases, afterwards.
Visitors could find their view in two ways: by searching for a ticket or by selecting a bay on a map of the venue.
Fewer pages, clearer paths
Tangible and the Coliseum Theatre audited the existing website content, reviewing each page's performance to decide whether to remove, consolidate, improve or keep it. Starting with the sitemap and the paths visitors took, Tangible created a new user flow and then wireframes.
The finished site had considerably fewer pages and simpler navigation. Its key pages were structured so people could find information quickly. The rebuild addressed the content structure as well as the website design.
Event pages built for booking
Tangible designed an event landing page template to make booking intuitive and engaging for regular and new bookers. The design drew on user experience testing and usability trends.
Each event page could use a large hero image with optional video. A flexible content area held descriptions, reviews and other rich content, while accordions held the extra information people looked for. The template also included a Spotify embed, an image and video gallery, and a cross-promotion block at the bottom of the page.
After launch
Site users increased 33%.
Ticketing click-through increased 850%.
In the six months after launch.
The website offered a more engaging experience and met West HQ's goals, including increased ticket sales and a much more enjoyable experience for people using mobile and tablet devices.
Tell us what you're working on.
Your first conversation is with a senior member of the team.