Archived: Phoenix Cinema Website

Responsive brand & ticketing website

Following a brand refresh, Phoenix, Leicester’s independent cinema, wanted to update their website to bring it in line with the new branding.

This was also an opportunity to reconsider how Phoenix interacts with their customers online. Aside from making the website responsive in order to bring it to as wide an audience as possible, a key objective of the new website was to maximise profit from both new and existing customers.

Priority was given to simplifying the ticket purchase user journey and making the experience as painless as possible.

+0 +30% increase in online ticket bookings

Strategy & UX

With this in mind we structured the website around a reorganised “what’s on” listing that surfaces everything on at the Phoenix, from cinema, to art, to exhibitions and festivals, while making it simple to filter content. Tight integration with Phoenix’s ticketing system allows us to pull through up-to-date showtimes and availability and tie them directly in with the online purchasing platform.

Autonomy and flexibility is paramount for Phoenix, so the platform was designed to give them as much freedom for creating content as possible, while allowing for editorial oversight and ensuring brand consistency.

User journeys were developed around core objectives of ticket purchasing, to ensure optimal flow through the site in an effort to drive conversions.

Design

When it comes to non-film events, such as art, festivals and courses, a single lead image is given focus, enabling Phoenix to showcase event imagery and branding.

These design decisions were driven by learnings from the Strategy and UX project phase and are all intended to drive conversions.

A style guide was developed and applied to ensure consistency across UI elements. Flexible content blocks were designed give Phoenix the freedom to author any content they require while maintaining consistency and responsiveness across the site.

Technology

A custom module was developed to integrate the website with the Phoenix ticketing system, Vista. The module regularly polls the ticketing system to ensure timely show and ticket availability data is displayed on the site. In order to facilitate social engagement, we developed a custom Twitter module which allows Phoenix to define a Twitter hashtag for a film or event and pull matching Tweets into the CMS. Once moderated, these Tweets are displayed on the relevant film or event page.

Results

Online ticket bookings have increased 30% since launch and the site is delivering against all other key metrics. Dwell time and page views have doubled – more so on mobile and tablet devices – and bounce rates have dropped by a third.

Un.titled has been a strong and committed partner for Phoenix. They have played a critical role in designing and delivering a strong brand and regular design work. We feel their work has underpinned our growing audiences and income.
Patrick Welsh, Marketing Manager, Phoenix