Apr 2, 2018
Customer Journey, Part 4: Event Facility Case Study
Welcome to part 4 in our customer journey series. If you haven’t read our past posts discussing this topic, we highly recommend doing so! Part 1 will give you great insight into developing a customer journey from scratch, and what questions to ask yourself when you create one. Part 2 explains how 3D models can enhance the customer experience. Part 3 dives into a hotel case study. Even if you’re not in the hospitality industry we would recommend reading through that post so you can use the case study as a comparison to this one.
We are approaching this case study a bit differently than the last one. Previously we carefully examined a single example in depth. Here, we’ll look at two TrueTour® event facilities side by side and compare how each takes the customer through a unique thought process. Both work very well, and we’ll examine why and how.
It’s important to start by thinking of the target audience here. For event venues you’ll typically have engaged couples, wedding and event planners and other vendors looking at your TrueTour. The reason they are viewing the TrueTour is to either decide if your venue is the right fit for their event or to scout the location and determine how to decorate, set-up, etc. So when you go into planning your TrueTour customer journey, consider the buying process of these audiences.
Case Study 1: Addivia
Addivia is a beautiful wedding and event venue located just outside Corvallis, near the Oregon Coast. They offer options for indoor and outdoor events along with lodging onsite. They open their TrueTour with their company logo (not pictured here) and a 360º photo of the main entrance. As we mentioned in part 3, it’s always great show what people will see upon arrival first. For hotels it’s usually a lobby, for event facilities it will typically be the main entrance or where guests are expected to go when they get there.
For wedding venues in particular some good content to include in your 360º photos or videos are coverage of the ceremony space and reception area. If you have multiple options for people to choose from, have 360ºs of each space available to look at so your users can easily browse back and forth between the areas.
A few other things to notice on Addivia’s TrueTour is that they created a menu item from “Wedding Information” with a custom wedding styled icon. This is a perfect way to customize your TrueTour for this specific audience. They wrap up their right hand menu with the invitation to view their availability calendar, a different take on the traditional call to action “Book Now”.
We also want to point out that include not only the lodge rooms and bridal dressing rooms in their 360º gallery, but they use their 360˚ gallery to highlight the Honeymoon Cottage, inviting viewers to virtually explore the entire area. This can help solidify the bride and groom’s choice to book with them, knowing that they have a great place to stay on-site right after the wedding.
Case Study 2: West End Ballroom
The West End Ballroom is a unique space located just within Downtown Portland. Originally built in the 1920’s, the venue has been restored for weddings and events. It features classic, elegant vibes.
The West End Ballroom opens their TrueTour right away with their company logo. This instantly builds brand affinity and recognition.
For the 360˚ photo gallery they took a different approach than Addivia by highlighting their most requested room first. What we love about their 360˚ content is that they give the viewer a multitude of possible settings and styles. This is seen in both their upper and lower ballroom. This is a great way to use inspirational content in your TrueTour and to give potential clients a taste of what they can craft their event to look like. It invites one imagination and helps the bride and groom start to picture themselves in your space.
We also love how they use an interactive point of interest to bring attention to the fact that users can see the space from both the point of view of the wedding guests and from the view of the couple at the alter. Again, this helps invite you to step “inside” the space and imagine your perspective.
To help people envision the space better, they include a 3D model of the space. Learn why this can help enhance your customer journey in part 2 of the series here. The West End Ballroom acts as a source of knowledge by including their recommended wedding and event businesses in the Partnerlist area inside TrueTour.
Your turn. How will you create your customer journey?
Whether you promote a favorite room, or reenact the grand entrance experience, designing a thoughtful customer journey will benefit you tremendously. Frankly, this approach should expand beyond your TrueTour and into every part of your business!
We hope you enjoyed our 4th installment of the series. We will be concluding the series next week with a post about taking your customer journey a step further by creating a unique campaign element. If you’re ready for an advanced approach to excel your TrueTour you won’t want to miss the next blog piece.
What are your thoughts on the case studies we reviewed in this post? Do you have any ideas to add to enhance the customer journey of an event venue? What journey element really stuck out to you? Let us know below.
Apr 2, 2018
Customer Journey, Part 4: Event Facility Case Study
Welcome to part 4 in our customer journey series. If you haven’t read our past posts discussing this topic, we highly recommend doing so! Part 1 will give you great insight into developing a customer journey from scratch, and what questions to ask yourself when you create one. Part 2 explains how 3D models can enhance the customer experience. Part 3 dives into a hotel case study. Even if you’re not in the hospitality industry we would recommend reading through that post so you can use the case study as a comparison to this one.
We are approaching this case study a bit differently than the last one. Previously we carefully examined a single example in depth. Here, we’ll look at two TrueTour® event facilities side by side and compare how each takes the customer through a unique thought process. Both work very well, and we’ll examine why and how.
It’s important to start by thinking of the target audience here. For event venues you’ll typically have engaged couples, wedding and event planners and other vendors looking at your TrueTour. The reason they are viewing the TrueTour is to either decide if your venue is the right fit for their event or to scout the location and determine how to decorate, set-up, etc. So when you go into planning your TrueTour customer journey, consider the buying process of these audiences.
Case Study 1: Addivia
Addivia is a beautiful wedding and event venue located just outside Corvallis, near the Oregon Coast. They offer options for indoor and outdoor events along with lodging onsite. They open their TrueTour with their company logo (not pictured here) and a 360º photo of the main entrance. As we mentioned in part 3, it’s always great show what people will see upon arrival first. For hotels it’s usually a lobby, for event facilities it will typically be the main entrance or where guests are expected to go when they get there.
For wedding venues in particular some good content to include in your 360º photos or videos are coverage of the ceremony space and reception area. If you have multiple options for people to choose from, have 360ºs of each space available to look at so your users can easily browse back and forth between the areas.
A few other things to notice on Addivia’s TrueTour is that they created a menu item from “Wedding Information” with a custom wedding styled icon. This is a perfect way to customize your TrueTour for this specific audience. They wrap up their right hand menu with the invitation to view their availability calendar, a different take on the traditional call to action “Book Now”.
We also want to point out that include not only the lodge rooms and bridal dressing rooms in their 360º gallery, but they use their 360˚ gallery to highlight the Honeymoon Cottage, inviting viewers to virtually explore the entire area. This can help solidify the bride and groom’s choice to book with them, knowing that they have a great place to stay on-site right after the wedding.
Case Study 2: West End Ballroom
The West End Ballroom is a unique space located just within Downtown Portland. Originally built in the 1920’s, the venue has been restored for weddings and events. It features classic, elegant vibes.
The West End Ballroom opens their TrueTour right away with their company logo. This instantly builds brand affinity and recognition.
For the 360˚ photo gallery they took a different approach than Addivia by highlighting their most requested room first. What we love about their 360˚ content is that they give the viewer a multitude of possible settings and styles. This is seen in both their upper and lower ballroom. This is a great way to use inspirational content in your TrueTour and to give potential clients a taste of what they can craft their event to look like. It invites one imagination and helps the bride and groom start to picture themselves in your space.
We also love how they use an interactive point of interest to bring attention to the fact that users can see the space from both the point of view of the wedding guests and from the view of the couple at the alter. Again, this helps invite you to step “inside” the space and imagine your perspective.
To help people envision the space better, they include a 3D model of the space. Learn why this can help enhance your customer journey in part 2 of the series here. The West End Ballroom acts as a source of knowledge by including their recommended wedding and event businesses in the Partnerlist area inside TrueTour.
Your turn. How will you create your customer journey?
Whether you promote a favorite room, or reenact the grand entrance experience, designing a thoughtful customer journey will benefit you tremendously. Frankly, this approach should expand beyond your TrueTour and into every part of your business!
We hope you enjoyed our 4th installment of the series. We will be concluding the series next week with a post about taking your customer journey a step further by creating a unique campaign element. If you’re ready for an advanced approach to excel your TrueTour you won’t want to miss the next blog piece.
What are your thoughts on the case studies we reviewed in this post? Do you have any ideas to add to enhance the customer journey of an event venue? What journey element really stuck out to you? Let us know below.