UKinbound
UKinbound is the dominant force championing the nation’s significant inbound tourism sector.
It plays a vital role in lobbying the Government on key issues affecting its more than 400 members, who range from stock market-listed visitor attraction operators to global hotel groups.
Besides campaigning on taxes, Brexit and visas, UKinbound organises important networking events and raises the tourism industry’s profile in the media.
Objective
Granite 5 was tasked with replacing a legacy membership organisation website with one that would increase UKinbound’s membership and event-related revenues.
The trade body wanted a sleek and modern website that would be visually attractive for its members and functionally intuitive to support member acquisition and event registrations.
Granite 5 was tasked with developing a new website that would help raise inbound tourism demand for UKinbound’s members, demonstrating the membership organisation’s value.
The new UKinbound website also required seamless integration with an existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system called ACT!. The result would be to reduce administrative burden, duplication and reduce or eliminate opportunities for human error.
Why UKinbound Chose Granite 5
Granite 5 was told by UKinbound that it stood out from its digital agency peers for the user-centered focus of the Granite 5 design process, which put members’ online experience at the heart of the website’s design and development.
UKinbound reported that Granite 5 had demonstrated technical expertise in CRM integration – as well as an understanding that every membership organisation has its own unique opportunities and challenges – which made it successful in the competitive pitch process.
Impact
The new website design and development for UKinbound achieved the following results:
*Comparing November 2017 – November 2019
30%
increase in average number of page views
1500%
increase in newsletter registrations
99%
increase in new visitors
Approach
In order to replace UKinbound’s legacy website with one that would increase member acquisition and drive event-related revenues, it was crucial to understand the needs and motivations of UKinbound’s audience.
To do this, Granite 5 held Stakeholder Planning Workshops with select UKinbound members and staff. This revealed a host of needs and motivations specific to different groups of members that influenced their behaviour on the UKinbound website.
Based on these insights, Granite 5 applied its User Story Mapping Process. This is a simple, collaborative approach that defines the ‘user journey’ of different types of members on the UKinbound website.
It also draws from the ‘StoryBrand’ framework, which applies storytelling to digital and sales-based communications, to ensure the membership organisation’s core message – and value proposition – is clearly conveyed.
Anchored to the organisation’s objectives and armed with these member insights, Granite 5 tailored the new UKinbound website to the needs of different members in order to influence their behaviour regarding events and signing up to mailing lists, for example.
Bespoke features and functionality
- Granite 5 included a multi-step application process for new members
- Customised member dashboards
- Jobs board
- Introduced a system for UKinbound members to respond directly to overseas enquiries
All of this was brought together with a friction-free member migration (from the legacy system) and a comprehensive launch strategy, to ensure no digital downtime for UKinbound’s members.
Additional Services & Features
- WordPress Development & Content Management System (CMS)
- Integration of legacy ACT! CRM Software & Migration
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Responsive Design (for multi-device experience optimisation)
- Bespoke membership portal, members dashboard and user management system
Highlight: ACT! CRM Integration
UKinbound’s were using a legacy Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, called ACT! This software kept track of members’ and potential members’ details in a single database, accessible by multiple UKinbound staff.
Granite 5 migrated the legacy ACT! Software, (which was hosted on UKinbound’s internal systems), to the modern, web-based ACT! Cloud version.
For the Membership organisation, this meant seamless live integration of its legacy member database with the new website. For UKinbound’s members, this meant they could easily manage their profiles, jobs, news and offers via the new website.
All member updates (data) automatically synchronise into the ACT! Cloud platform for UKinbound to access and manage in one place, saving staff time and reducing data entry errors – a key objective for this project.
The tourism industry in the UK is going from strength to strength but there are many challenges ahead such as BREXIT, increasing competition for visitors and ensuring the industry continues to attract the right talent. We really needed a more effective website that would help our members keep up to date and join in quickly and easily with our lobbying activity, signpost the latest business opportunities from overseas operators and help us attract new members. We are delighted with the end result!
Deirdre Wells OBE – CEO, UKinbound
The new site can now be used very easily by all members of the internal team as it is so intuitive and therefore requires minimal training. Only one or two members of the team could use the old website due to the amount of time it took to train people up! Our events team report that setting up events on the website has reduced man hours by half as it so intuitive to use.
Antonia Stratford – Head of Public Affairs and Communications, UKinbound
The team really enjoyed this project and were excellent in overcoming a number of technical challenges, including integrating with new platforms and working with complicated business logic. It's always satisfying but also a big relief to deliver a big complex project like this.
Christian Scott – Head of Project Delivery, Granite 5
The new UKinbound site is a big step forward for the association. It’s much easier to find members’ details, the visuals are bright and bold and the layout is clear and clean. Most importantly, as I spend a lot of time on the road, the mobile site is highly user-friendly.
Gary Grieve – Communications Committee, UKinbound
