AeroExpo UK

The website development project kicked off with a visit to the event itself. Getting face-to-face with your target audience is always hugely valuable in identifying different user types and their specific needs. We feed this information into a set of user personas, which are a constant reference throughout a project like this. We also took advantage of the great weather to capture additional visual assets for use during the site’s design and development.

Armed with our informal interview notes and post-event survey data we had a laundry list of objectives for the new site from simplifying online ticket purchasing to improving the mobile experience for visitors accessing key information on the day. There were also important internal requirements to consider too, in particular a desire to achieve greater ownership over the site and its supporting email marketing for less reliance on external support day-to-day.

Opting for a Responsive Design was a natural choice and a sound long-term decision. AeroExpo UK has a larger than average mobile audience, particularly in the days immediately surrounding the event itself. By diving into the existing Google Analytics data we were able to identify the most popular mobile device types in use by visitors. This allowed us to focus our initial design testing and create a site where the mobile experience was at the heart of the design and development process.

The new site would be launching on a fresh domain so there was the added challenge of bringing across 5 years worth of legacy content not held in any kind of CMS. Handling a migration like this with care is important to preserve as much of the original SEO value as possible and not to suddenly dead-end all the valuable links built up over the years. This is where we find rigorous pre-and-post-launch testing really pays off.

The show’s supporting email marketing is a key point of contact with both visitors and exhibitors in the run up to the event. A move to MailChimp with a fresh set of bespoke templates took the need for HTML editing out of the equation and significantly simplified list management for the team. Access to post-campaign statistics has unearthed new insights, helping to shape future campaigns. And the Responsive email designs have helped to maximise engagement across different device types.

Print materials from magazine adverts to billboards and brochures also play an important role in promoting the show throughout the year. By first establishing a style guide that could serve as a reference for all design work we were able to achieve consistency across print and digital outputs and significantly speed up production. The show guide itself, which is put in the hands of every event visitor, was able to lean heavily on reusable design assets allowing the start of production to be pushed back to the week before the show, capturing last minute changes to aspects such as hall plans and seminar schedules that previously would have gone to print unchanged.

As our involvement with the show now enters its fifth year we’re thrilled to see the event go from strength to strength, attracting more visitors and exhibitors than ever before. The flexible foundations we established have, with our on-going design & development support, enabled the AeroExpo UK team to move quickly with new ideas and adapt to the changing needs of their event.