Three years of data showed mobile traffic was increasing exponentially, and we needed to respond with responsive.
Virginia Wine, a brand representing the Nation's 5th largest producing wine industry, is governed by the Virginia Wine Board and Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office. Government entities often have additional process and procedures, but this dual body also made up of winemakers, had seasonality to complicate approvals.
After two years, plans were approved to redesign the aging desktop site and limited mobile template, in favor of a mobile-first responsive design. I managed the process of mining 7 years worth of analytics and site use across the 30+ content types, combined with heat maps and usability studies to prioritize existing features and upgrade other aspects for future expansion.
We learned, not uncommon across the entire tourism industry, we're most often competing with Google's front page business listings that have gained massive popularity in recent years, touting user-submitted photos and dynamic hours of operation. Still, we successfully launched the new design effectively decreasing pages per visit (clicks required to get where you want), while increasing time on site.
Plans (and architecture) are already in place to create more engagement and regular on-site activity through user accounts, event subscriptions, wine flavor profiles, and gamification.
