Royal Albert Hall Launches New Customer Focused Website
14 May, 2009
The Royal Albert Hall launched its new website this month with the ambition to become one of the
most customer focused venue websites in the marketplace. Designed by leading American
interactive agency, POP, the website offers excellent functionality for customers wishing to plan
their visit online.
With rich content for customers to interact with, including 360° virtual tours of the iconic building’s
auditorium and the opportunity for the Hall's promoters to offer rich media content and provide
greater information about performances, the Hall intends to offer customers increased choice in
how they communicate with the organisation and ensure that the service offered online equals the
award-winning level of service that is offered through the Hall's Box Office.
The importance of ecommerce is at the heart of the design and navigation of the site and allows
the organisation to maximise the number of tickets and additional services sold online. Customers
are provided with a clear way to book tickets and select their own seats, add a restaurant or carparking
space to their booking, purchase a hospitality package, sign up for priority booking
notifications, notify their friends of an event or buy gift vouchers online.
The design of the website follows the launch of the venue's brand positioning 'Entertaining the
World' in 2006 and demonstrates the Royal Albert Hall's continued commitment to being an
inclusive entertainment venue, hosting a wide range of leading artists from around the world and
welcoming audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The Hall's new website will align the magical
brand experience customers enjoy at the Hall with the virtual one and allow the Hall to continue to
spread its reach beyond the building itself to audiences throughout the UK and overseas.
Sarah Woods, Director of Customer Relations, 'he site now offers something for everyone - from
booking a ticket and table within our restaurants and being able to see the view from your seat to
experiencing the Hall through our virtual tour and finding out more about the Hall's incredible
history and its work in the wider community through our extensive Learning & Participation
programme'.
'Our work on this project was driven by the inspirational vision of the team at the Royal Albert Hall',
said Bill Predmore, Founder and President of POP. 'They focused on creating a patron-centered
experience that celebrates their brand while providing dozens of innovative features that support
the needs of their customers'.
Other new features on the site include a Your Account section where customers can view previous
purchases and the delivery status of their tickets, cross-selling and recommended events tools,
interaction with social networking sites and an advanced search function that populates from two
separate sources. These tools aim to bring the charity's website in line with commercial
ecommerce sites and ensure customers' interest in exploring the site is maintained. The Hall will
continue to add new elements to the site over the next few months including an interactive timeline
and additional services for schools participating in the Hall's extensive Learning & Participation
programme.
Note to Editors:
For information, please contact Jodie Jenkins on 020 7959 0511 or jodiej@royalalberthall.com
Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a registered charity and operates without any public subsidy. Each year, it
hosts over 350 world-class events in the auditorium, which include performances of jazz, world
music, rock and pop, classical music, dance, comedy, film premières and award ceremonies.
The Royal Albert Hall co-promotes productions of opera, ballet and musicals and showcases
talented world music and jazz artists through its lively lunchtime music series, ignite in the Café
Consort, and just breaking artists through hush. It also offers tours of this iconic building, a free
exhibition series entitled reflect and an extensive learning & participation programme for young
people.
The Hall's new website integrates the Hall's Box Office CRM system Tessitura with the content
management system, Ektron through the Tessitura Web API.
www.royalalberthall.com
POP
POP is an interactive agency. With a dynamic blend of marketing strategy, design and technology,
they help some of the world’s leading brands discover new opportunities to enhance and expand
their businesses through the thoughtful crafting of innovative interactive experiences for the web,
mobile devices and emerging digital platforms.
www.pop.us