Case Study

Tracking Audience
Behavior for
Website redesign

Overview

Following my initial March 2026 Season Launch Report, this case study tracks how I synthesized quantitative transactional data, behavioral user pathways, and qualitative patron feedback to isolate high-friction conversion bottlenecks.

By deep-diving into the critical drop-off points captured during our highest-volume subscription window, this comprehensive audit directly establishes the user flows, error onboarding strategies, and technical requirements for two major upcoming initiatives:

  • The High-Stakes Single-Ticket On-Sale for Gustavo Dudamel’s historic inaugural season.

  • A Full-Scale Website Redesign, introducing a modernized information architecture alongside a complete front-end visual reskinning.

Role
Lead Strategist

Timeline
March 2026 → July 2026

Objective
Formulate an evidence-based roadmap for a comprehensive Fall Web Redesign and the upcoming Single Ticket On-Sale Strategy by analyzing behavioral trends and system drops from the 2026-27 Season Subscription Launch.

Tools: Silverstripe CMS, GA4, Looker Studio, Figma, Google Workspace
Skills: Content Audit, Data Analysis, Report Building, Content Strategy

The Challenge

The subscription-only window (March–August) naturally attracts highly motivated, legacy patrons. Because these users are determined to secure premium packages or retain their historical seats, they are far more willing to tolerate a clunky, high-friction interface.

Single-ticket buyers, however, operate with a completely different mindset. They have zero patience for unfamiliar interfaces and a significantly lower threshold for digital friction.

User Journey Friction

Friction across our digital ecosystem is not distributed equally. By tracking our four archetypes chronologically, I proved that a user’s specific intent dictates exactly where they will encounter catastrophic barriers and abandon the funnel.

4 User Archetypes

The Loyalist

A returning subscriber who wants the exact same subscription as before with little to no changes.

The Flex Buyer

A returning subscriber who builds a custom Choose-Your-Own (CYO) bundle for greater flexibility.

First-Time Super-Fan

A first-time buyer converting exclusively because of Gustavo Dudamel’s inaugural season.

Accidental Buyer

A single-ticket buyer who accidentally enters the subscription funnel because of overlapping on-sale windows.

The New Super-Fan is choked at the very edge of the funnel. Searching for "Dudamel" returns zero results, leading them to falsely conclude the new Music Director is completely missing from the season.

The Flex Buyer hits a "broken bridge"—the digital season guide promises deep paths to direct seat access but blindly drops them on a generic homepage.

1

Discovery & Awareness

Selection & consideration

2

The Flex Buyer bears the brunt of this phase. Because they spend significant time manually customizing a 4-concert package, they frequently trigger hidden session timeouts that completely erase their manual labor.

The Loyalist experiences immediate trust degradation here; they log in expecting recognition, but back-end sync failures mean their legacy held seats are completely invisible.

Checkout & Purchase

3

The First-Time Super-Fan (frequently an international traveler for a global director) faces active exclusion at the finish line, blocked by fields that do not accommodate international billing identities.

The Accidental Subscriber hits a technical deadlock. After being forced to add random tickets to bypass the single-ticket gate, the system crashes trying to validate their forced parameters

Post-Purchase & retention

4

The Loyalist suffers severe "appointment anxiety." They intentionally purchased a matinee series, but their digital calendar invite displays an afternoon performance at 1:00 AM, triggering immediate panic over schedule accuracy.

All Converted Patrons experience financial anxiety due to gateway lag, generating duplicate pending charges on bank statements and spiking support tickets before the season even begins.

Impact

I synthesized the friction data and identified the core systemic issue: our platform was engineered for a rigid, domestic transaction model, while our business goals required a flexible, international relationship model.

Strategic Pillars

Respect Human Effort

The system must adapt to the human pace of decision-making rather than deleting user progress.

Design for a Global Audience

Eliminate geographic and structural gatekeeping at checkout to match the international draw of a global music director.

Context-Aware UI

The platform must dynamically serve different pathways based on whether a user is a renewing legacy subscriber or a first-time single-ticket buyer.

This audit serves as a foundational artifact for our upcoming website redesign, translating raw user friction into a concrete, revenue-protecting roadmap. I divided my actionable solutions into two primary high-impact milestones to align our technical and marketing timelines:

Translating Insights Into Strategy

Fall 2026 redesign requirements

  • Eliminate "Ping-Pong" Navigation: Replaces the exhausting back-and-forth loops between the calendar, seat maps, and event pages with an intuitive, consolidated single-page interface.

  • Clarify Curated vs. CYO Architecture: Overhauls product onboarding with a clear visual hierarchy that explicitly differentiates pre-set curated series from custom Choose-Your-Own bundles, eliminating user confusion before the purchase journey begins.

  • Guided Conversion Paths: Uses real-time, educational UI messaging to support first-time users trying to purchase during restricted windows, gracefully redirecting them into available CYO bundle options instead of hitting a dead end.

  • Persistent Carts: Saves complex multi-seat selections to completely eliminate server timeouts and protect user labor.

  • Global Checkout: Re-engineers validation fields to accept international addresses and unlock global revenue.

Single-Ticket On-sale Strategy

  • First-Time Buyer Friction Reduction: Simplifies the entry path for the heavy influx of new single-ticket users drawn by the high-profile launch, embedding clear instructional text and error-prevention barriers from day one.

  • Fuzzy-Match Search Optimization: Dynamically indexes marquee talent (such as Dudamel) so that new users unfamiliar with the exact site structure can instantly discover performance dates via the main search bar.