Case Study 02

Subscription Funnel Architecture Analysis for Website Redesign

Overview

Following my initial audit of the purchase path for nyphil.org (Case Study 01), this case study tracks how I synthesized quantitative data, user pathways, and qualitative feedback to identify high-friction obstacles in the subscription purchase funnel.

Role
Lead Strategist

Timeline
May 2026 → July 2026

Objective
Define 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.

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

The Challenge

The subscription-only purchase window (March–August) attracts our highly motivated, legacy users. Because these users are determined to secure renewal packages and 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 four main archetypes, we can understand how 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.

Discovery & Awareness

1

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 superstar is completely missing from the season.

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

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 loss of trust; they log in expecting recognition (mostly in the form of our system remembering their previous season seats).

Checkout & Purchase

3

The First-Time Super-Fan, who in this case is international, faces active exclusion, blocked by fields that do not accommodate international billing.

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 They intentionally purchased a matinee series, but their digital calendar invite displays an afternoon performance at 1:00 AM, triggering immediate anxiety over purchase 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

Strategic Pillars

The core systemic issue: our platform was designed for a rigid, domestic transaction model, while our business goals required a flexible, international relationship model.

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.

Translating Insights Into Strategy

This audit serves as a foundational artifact for our upcoming website redesign. I divided my actionable solutions into two primary milestones to align our technical and marketing timelines:

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 differentiates pre-set curated series from custom Choose-Your-Own, eliminating user confusion before the purchase journey begins.

  • Guided Conversion Paths: Uses UI messaging to support first-time users trying to purchase during restricted windows, 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: Update validation fields to accept international addresses.

Single-Ticket On-Sale Strategy

  • First-Time Buyer Friction Reduction: Simplify the entry path for the heavy influx of new single-ticket buyers with clear instructional text and error-prevention messaging from day one.

  • Fuzzy-Match Search Optimization: New users unfamiliar with the exact site structure can instantly discover artists, performances, series etc. via the main search bar.