Category: Public value

MySwitzerland.com project

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Intro

On behalf of the federal government, Switzerland Tourism is responsible for promoting Switzerland worldwide, with the primary aim of attracting new visitors and establishing loyalty to Switzerland among previous visitors. This is where the brand-new MySwitzerland.com website comes into its own. The site contains lots of inspiring content and material, but also over 50,000 planning topics in up to 14 languages for foreign and domestic visitors.

Objectives & target groups

Primary role: to attract potential new foreign and domestic visitors to Switzerland as a travel, holiday and business destination (Note: focus should not be on selling offers! The federal government states that Switzerland Tourism is not permitted to carry out direct sales). Percentage of new visitors to MySwitzerland.com: 66%, percentage of returning visitors: 34%. Top 5 foreign markets: Germany, North America, China, UK, Benelux. Age: from 35 to 70, focus on 40+. Key visitor segments: Nature Lover, Snow Sports & Outdoor Enthusiast, Family Traveller, Attractions Tourer, Culture Traveller & City Breaker. You can find further information in our strategy and planning document.

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Inspiration

On the homepage, 48 interactive drone videos show spectacular, unusual and sometimes surprising views of Switzerland throughout the course of the year. If anyone is particularly drawn to one of the images, all they need to do is click for further information on unforgettable holiday experiences and destinations as well as booking links for events and accommodation. The intuitive customer journey leads incontrovertibly to Switzerland, where your very own dream holidays await.

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Digital branding & visual emotion

To ensure communicative performance, the complex textual and visual content is structured using a module-based and atomic design system that emulates the overall design concept at every level. A library documents these modules and defines how they are used conceptually for all applications. This library therefore forms the basis for a uniform, recognisable and consistent brand experience. Clever transitions and micro-interactions also guide visitors through the entire MySwitzerland.com site.

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Information architecture

The information architecture and in particular the main navigation function is based on visitor structure and the requirements of the user. The main navigation access points were reduced from eight elements to four. In order to facilitate access to the content, user data was analysed and surveys conducted based on the previous website. In addition, the functionality was validated by various testing tools (TreeTest, LaborTest) and optimised throughout the project to meet visitors’ needs. Finders/filters, global searches and maps are used to map the great wealth of information (over 50,000 detail pages) (see the following sections)

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Multiple languages and markets

The website is prepared in 14 languages, including right-to-left (RTL) languages such as Arabic. The content can be adapted and output in 22 markets on a customised basis so that, for example, it is possible to differentiate between regional dialects. The same content page can be designed differently by the editors to create market-specific versions. 

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Access: map

The innovative map solution provides even greater access to the wide range of content. This map gives visitors to the site a 360-degree view of Switzerland’s diverse landscape and its tourist offerings. Based on the initial selection in the map, additional content can be searched for and displayed using the ‘Search the surroundings’ function. There is also an ‘Around me’ function that focuses on the current location as well as the option to switch between Google Maps and SwissTopo (Swiss national topography) map material. The search function can be used to search for content from Switzerland Tourism as well as streets and towns.

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Access for all: Accessibility

The website was technically upgraded and relaunched in accordance with the WCAG 2.0 AA Guidelines. The website can only be operated using the keyboard and is optimised for screen readers. The innovative elements that offer additional access to the content (e.g. the inspirational calendar on the homepage or the global map solution) were also fully compliant. In Switzerland, but possibly even in the rest of Europe, there is no other website that manages to bridge the gap between emotionality and accessibility so successfully.

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Global performance

In order to offer the best possible customer experience to the long-haul markets, a multi-CDN solution (Cedexis) is used to ensure high-performance delivery of the site. The pages are cached as close to the visitor’s location as possible and also delivered from the same point. For China, a dedicated CDN (quantile) was evaluated, which allows the content to be stored on the Chinese mainland and thus delivered behind the Chinese firewall. This was only possible by applying for a specific ICP licence and making various technical adjustments so that no Google and Facebook solutions were embedded in China! There has been a significant improvement in performance compared with the previous solution (factor 10) and the feedback from the market is excellent!

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