Category: Usability

MySwitzerland.com project

Hint

Intro

Is it proving impossible to implement customer experience and to ensure usability and accessibility of an emotional marketing website? There’s a solution after all! MySwitzerland.com bridges the gap between emotionality and functionality to make Switzerland accessible to everyone. Fully functional and monitored in terms of content through regular usability and accessibility reviews.

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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Focus: Inspiration and planning

Within the customer buying cycle, the main focus of MySwitzerland.com is on guiding the visitor through the inspiration phase (dream, decide). For Swiss visitors who already know Switzerland very well, planning content is also very relevant. If a visitor decides to make a booking directly, MySwitzerland.com links to external booking sites (Switzerland Tourism is not permitted to carry out sales itself). The content shared by visitors during the ‘Sharing’ phase is also used for inspiration at various points within the site.

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Intro

Summary of the most important usability features: Clear focus on target groups and visitor requirements based on previous surveys and analytics data Comprehensive evaluation of the intermediate results through usability and accessibility reviews Various access options (navigation, finder/filter, map, search) for accessing the extensive content 360-degree central destination hub. All content technically accessible in accordance with the WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines and performing well worldwide thanks to multi-CDN integration

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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In-page navigation

InPage Navigation offers guests improved orientation on longer pages. Navigation remains ‘sticky’ and is therefore accessible at any time and enables users to quickly skip back and forth, aiding orientation on the page.

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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Central destination hub

Travel always takes place with a destination in mind or in the vicinity of a destination. This 360-degree model was therefore used on the website. In order to offer visitors an experience that is as uninterrupted as possible, most of the content is mapped to locations and assigned to a destination. Regardless of how the visitor accesses the information (a search engine, navigation, social media, etc.), they can find further information about the destination in addition to the main information. If this information is still not sufficient, the visitor can access specific content for the destination using the link at the bottom of the page. On the destination page, visitors can explore the individual categories for the destination such as experiences, accommodation, offers and events.

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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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