Our\u00a0starting point<\/h2>\n
Looking at the data using Google Analytics helped us identify the top tasks that users were carrying out on the leisure centre pages:<\/p>\n
- \n
- swimming pool timetable, check you can go for a swim<\/li>\n
- find out the cost of a gym membership<\/li>\n
- book an exercise class<\/li>\n
- find out directions to the leisure centre<\/li>\n
- book a court<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We tested these tasks out on users to see how they navigated the pages and how easily they found the information they needed to complete the tasks. Combined with the analytics data, this gave us a well-rounded picture of where users were struggling so we could make improvements.<\/p>\n
So what did the user testing show? Users who did the tasks on a mobile device found that pages were too long with too much text. 65 per cent of users looked at the Purbeck Sports Centre pages using a mobile device, so this was a biggie. Users also found the booking process confusing because it wasn\u2019t clear that only members can book online and some pages didn\u2019t even link to booking information at all. A lot of users were going straight through to the leisure centre pages from Google search results, but exercise classes were all listed on one long page, which wasn\u2019t great for our Google search ranking. There were other issues like unclear headings, over-complicated timetables and confusion over membership options.<\/p>\n
Quick wins<\/h2>\n
With clear objectives from the user testing, we were able to make some quick improvements; action buttons were added for making a booking on every exercise class page, content was re-written and exercise classes were split out to individual pages to improve search results and look better on mobile devices i.e. less scrolling! We then did more user testing at Purbeck Sports Centre, repeating the original tasks to make sure our changes made sense to customers.<\/p>\n
Now that the pages were optimised for search and had clear, concise and task-driven content, we could work on making them look better. We visited the leisure centres with our 360 camera to capture images of the swimming pool, gym and facilities and have added the virtual tours to the web pages. Shout-out to the Aqua Aerobics ladies who agreed to have their photo taken mid workout! Clickable image galleries have been added to the leisure centre homepages to promote offers and events and we\u2019re working on updating the photos on the pages too.<\/p>\n
![\"2RM-aqua-zumba-class\"](\"https:\/\/news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk\/digital-first\/files\/2017\/02\/2RM-aqua-zumba.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe still need to optimise Purbeck Sports Centre\u2019s booking system for mobile devices and are looking to create a better search for exercise classes so people can search by day, type of class and intensity. As content designers, our work is never done because we\u2019re iteratively improving and reviewing web content. It\u2019s just like going to the gym \u2013 you don\u2019t get fit and then stop there, you\u2019ve got to keep working to maintain and improve your fitness (I couldn\u2019t resist a cheesy analogy)!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The New Year brings a fresh start and a new wave of motivation to make healthier choices through diet and exercise for many of us. But a couple of months in to 2017, those resolutions can seem like a distant memory. To help you get back on track, our leisure centre web pages have changed… Read more New Year, new me, new web pages<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions\/282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}