Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau

Case Study

Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau

Convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs) are semi-public organizations which use taxpayer funding to promote destination cities – in this case Miami. In an era of Yelp, AirBNB and Tripadvisor, CVBs are tasked with drawing visitors to a destination and, in particular, with encouraging hotel stays. It is, in trade vernacular, all about putting heads in beds.

The Greater Miami CVB wanted to switch to a responsive design controlled by new content management system. They had three different audience groups (and messaging approaches): national and international tourists; meeting planners (essentially a B2B play); and, locals who visit the site for partner promotions such as the prix fixe Miami Spice month.

Working closely with the interactive agency for this project, Fuseideas, and the client team, the recommended site build included:

  • Treating Greater Miami as a series of neighborhoods, each with a distinctive vibe and subset of partner activities and hotel experiences
  • Personalizing recommendations based on user viewing history and an interactive tool that lets visitors dial-in interests
  • Integrating web-based tools that allow partner hotels, restaurants and other businesses to keep amenity and event offerings up-to-date on the GMCVB web site
  • Tracking and measuring links to partner sites as a concrete KPI

Tasks & Deliverables

  • Discovery stakeholder workshops
  • Discovery user interviews
  • Heuristic review of GMCVB and related sites (Landscape Analysis)
  • Strategic recommendations & discovery findings
  • Personas & user journeys
  • Site map
  • Wireframes
  • Usability testing

Similar Projects & Clients

  • Cayman Island Dept. of Tourism
  • Collette Travel
  • Nashville Airport
  • Philadelphia Airport
  • Pittsburgh Airport

UX Timeline & Work Samples

[et_pb_vertical_timeline line_color=”#e09900″ _builder_version=”4.0.5″ headings_text_color=”#000000″][et_pb_vertical_timeline_item title=”Discovery Workshops and Interviews” use_read_more=”on” read_more_text=”View Workshop Photos” read_more_url=”#workshop” font_icon=”%%539%%” icon_color=”#698943″ circle_color=”#ffffff” line_color=”#e09900″ font_icon_last_edited=”off|desktop” _builder_version=”4.0.5″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_bg_color=”#698943″ font_icon__hover_enabled=”off|desktop”]

Planned and lead UX portions of discovery workshops, interviews and focus groups with client stakeholders and end users.

[/et_pb_vertical_timeline_item][et_pb_vertical_timeline_item title=”Landscape Analysis” use_read_more=”on” read_more_text=”View Landscape Report” read_more_url=”#landscapeanalysis” font_icon=”%%1610%%” icon_color=”#698943″ circle_color=”#ffffff” line_color=”#e09900″ animation=”fade_in” _builder_version=”4.0.5″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” background_enable_color=”on” custom_button=”on” button_bg_color=”#698943″ button_border_width=”0px”]

Conducted heuristic review of Greater Miami CVB site and web sites of several other CVBs. This helped to create an understanding of the digital ecosystem within which the GMCVB site existed and to tease out emerging best practices. Emphasis was placed on how tourist destination sites address different types of visitors and on a sub-set of features such as crisis communications.

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Drafted personas to illustrate how key audience segments would engage with the new Greater Miami CVB web site. User journeys rounded-out this deliverable set and cross-referenced user goals established in persona development.

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Presented findings from discovery phase to web team, GMCVB stakeholders and leadership, and eventually to representatives of Greater Miami governing bodies. Because the CVB is a semi-public organization, consensus building and process transparency were important considerations.

[/et_pb_vertical_timeline_item][et_pb_vertical_timeline_item title=”Site Map” use_read_more=”on” read_more_text=”View Site Map” read_more_url=”#sitemap” font_icon=”%%1267%%” icon_color=”#698943″ circle_color=”#ffffff” line_color=”#e09900″ animation=”fade_in” _builder_version=”4.0.5″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” background_enable_color=”on” custom_button=”on” button_bg_color=”#698943″ button_border_width=”0px”]

Created high-level site map presented as a Discovery Findings deliverable then iterated into a fully detailed, complete site map.

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Developed user-centric wireframes founded on discovery research and recommendations.

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Briefed-in agency designer and participated in internal design review meetings to ensure feature continuity from UX through design.

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Developed usability test plan – grounded in persona research and content goals. Created clickable prototype from design files. Performed usability testing. Wrote report summarizing findings and recommendations, presented to client.

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