Case Study
RELAUNCH
CONTENTPORTAL QUADRATAUGE
Leading the relaunch, I had the great opportunity to help shape a content portal to my vision and work with a fantastic team of clients and colleagues.
The project included UX design, content strategy and SEO. In the end, we proudly looked at a product that offered real added value to the user – and exceeded all defined goals.
Responsibilities: Product management, UX design, content strategy
Deadline: 3 months from start to launch
Summary
QUADRATAUGE is Unitymedia’s entertainment portal, which should undergo a relaunch in Q3 2019. The platform for movie and series fans offers inspiration and information about streaming. The company’s objectives are to strengthen brand loyalty and a positive brand image, and to reduce acquisition costs for new customers. The main distribution channels are Google (SEO), Facebook, newsletters and YouTube.
Discover
Thanks to qualitative and quantitative research, we knew exactly where we were. And in which direction we had to head.
Deep Dive
We really wanted to know and invested a lot of time in research to be able to develop a sustainable strategy. We had already spent months collecting quantitative data so that we could make valid statements. We were particularly excited about the new findings from the qualitative user interviews and diaries – and we were not disappointed.
Applied methods
Qualitatives research
• User interviews (live)
• User diaries
• SWOT analysis
• Competitor analysis
• Company insides
• Company objectives
Quantitatives research
• Content audit
• Surveys
• NPS score
• SEO / keyword analysis
Define
In a 2-day workshop we defined target groups, content direction and vision of the new entertainment portal.
The Who and the Why
In order to be able to develop user-centric offers, possible intentions and needs were elicited by means of persona prototyping.
The How and the what
User needs and possible service offerings were derived from the user intentions. A brainstorming session generated initial ideas for suitable features and a vote was taken on which existing formats and service offerings should be discontinued.
Vision & KPI
The vision is our response to user needs. We then developed SMART goals with quantitative and qualitative KPIs tailored to each sales channel. The goals were tough – and we were highly motivated.
QUADRATAUGE – The digital entertainment guide from Unitymedia.
“QUADRATAUGE is my first digital go-to for movies & series when I don’t know what to watch next. Here I find inspiration, curation, background knowledge and entertainment just to my taste.”
Develop
UX, SEO and content team worked hand in hand to develop a portal that generates high reach and real added value.
Contentstrategy Map
The user intentions were the starting point of our content strategy. The respective user needs and the specific content offerings were derived from them.
The map gave the departments direction. From this, we developed wireframes for the individual page and post types and editorial plans that took into account the specifics of the different distribution channels.
Image description: Content Strategy Map
The content strategy map shows five user intentions why users might use the portal:
- 1. My favorite series has come to an end, I’m looking for suitable alternatives.
- 2. I’m looking for movies for a movie night to match my mood.
- 3. I’m looking for tips for my streaming subscription.
- 4. I’m looking for background knowledge about a film or series.
- 5. I want to spend time on the subject of movies and series.
Needs and solutions (specific content formats and technical functions such as filter options) are derived from these five intentions. Content solutions are series curation, movie curation, streaming tips by provider, background knowledge on movies and series, interactive infotainment. Editorial curation is offered as well as an algorithm-based database to receive personalized movie recommendations.
Main navigation
The navigation should be as clear and tidy as the overall site structure, so that the user can intuitively find his way around.
Image description: Navigation structure
The site is divided into four main sections: Movies and Series (editorially curated best lists), What’s New (streaming tips by provider), Where’s Streaming (algorithm-based movie database), Knowledge and Fun (background knowledge, interactive self-tests and sweepstakes).
Simply the best
We determined the page architecture and appropriate content formats for each distribution strategy. It was important to us to make them better than the competing offerings at every level: Content, structure, graphics, and technology.
SEO & UX: It’s a Match
Our goal: SEO and UX should make the perfect match. We wanted to create a portal that generates reach and offers the user real added value – and thus exceeds all predefined KPIs.
Deliver
The new portal offers real added value down to the smallest detail. Both users and Googlebot appreciate this in equal measure.
May I introduce: QUADRATAUGE
The entertainment portal is designed to offer one thing above all: the right thing for every taste. A clear and intuitively understandable structure navigates the user to the content offering that suits him: whether editorial recommendations, video contributions, database content or interactive quizzes.
The user can easily navigate through the individual sections and content offers by using color codes and labeling the teasers according to content/format. The home page provides an insight into the entertainment portal’s offerings – but it is only secondarily relevant as an entry page.
DISTRIBUTION SITES & ARTICLES
It is essential for the success of the portal that the content offers the user real added value. We focused on high-quality content with high relevance and a clear structure with useful service features such as filter options.
Since the article pages are predominantly primary entry pages (SEO, NL, FB), it was important to us to draw the user’s attention to the additional content offered to increase page views. This is achieved by clever integration of teasers of the individual sections and matching content using an intelligent algorithm and tag system – tailored to the individual taste of the user.
In order to keep our contributions as clear as possible, we decided to use fold-out accordions. In addition, there is always automatically updated information about which streaming provider currently has the film or series in question on offer, as well as a link to the database.
DATABASE “Wo Streamt’s?”
Our movie and series database draws on data from the ImdB (Internet Movie Database) and enables numerous filter options, information and ratings. Interfaces to streaming providers also show where you can currently stream the title.
As a further service, similar titles are offered on the basis of algorithms. Editorial articles on the title, such as recommendations or background knowledge, are also linked to the respective database page. This gives the user a wide range of additional content options for selecting movies.
Newsletter
Our bi-weekly newsletter provides information about the latest titles from the Unitymedia video library, but offers so much more: interactive quizzes and self-tests, fun facts, background knowledge and thematic movie tips.
Evaluate
The relaunch was a measurable success that is constantly optimized by means of monthly evaluation of qualitative and quantitative metrics.
Relaunch as quantitative Traffic Booster
The relaunch was a complete success. With the same budget for content production and advertising materials, the portal was able to make a big leap forward, especially in the areas of organic traffic (SEO) and returning visitors.
3.6 Mio Unique Users in one year
Top articles recorded around 242,000 clicks within a year – purely organic. With around 300 articles, we were able to attract 3.6 million unique visitors and generate 6.9 million page impressions within a year.
Image description for graph Total traffic 2018 and 2019
If the traffic in January 2019 was about 200,000 unique users, the site already recorded almost 540,000 visitors per month in December.
Unique users 2018 vs. 2019
Image description: Traffic distribution by categories
The traffic distribution of the categories on Quadratauge is as follows:
• 34.9%: Movies and Series
• 27.8%: What’s New
• 34.9%: Knowledge and Fun
• 2,4%: Where’s Streaming?
Significant increase in qualitative KPIs
But not only quantitative visitor numbers grew rapidly, also the qualitative values were inspiring: The average duration time could be increased by 6% to 1.31 minutes, the bounce rate could be reduced by 25% and was now at a very low value of 28.6%. Figures that we as a team are proud of.