[caption id="attachment_44299" align="alignright" width="350" caption="The redesigned website for the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts."][/caption]
Visitors can expect a more user-friendly and informative experience when purchasing tickets or donating online to the nonprofit Wells Fargo Center for the Arts after the organization lifts the curtain on its new website starting today.
The redesign was a priority project for Lex Poppens, who joined the center as director of marketing six months ago. In addition to live performances, the center hosts thousands of children annually for arts education programs.
“You can’t sell tickets or ask for a donation if it takes 22 clicks to get there,” said Mr. Poppens. “When people go to a website (for an arts center), the primary thing they’re looking for is ticketing and event info. Our former site took too long to get to that.”
Online ticket sales were already growing in popularity since the 30-year-old center’s original website launched three years ago, Mr. Poppens said. Last season, online sales were 24.56 percent of total sales. By the same time in 2011, the percentage had swelled to 44.8 percent.
Mr. Poppens, who had spent more than 10 years promoting arts centers and setting up online ticketing, reached out to several firms about revamping the site. The center chose Santa Rosa-based Inbound Design for the project, the company that helped manage the existing site.
Visual tweaks include what Mr. Poppens called a “living section,” which will advertise upcoming shows and other information. With the new system, the center should now be able to feature updates, information and video almost instantly.
“We want very much for people to use our site to find out ‘what can I do tonight?’” Mr. Poppens said.
