Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame Introduces Game-Changing Website
The Pro Football Hall of Fame, in Canton, Ohio, is guided by its mission to “honor the heroes of the game, preserve its history, promote its values and celebrate excellence together.” In doing so, the leadership of the Hall of Fame has consistently embraced the many ways that an engaging website and active social channels can connect with football fans and grow their mission’s reach.
Challenges
The Pro Football Hall of Fame and Americaneagle.com have partnered in successful digital connections with football fans since 2004. Over the years, consistent attention has been given to maximizing available technology and website solutions. In 2021, a new digital experience platform (DXP) was sought to house a redeveloped website. This new tooling aspired to renew the emphasis on content development and online revenue generation via the web store. In aligning the capabilities of modern DXPs with the specific goals of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Kentico Xperience was selected.
The project strategy for the new DXP website was led by two main objectives, improving online store revenue and advancing the quality and presentation of all styles of content within the domain. The new designs created for the site needed to reflect these priorities. Visually communicating the grand experience of visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame was also essential.
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Solutions
The team was confident Kentico Xperience would provide the Hall of Fame more flexibility with content entry and presentation while also providing them with a feature-rich commerce experience. On the content side, news and event promotion would drive many of the enhancements. For the new online store, the customer experience was enhanced via a more visually engaging storefront, inventory management, shopping cart logic, and a streamlined checkout experience.
An extensive content experience strategy was delivered with the new site. It provided impactful content governance and content marketing processes. The team also performed a user behavior analysis that informed the new site’s design and navigation priorities. Designers and developers skillfully balanced this data with client feedback to digitally represent “the most inspiring place on earth” that the Pro Football Hall of Fame aspires to be.
Migrating a large library of content from the old environment to the new hosting services from Americaneagle.com, a renewed focus on photo assets and accompanying graphics helped the written communication convey the nostalgia and memories that football fans feel when visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The photography assets were tagged for improved accessibility and search engine optimization.
To fully improve the user experience beyond content updates and alterations, performance was paramount to the success of the new site. Load tests prior to Super Bowl weekend, when a new class of Hall of Fame inductees would be announced, assured the new site was ready for kick-off. The site was launched weeks ahead of the Super Bowl and performed as expected. Maximizing Kentico cache capabilities, the site’s pages now load at blazing speed.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s new website offers an engaging fan experience, which is leading to more online store transactions and planned trips to the Canton, Ohio location. Featured events throughout the year are providing an array of options for those fans to enjoy all that the Pro Football Hall of Fame has to offer.
