Theatre Royal Plymouth
Viadukt's first integration with Preevue
We’re pleased to say that Theatre Royal Plymouth (TRP) have successfully launched Viadukt, using recent audience feedback to shape a more effective booking experience. The result is a seamless checkout flow that enhances the user experience, improves seat selection and significantly reduces the administrative load for staff.
TRP is also the first organisation to integrate Viadukt with Preevue. This sophisticated platform provides high-resolution views from every seat in the auditorium, helping audiences make more informed booking decisions.
The challenge
Problematic seat plans
Customers struggled to confidently select seats using the existing seat map, assuming certain areas of the auditorium provided a poor view of the stage. TRP’s current purchase pathway offered few development opportunities to resolve this issue.
Access bookings
There was a lack of clarity around access bookings and the option to filter access performances, causing confusion and customer frustration with the booking process.
Audience frustration and poor user experience
Audience feedback often highlighted frustrations with the user journey, including understanding pricing types, performance filtering and memberships.
Limited flexibility
TRP found that their inability to customise elements of their booking journey, like updating important show information, was causing issues both internally and externally.
The solution
Enhanced seat maps
To address the challenges customers faced when selecting seats, TRP introduced a significantly improved seat mapping experience. Supported by background SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) work carried out by our design team, the new auditorium layout presents a detailed curved seat map of the auditorium that clearly marks the location of doors, steps, walls, and handrails. This is strengthened by Viadukt’s sophisticated seat selection tool, which makes it quick and easy for users to select their preferred seats. Intuitive features such as filtering by seat type and price, detailed seat-level descriptions, and clear contextual information to support informed seat selection improve the overall clarity of the booking process.
Custom text in admin panel
The flexible nature of Viadukt’s admin panel allows TRP to add custom copy throughout the purchase pathway. Small improvements, such as detailed price descriptions and enhanced signposting between performances, have significantly improved the customer journey. TRP are now able to enter custom text at the production or performance level on Viadukt, including elements such as trigger warnings, flagging additional events to the customer, and notifying of any workshop opportunities that are relevant to a specific performance. This results in an improved booking journey and website performance.
Accessibility improvements
Having already implemented the Nimbus Disability Access Card, which allows customers to link their access needs directly into ticketing and booking systems, TRP has been able to build on this by integrating it with Viadukt. Alongside new registration and checkout processes, this has enabled TRP to address the access issues identified in the survey. Enhancements such as clear price type descriptions and advanced access filtering have significantly improved the booking experience for users with access needs, complemented by fully accessible features including screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation support.
Seat value shown
For the first time, we have integrated Viadukt with Preevue, a Laser Scanning and Digital Twin Specialist that offers a modern way of efficiently and accurately capturing a performance space or production design. The ability to enhance the visibility of all seating areas, in particular the Upper Circle, through Preevue has demonstrated the quality of those seats to new audiences.
Smooth implementation
Not only has the integration of Viadukt significantly improved the user experience, it has also received really positive feedback internally. Successful project management from Will and Andy also led to minimal disruption and downtime during what was a busy period for TRP, which has made the process of setting up a new digital system much easier.
Viadukt has fundamentally transformed the booking experience on our website. Our audiences have more confidence in their seat choices, our team has more flexibility, and the implementation was handled with true care and professionalism by Andy, Will, and the whole team at Substrakt. We can’t thank you enough and are excited to be a part of Viadukt’s ongoing development to help shape its future.
Ed Borlase, Head of Insight & Revenue Management
Impact
With a positive reception both internally and externally, the integration of Viadukt has not only addressed key user frustrations identified in the survey, but also significantly enhanced the overall customer experience. With the implementation of Preevue, TRP have elevated their booking experience whilst also reducing internal administrative load. By delivering a smooth implementation during a critical period and earning positive feedback from senior leadership, Theatre Royal Plymouth has successfully improved its booking journey and user experience.
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