Getting overseas groups to book a sport they’ve never seen

Overview

Experience Gaelic Games gives visitors a hands-on introduction to hurling, Gaelic football and handball at community clubs in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast. The project was a new website of around 22 pages, delivered as part of a Fáilte Ireland supported programme.

Problems

Almost everyone arriving on the site has never seen these sports, and 96% of visitors come from overseas. So the site has to explain something unfamiliar, feel properly Irish and still get people to book quickly, on a phone. On top of that, around 80% of the business comes from groups (schools, corporate teams, stag parties, families, tour operators), and each of them needs different information.

What I Did, And Why

I organised the site around who is booking, not around what is being booked. A teacher planning a school trip and a stag party share nothing except the sport, so each gets a page written for them. Groups that can book instantly see a booking calendar. Groups that need a conversation get an enquiry form. Why: the right next step is different for each group, and the wrong one is where bookings quietly die.

I designed a tabbed section for the three sports so visitors can compare them without leaving the page, an interactive map of the four locations plus the mobile unit, and a Book Now button that stays in view. Why: most people decide where and what before they decide when, so the map and the sports come before the calendar.

The site was designed to WCAG 2.2 AA from the start, including a review of the existing logo, and planned for French and German visitors.