The mission of Visit Sugar Land Convention & Visitor Services (VSL) mission is to increase the number of visitors and their length of stay in Sugar Land in support of retail, service, and hotel businesses as well as Sugar Land’s existing and planned destination activity centers. A critical business component is the program’s website that acts as a digital portal to communicate Sugar Land’s vast destination offerings to a varied set of audiences.
In 2012, VSL launched its website, www.VisitSugarLandTX.com, to draw visitors into the Sugar Land area and provide both visitors and residents a platform to explore and discover Sugar Land’s many attractions, hotels, shopping destinations and restaurants. Since then, the website’s ability to effectively communicate Sugar Land’s destination offerings has diminished, and it is unable to meet the user demands of a fast, easy to navigate, real-time service on a mobile platform. Additionally, the current Web Content Management System (Web CMS; the interface used by staff to routinely update the website’s content) is difficult to use, incompatible with Google Analytics and often lags when updates are being made.
As evidence, the average bounce rate (the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page) is 72%, which is higher than the industry average of 60% and showcases the fact that users are unable to either find the information they are looking for right away or aren’t responding to the current layout and navigation offerings. Most importantly, the website is seen on mobile devices by 57% of its visitors. Unfortunately, the current website is not optimized for mobile use, further losing the interest of our visitors when browsing VisitSugarLandTX.com from their cell phones and tablets.
One of the primary call-to-action items resulting from the Citywide Marketing Study was the recommendation to redesign the VSL website with an enhanced user interface, engaging content, visually stunning imagery and website optimized for searching. With all of this in mind, a Request for Proposal was activated and opened for bidding on the website redesign and Web CMS.
A review committee composed of Tourism, Parks & Recreation and Information Technology staff reviewed 15 RFPs and requested demo presentations from CivicPlus, ITI Digital and Simpleview.
Out of all the candidates, Simpleview was the only vendor that was able to provide a seamless browsing experience to visitors while offering a fully-integrated solution, working seamlessly with the pre-existing Client Relationship Management (CRM) system where information on Sugar Land's activity centers, shopping, and dining options are maintained. In addition, Simpleview provides an Itinerary Builder that lets visitors save restaurants, attractions, and events for a personalized trip all integrated with Google Maps. Simplview's site model also caters to meetings, sports and event planners with a built-in RFP form and enhanced search options for facilities in Sugar Land.
Simpleview currently services over 300 Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) and offers a thorough 12-step process with a mobile first approach to design a website that delivers a clear organization and navigation built on a deep understanding of how people research travel and use online content and tools. The site also allows for social media integrations to booking engines, media galleries, and calendars, all presented uniquely to capture the spirit of Sugar Land's brand.
Based on ease of use for the user, responsive site map, enhanced CMS and reporting capabilities and advanced webhosting services, the committee unanimously chose Simpleview to produce VSL’s website.
The total cost of the website redesign and development was negotiated to $67,000 which is within budget. Maintenance and web hosting are included in the first year, but will be $28,000 each year for years two and three.
The three-year contract, which totals $123,000 and is funded by hotel occupancy taxes restricted for tourism purposes, will be paid as follows:
1.FY 17 $67,000 (design/development)
2.FY 18 $28,000 ($26,000 webhosting and $2,000 support hours)
3.FY 19 $28,000 ($26,000 webhosting and $2,000 support hours)
In order to stay competitive in the DMO markets that are actively pursuing the same visitors that Sugar Land is trying to attract, the maintenance and web hosting fees of $28,000 also includes a Trip Builder module, responsive geographic trigger, a special offers and coupons tool, calendar of events, media gallery, booking engine integration, Google maps integration, weather feed integration, “add this” social sharing feature and additional models to make the website searchable and responsive.
Staff anticipates the new www.VisitSugarLandTx.com to be completed in Spring 2018.
Staff recommends City Council approve a contract in amount of $67,000 for the first year of a 3-year contract with Simpleview for the redesign and development of a new website for Visit Sugar Land Convention and Visitor Services, and $28,000 for the second and third year for web hosting and maintenance.