New Durban ICC website garners international marketing award

Service excellence is the heartbeat of the Durban ICC and our staff constantly strive to provide exceptional experiences for our guests. It is always encouraging when the success of these efforts is recognised by the industry and the community at large. At the recent international Meetings Industry Marketing Awards held in London, the Durban ICC was honoured with the Bronze Award for Best Website in 2014.
Commenting on the award, Marketing, Sales and Events Director, Mala Dorasamy noted, “Whilst we are proud that the Durban ICC was honoured with the award, more importantly, we are pleased that our website’s improved functionality has made it easier for our clients to interact with us and ensure their events are planned more effectively.”

“Our website (www.icc.co.za) is the starting point of our relationship with many of our clients. In order to reflect the Durban ICC’s position as the leading convention centre on the African continent, it was imperative that the website was updated to respond to the technological innovation and design advances expected by its online community”, added Dorasamy.

As part of the launch of the new website, the Durban ICC also revived its newsletter, “Sanibonani” in its new electronic format. This newsletter is distributed on a quarterly basis and reports on new developments at the Centre, major events it has hosted as well as some of the social development and sustainability projects held recently.

In addition to the enhanced online experience, the new website content and Search Engine Optimisation structure has seen search results jump by 63%, resulting in a dramatic increase the number of online enquiries received each month. Since its launch, the new site has delivered a 26% increase in overall traffic, and an 18% jump in number of page views.

New features include an enhanced Events Calendar, which provides the ability to book tickets online, access directions and parking information easily and link through to each specific event’s own website. For the meeting planner, a quick-enquiry function, event pages, interactive floor-plans, venue capacity charts and case studies were provided for each event type on offer.

For the visitor, Accommodation and Dining pages were added, providing contact details, maps and proximity to the Centre. These pages also allow filtering hotel options by quality and restaurants by the type of cuisine desired. In order to express the essence of our destination in a simple and accessible way, we incorporated the use of time-lapse photography shot by two local photographers to create a video of Durban’s unique appeal.

The new site also functions effectively across all platforms and all device types including smartphones and tablets. The introduction of mobile responsive technology has delivered a massive increase of over 500% in the number of mobile users to the website.

“The primary objective of the project was to create an appealing website which would better communicate the brand, facilities and services on offer at the Durban ICC. By conducting our own research into what our clients wanted, we were able to create a visually attractive and practical website which incorporates these key touch points for our clients”, concluded Dorasamy.