Powerleague is the UK’s largest booking platforms for sports pitches. Their focus has primarily been football pitches, however they also provide other facilities, pitches and courts, as well as venue hire, parties and events.
They were ready to take their business to the next level and invest in their digital customer experience by undertaking a digital transformation process.
- Lead time:
- 10 Months
- Sector:
- Sport & Leisure
- Target Type:
- B2B & B2C
- Demographic
- Sport Players, Parents & Corporate
- Website Goal:
- Increase Bookings & Consolidate Business
- Services:
- Digital Transformation, UX & UI Design, Mobile App Development, Web Design, Web Development, WordPress, Digital Marketing
“1st big leap forward in terms of digital transformation at Powerleague with many more steps to come. Exciting times and of course all about making our customers lives easier and giving them quick and easy bookings with a host of leading edge enhancements to follow. ⚽️⚽️⚽️”
The challenge
Powerleague had grown beyond the capabilities of their existing digital infrastructure. They challenged us to assess their technology requirements and deliver a new digital ecosystem that provided a seamless omni-channel user experience to their customers. It needed to be innovative, secure and scalable.
The client had an aggressive growth strategy, with plans to rapidly expand to new clubs and territories. They recognised the need for digital scalability in their UX & UI, integrations and technology.
We were hired to deliver the digital transformation of Powerleague’s technical infrastructure including their international customer-facing website, booking flow, mobile app, and the complex integrations that passed data between systems.
- Scope
- Digital Transformation
- Adobe XD Wireframe Prototypes
- Adobe XD Design Prototypes
- UX Design
- WordPress Development
- React Native Development
- API Consultation & Mapping
- Complex API Integrations
- Website & Booking Flow
- Mobile App
- Multi-territory & Multilingual
- SEO Strategy
- Resource
- 1 x Creative Director
- 2 x UX / UI Designers
- 1 x Technical Lead
- 2 x WordPress Developers
- 2 x Backend Developers
- 3 x React Native Developers
- 1 x Digital Marketing Specialist
- 2 x Quality Assurance Testers
- 1 x Technical Project Manager
Discovery and technical review
With tens of thousands of customers each month and millions of pounds in revenue passing through the website and app, Powerleague needed a robust technical solution that would also fulfil their marketing requirements. We assessed Powerleague’s existing technology and made technical recommendations based on the objectives of their business, as well as the scalability and longevity of prospective solutions.
Our technical team selected WordPress as the website CMS for the customer-facing website. React Native was selected to deliver an Android and IOS mobile app, and Powerleague retained their existing custom eCommerce platform. Each of these systems were delivered as part of a headless architecture that leveraged Powerleague’s backend database to feed the interfaces with consistent live data.
The setup was designed to automate as much as possible by integrating with Powerleague’s backend database. The website and mobile app dynamically pull information from the booking system based on the user’s search, keeping load speeds high while streamlining the user experience. This approach enabled us to offer dynamic search results where users only see results that are available for booking, reducing the cognitive burden and increasing conversion rates.
Interface research and UX
We started the UX design process with a research phase where our UX team explored complex booking flows within and outside of Powerleague’s industry. We focused on flows that had complex search and booking requirements and managed large amounts of data.
Using these insights, we created a comprehensive set of website and mobile app designs. Our team transformed the designs into clickable prototypes for the client to test and review.
The website designs consolidated 2 websites into a single site, making Powerleague the largest pitch booking website in the UK. The new design improved the accessibility of information and the overall user experience, reducing the number of clicks between search and purchase. The new website focused on scalability, automation, and driving performance improvements – increasing the number of bookings and delivering a market leading design.
The search
The new search function uses IP detection to search for pitch booking venues near the user, reducing the steps required to find a pitch. It automatically pulls the 2 most similar venues alongside any selected venue, enabling users to compare within a single booking flow window.
Powerleague has a different booking flow and available booking horizon for each type of booking and location. The website and app incorporate these tailored flows, guiding users through the requirements and availability for their booking. For example, Powerleague only accepts football pitch bookings up to 10 days ahead and this is reflected on the football booking flow and calendar view.
Managing the data
Powerleague’s website needed to manage a colossal amount of data, with millions of potential combinations of venues, pitches and time slots.
Finding the best time slot
Customers can easily compare time slots, availability and pricing.
The booking flow
We display pricing in a calendar view that enables users to see the cost of different time slots and select the best deal for them. The majority of bookings are made for peak time slots so we automatically show these first.
To encourage repeat business, users are able to block book during the checkout, increasing the value of the booking for Powerleague and simplifying the booking process for users.
Split payments
The majority of Powerleague’s bookings are made by an individual on behalf of their team and Powerleague were aware of the offline booking friction that resulted from the organiser chasing teammates for money. Our team introduced a split payments function that enables the payment to be divided between teammates at the checkout – taking the financial pressure off a single individual.
API consultation & integration
To deliver the strongest user journeys, the booking software API needed to be customised. We planned the website functionality and created a brief outlining the endpoints that needed to be delivered by the booking software team.
We collaborated with Powerleague’s software team to develop new endpoints and ensure that information was seamlessly passed in both directions between the app, website and booking system.
The brand
We extended the brand for digital use, creating shape form and animations that can be used across the site.
API & cache
The website is cached to deliver fast results and the cache is updated every 2 hours to ensure data is current.
The menu
The mega-menu was structured to combine the key content from both websites, ensuring that the user journey is smooth and content is accessible.
Map view
Visitors can use the map search to find a venue near them.
Going Headless
We delivered Powerleague’s project using a headless approach. We utilised their backend booking system as the backend engine for the site data and WordPress as the ‘head’. WordPress gives Powerleague a very high level of customisation and content management while the backend booking system enables us to effectively manage data and bookings.
This approach moves Powerleague towards an omni-channel offering, where the mobile app and website have distinct user journeys, functionality and user interfaces but pull data from a consistent data source. This enables users to have a consistent experience across devices while benefiting from different interfaces.
The headless solution enables us to maintain rapid load speeds and a high level of security, despite the large amount of data being handled.
Multi-territory
The new website includes content for 2 territories, the UK and the Netherlands, and the website is available in English and Dutch.
Our developers coded IP detection to direct users to the appropriate content based on their location, and our technical SEO team have optimised the website to ensure that the correct website content ranks in regional search engines.
Powerleague have ambitious expansion plans and the new website sets them up for future growth and launches in new territories.
The mobile app
A ginormous amount of data needed to be available to customers via the mobile app, including venue details, availability, variable pricing and event information. Handling this information on a small mobile screen was a challenge. We needed to ensure that the user experience was simple and intuitive, while also delivering the full range of functionality.
In the research phase, we explored complex mobile booking experiences across a range of industries including travel, hospitality and entertainment. We focused our research around search functionality, search results, filters, and content hierarchy, which enabled our design team to combine innovative mobile design with industry best practice to deliver a tremendous amount of data and functionality in an intuitive way for Powerleague’s customers.
Our team developed the app in React Native and integrated with Powerleague’s booking software to present users with the data they needed as part of their booking experience.
New mobile functionality
Powerleague’s new mobile app hosts additional features that are exclusive to the app.
Football Leagues were introduced alongside a Player Marketplace where football players can apply to join teams, and teams can place ads for players then manage applications and rate their performance.
Marketing
Powerleague were keen to move towards a campaign based marketing strategy and needed a website that would provide the dexterity to create new content in line with campaigns. They needed full content control and the ability to move quickly.
We delivered the website on WordPress which enables their team to manage and create new content independently.
SEO
Our team delivered an SEO strategy that was used to create and optimise the new website, setting Powerleague up for keyword growth in search engines.
