Simplifying Event Discovery and Ticketing for Cinephiles
The Asian American International Film Festival is the nation's first and longest-running festival of its kind. I redesigned the user experience based on usability testing—streamlining event browsing and introducing a ticket widget that guided users toward passes, resulting in increased engagement and sales.
Problem
Users find it confusing to purchase tickets online, leading to wrong tickets being bought, high numbers of customer emails, and revenue loss for the organization.
Based on email data, our assumptions are that this is due to unclear information and cluttered interface of the current website. The ticketing page contains language that is not clear to everyone, leading to poor readability. The FAQs page is too overwhelming, making it hard to navigate. In addition, Elevent, the third-party ticketing system, provides limited customization, preventing a smooth user flow.
Goal
The main objective is to make the ticketing page more user-friendly by providing clear information about the different types of tickets and what each of the passes include. Additionally, creating a simple ticket purchasing flow with instructions would allow the user to seamlessly complete their task.
The success of this project will be measured by the following KPIs:
Increased ticket sales revenue
Reduced number of customer support emails
Impact
48%
Increase in revenue from all types of tickets and passes offered.
50%
Increase in pass sales — upselling passes over individual tickets.
Increase in user engagement based on visitors’ session length.
What does our average user want?
Validating our Assumptions Against Real User Behavior
Based on the information provided by the stakeholders and after evaluating the ticket purchasing flow, we decided to conduct a round of usability testing of the current website that would give us a better understanding of the specific user pain points.
The objective of this research phase was to validate our initial assumptions as explained under the project goal.
These are the subjects we focused on during testing:
User understanding of the ticketing flow and their behavior when deciding which ticket to buy
Ticket types and pricing confusion
Usability and navigation of the current interface – if it effectively communicates information about ticket options and event details
Content readability
Mobile responsiveness
When Usability Testing Findings Redefine the Roadmap
The results confirmed our initial assumptions, but most importantly, brought to light pain points we hadn't anticipated, increasing the scope of our project and urging us to reconsider our original plan. These issues involved the main festival program page and the individual event pages, which were still part of the ticket purchasing user flow. Below are detailed notes on the findings.
11 users who were not familiar with the ticket purchase flow were tasked to explore the website, purchase a ticket, and explain decision-making factors influencing their choices.
5 users were tested on mobile
6 users were tested on desktop
82%
had difficulties purchasing tickets
The checkout process via Elevent was clunky and at times frustrating.
82%
did not feel drawn to the main event
The event description wasn't engaging or convincing enough for users to want to attend it.
46%
wanted more information about the event details
The description didn't clarify what made the event different from a regular screening.
91%
were unaware of what a tentpole event was
The industry keyword was used under the passes' descriptions but didn't explain what it meant.
What Did Our Users Say?
Benchmarking Success from Leading Film Festivals
While working on the usability testing, we conducted a competitive analysis of other film events in the market to further inform our process. After some initial research, we chose to focus on the most popular ones. It was helpful to learn how they each package and describe their tickets and passes and how they display event data.
Redefining the Problem Based on User Struggles
Our research revealed two key challenges:
Users struggle to identify which ticket type suits their needs and encounter obstacles in completing the purchase flow
Users have difficulty discovering and understanding the value of different festival events
To address these challenges, we needed to simplify the user journey and ensure clear, relevant information is provided at each decision point.
How might we create an intuitive event discovery and ticket purchasing experience that guides festival-goers with easily accessible information?
Turning findings into design solutions
Single Event Ticket or Full Access Pass?
Guided by our research insights, we mapped out a simple user flow that would drive user conversion. The solution featured two key components: an intuitive filtering system that simplified event discovery and a ticketing widget that clearly presented all purchase options, strategically highlighting the value of full festival access to encourage pass purchases over single tickets.
How Did We Address User Pain Points Through Design?
Iterative Improvements and Responsive Implementation
Through multiple review sessions and stakeholder feedback, I refined the designs to accommodate various event edge cases and finalized the responsive layouts. Throughout this process, I maintained consistent alignment with the organization's established design system to ensure visual cohesion across the platform.
Final Prototype
Looking back and moving forward
Challenges
Complex User Research: Multiple ticketing options and insufficient documentation made it difficult to comprehensively understand user pain points at the beginning stage.
Third-Party Integration Constraints: The Elevent ticketing platform offered limited customization capabilities, which restricted our design solution.
Prioritizing Pain Points: When research revealed additional user problems, we faced difficult decisions about which ones to prioritize within project constraints.
What I Learned
Prioritize features that address the most pressing user pain points. By analyzing data from user testing, we focused on changes that would immediately improve event discovery and ticket purchase journey, leading to more intuitive navigation and clearer event information.
Advocate for user-centered solutions while addressing key business objectives — such as increasing ticket sales. This balance improved the user experience and helped us make a stronger case for future design investments.
If I Had More Time
Conduct a round of usability testing on the updated design with a more representative sample of target users to validate that our solution effectively addresses the established pain points.
Analyze customer service communications from this year's festival to identify recurring patterns and emerging user pain points that could inform future iterations.
Implement a customer satisfaction survey to evaluate user experiences and identify opportunities for improving the website.