Web 2.0 Saves Money for the Chicago Park District
In my last post I gave some of the reasons for the buzz of Web 2.0. But what does it mean for you? It could save you a lot of money.
The Chicago Park District has been our client for many years. When we first started working with them they primarily needed help with site architecture and content management, and online registration was one of their requirements. After 5 years of growing over 40% annually, online registration for programs had become a major component of the functionality of the site – stretching our hosting capabilities and justifying the need for (considerable) additional equipment. So how could we increase throughput without increasing the size of the pipe (bandwidth)?
Web 2.0 gave us the answer through the development of an Ajax application for online registration. We also introduced a new layout and user flow, adding a “wish list” function to allow the user to select programs in advance. The wish list offers increased functionality and decreased server load on registration day.
So what were the results?
- 50% increase in throughput over last year. Thousands of classes were successfully purchased through the system – at the initial rate of nearly 500 registrations per minute!
- 10% decrease in bandwidth over last year.
- Decreased cart abandonment by 80%.
Because we were able to increase throughput without additional bandwidth, we saved tens of thousands of dollars in additional hosting costs – while creating a better experience for the user. That is just one example of how Web 2.0 can make a difference.
