Citynavigator Day 2018: The retrospective

Thursday 1 February. The first month after the good intentions. The real start of 2018 and thus the day to usher in the new year with partners. A day full of knowledge sessions and looking back at 2017 with achieved results, but also a look ahead to 2018 where the needs lie and what we are going to focus on together.

Citynavigator Day 2018 is a fact

Destination representatives are present from all corners of the country. After everyone has arrived, chairperson Anita kicks off and welcomes all partners. Besides the housekeeping announcements, she also explains the escape options for during the break-out sessions.

A nice diverse range of attendees

The Citynavigator Awards

Insiders Jaimy and Pascal kicked off with an interactive session on results achieved. After a brief explanation about phone zombies, everyone is asked to hold their mobiles in their hands so that a quiz can be played. In this quiz, we take all attendees through the statistics of the past year. What is the total number of unique visitors on all partner sites and is mobile usage on city marketing websites really that great? Sanne from RBT Heuvelrug is best informed and scores the most correct answers.

Interesting results are the most searched keywords. In big cities, these are mainly 'Christmas market', 'shopping' and 'events in Amersfoort'. Among large regions, Friesland stands out with the keyword 'cultural capital'. Among small cities, 'einkaufen' is a frequently used keyword. Noordwijk's 2for1 campaign again scores high and André Rieu remains a trending topic at Maastricht. The Heuvelrug is doing so well that this website can no longer be compared with the small regions so goes along with the big boys (actually a kind of promotion from the Jupiler league to the Eredivisie). In the small regions, the campaign around the Oerweekend for the Maashorst caused a spike in statistics.

Some of the results achieved do stand out; a 333% increase in visitor numbers in 2017 for Doesburg! That's worth an award.

The most viewed page of 2017 is Drenthe.nl's events calendar

"We make sure the online calendar is always well filled. Good cooperation with our entrepreneurs, repeat visits and top ranking in search engines, this combination ensures that this page has been number one for years."

Roland from Recreation Authority Drenthe

An award is then presented per category for the best achieved result in visitor numbers.

Most viewed websites of major cities:

1. Maastricht
2. Utrecht
3. Eindhoven

Most viewed small-town websites:

1. Noordwijk
2. Zutphen
3. Winterswijk

Most viewed websites of the major regions:

1. Friesland
2. VisitBrabant
3. Drenthe

Most viewed websites from small regions:

1. The Green Heart
2. Krommerijstreek
3. Maashorst

Great prices for everyone's hard work last year. And to think that 36 destinations are now working with Citynavigator.

Insider Servia wonders whether there is a need to share these benchmark figures more often. The invitees indicate that there is definitely a need for this, so they can see how they perform compared to each other. "There is nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition".

It is also nice for partners to know what effort underlies a well viewed page. The online marketing team provides a nice overview of this for campaigns.

Looking back at 2017

Insiders works with a product team and a customer team. Besides the customer implementations that are picked up by the customer team, the product team ensures that Citynavigator is further developed and stays up-to-date. Insider Pim presents what was developed in 2017 and the things that are 'work in progress'. For example, Utrecht is the first customer of the route module on mobile, you can see the social wall in action at VisitBrabant and the lazyloading option at This is Eindhoven has been implemented. But also the much requested approach to sorting has now been implemented at almost all partners.

Some other developments in 2017

1. Mobile first route module
2. Lazy loading and responsive images
3. Various connectors(Pathe, CineLink, Staatsbosbeheer)
4. Sorting in the destinations calendar
5. Schedulable content
6. Social Wall
7. Media database

If you are interested in one of the new modules, please contact your account manager to discuss the options.

Plaece.base 3.0

Work is also underway on a third iteration of plaece.base, plaece's revamped database environment. Based on partners' wishes, adjustments have been made: the logs have been addressed, it is easier to compose pages, the translation function is more user-friendly and the preview function has been improved. RBT KAN will be the first to work with this updated version, but all partners will get the new version implemented in 2018. A number of optimisations are worth mentioning:

1. 70% faster synchronisation of all data
2. Storage of all files in the cloud
3. 23% faster environment through code optimisation (including 30,000 fewer lines of code)
4. New look & feel

Time for a break

Let all the initial information sink in and catch up with other destinations. Where were the similarities in the figures and where can you learn from each other?

Insider Amber signals with a firm strike on the gong that everyone is requested to go to the workshop rooms for the breakout sessions.

Personalisation & marketing intelligence

During the breakout sessions, Insider Servia guided the 'personalisation & marketing intelligence' session. Here we looked at the usability and value of the data we collect from our visitors. And then what can you do with that data?

The statement "We don't need to go as far as commercial parties in terms of personalisation" evoked some interesting reactions. The whole discussion can be reduced to the following keywords:

1. Customer focus
2. Value
3. Added value
4. Satisfaction
5. Trust
6. Loyalty

User Generated Content: The visitor as ambassador & content creator

Insider Pascal kicks off with the break-out session 'User Generated Content'.

"Personal stories and experiences are more important than practical information"

What are visitors coming for? And what information does he find most important? All legitimate questions that put content creation in a new light. And does the use of social media mean that editors have to do less? The opposite turns out to be true... Rianne of VisitBrabant shares some insights they gained from the Ask a Local campaign and Tamara of Eindhoven365 also provides insight into how they let influencers tell the story of Eindhoven.

"55% of travellers make their choice based on viewing other people's experiences"

And what about showing (external) reviews on your own website. Does that reinforce the experience, or do you send them away to Tripadvisor, for example? Almost everyone indicates that they have no problems with showing the number of Tripadvisor stars on the website.

Lunchtime

During Coco Kookt' s delicious lunch, the partners chat some more. A number of attendees are also subjected to short interviews. Then, before the afternoon programme, we walk to the corridor with the inspiration wall for a sneak preview of Tripweb's final designs and a brief explanation of the TSP (Ticket Service Provider).

Trends

After lunch, Insiders Servia and Ruben talk about the latest trends in online. Mobile first, vertical video, Artificial Intelligence, User Generated Content and VR will be discussed. The main thing to take into account is that visitors have higher expectations. The standard is much higher which means you have to be creative to stand out. Think for instance of Adidas shoe with OV-chip function.

Furthermore, Insiders wants to look at how it can help partners and their entrepreneurs in sharing economy. The business-to-peer bit. Examples include a B&B using the cleaning organisation of a hotel down the road. Or a harbour master making efficient use of the hours he is on duty by renting out private boats.

Based on this, new modules will be devised and presented to the partners. Everyone will soon receive an e-mail about this.

The new privacy legislation

Time for the afternoon breakout sessions. Insider Auke updates partners on the tightened AVR (GDPR) legislation around privacy. Which applies not only online but to the entire organisation. A hot topic with many questions. A presentation with basic information can be requested from Auke free of charge for everyone.

That the subject is very much alive is shown by the many questions asked. The conclusion is that both Insiders and the partners themselves must get to work to ensure that everything is in place for the new legislation.

So how do you make money with your website?

Insider Ruben kicks off with the breakout session How to make money with your website now? The proposition:

"My job is to make a brand of my city/region, not to generate conversion"

This statement offers interesting insights into the motivations of the various partners. In some cases, "making money" is not a direct goal. By using bannering, partner packages or promotions, it is possible to charge money for certain services. This provides a source of income on the one hand, but an administrative burden on the other.

The ability to influence the positioning of entrepreneurs on the website as editors, the smart bundling or highlighting of certain entrepreneurs is recognised as valuable by all partners. That this can be a particular service in some cases is a nice extension. This should not be a deeply integrated system with online payments, but can be sought much more in a lean and mean solution. An extension for being able to sell products (merchandise or packages/city walks) is desirable for some partners.

What will we do in 2018?

After the gong rings for the last time, everyone rushes back to the canteen where a drink is enjoyed before we move on to the conclusion of the day.

To wake everyone up again, Insiders Pascal and Pim ask you to take out your mobile phone again to vote on the features for 2018. Where are the preferences and how does the impact compare to the effort that needs to be put in by both Insiders and partners to get it working?

The needs of the destinations differ in some areas. For example, revision management is important for Noordwijk in connection with the partner login, but for others it takes too much time to go through it all. For all modules and optimisations, you have a choice to go with it (or not). The more destinations are interested in a module, the cheaper it can be offered, the power of collaboration! Of course, there are also some optimisations that will be included in the regular updates anyway.

"The need for combined overviews is great, just a little higher tuning guys"

Bouke from Merk Friesland

Finally, there are other and/or new wishes that the product team would like to hear about, such as the mobile preview from within the CMS. The product team will work with the wishes and come back to you with an overview to make the wishes concrete.

Conclusion of the day

Insider Anita concludes the day with a short wrap-up and evaluation.

Some brief reactions:

_“The breakout session on the stricter privacy legislation was very interesting”_
Ellen from VVV Noordoost-Brabant

“It was quite a long day with a lot of information; perhaps a half-day session, say from half past nine to half past one, would be better”
Sanne from RBT Heuvelrug

_“It’s great to be here at this venue and get a glimpse behind the scenes – this is where it all happens”_
Rianne from VisitBrabant

“The breakout sessions could be a bit longer and a bit more interactive”
Robert van Utrecht, Marketing

"Telephone voting was great fun"
Robert from Utrecht Marketing

In short, a great day with lots of information.

Anita thanked everyone for coming and invited them to have a drink with us afterwards.

Upon departure, a gift is waiting for the partners as a symbol of our cooperation.

See you next year!

Are you looking for more information, or did you attend and do you have any feedback? Let us know via: hallo@insiders.nl.