Chester Racecourse Case Study, Digital Agency

England's most historic racecourse required a digital make-over to reflect its modern appeal.

As the oldest operating horseracing venue in England, Chester Racecourse could be forgiven for living in the past. But with exceptional facilities and one of the most exciting calendars of fixtures the sport has to offer, it tasked us with creating a clean, stylish website that embraced its modern proposition.

Chester Racecourse's website was no longer fulfilling the needs of the Chester Race Company nor its users.

With an inflexible, time-consuming CMS and a poor, non-responsive mobile experience, a replatform and redesign was required.

Core objectives included raising awareness of Chester Racecourse's full offering, increasing engagement with its audiences and commercialising that engagement through ticket bookings and other revenue generation.

“We invested time in understanding the racecourse's audience and what they needed from the new site. This included creating personas that represented the full spectrum of Chester Racecourse visitors.”

Kate Dohren, Account manager

We simplified user journeys and made calls to action more prominent to help users reach the right content more quickly.

The carousel features quick links to upcoming fixtures and events, while the 'Book Tickets' link remains visible throughout their a user's visit. In addition, the homepage features direct links to specific fixtures, so users can visit the most relevant page to them within a single click.

"Chester Racecourse required a modernised digital offering featuring strong imagery and a streamlined user experience. As a result, the new site encapsulates the appeal of the racecourse, whilst offering a platform with which to drive its commercial ambitions."
Hayden Evans Creative Director

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Several bespoke features were added to a new Drupal CMS, making the site easier to manage and more aligned to the racecourse's goals.

The biggest new addition was an integration with Advanced Ticketing to facilitate online bookings and provide users the latest information regarding availability levels.

In addition, working with Chester Racecourse's betting partner, we created its first ever raceday mobile app, which gave users live race cards for every fixture, race results and a chance to compare bets with friends.