Cambride Corn Exchange

What is Cambridge Corn Exchange?
How does Cambridge Corn Exchange use ICT?
What difference has ICT made?
What was learnt?
Find out more

What is Cambridge Corn Exchange?

Cambridge Corn Exchange (CCE) is a local authority run entertainment venue in East Anglia which provides entertainment and events for the residents of Cambridge and beyond.

CCE were looking to implemement a number of ICT ideas which would to help improve their marketing and communication, in an attempt to boost business.  The main aspect of the project was to improve their website, www.cornex.co.uk.

CCE felt that creating a better communication channel with their customers, via the website, would allow customers to have better access to information on events and allow them to book tickets immediately.

How does Cambridge Corn Exchange use ICT?

The key areas that CCE decided would help achieve those aims were:

1. The introduction of an e-mailing list
2. The introduction of downloadable brochures for customers to read
3. The inclusion of video and sound clips to help people appreciate the nature of the show
4. The introduction of real time online booking
5. The creation of an online community

The biggest part of the project was the introduction of realtime online booking and CCE entered into talks with the company who provided the software in their physical box office and invested in an online ticketing system.

The e-mailing list was originally set up in a primitive form using Cambridge Council's email system and using groups to put recipient's names in alphabetical order, but as the list grew it became unmanageable and CCE invested in an automated system that allowed customers to subscribe and unsubscribe from the list themselves.   CCE are now able to contact customers whenever new shows go on sale to give them first chance of booking. The list currently has over 16,000 people on it and has been a huge success.

The introduction of downloadable brochures turned out to be quite straightforward for CCE, they simply added a link to the homepage of the site which then linked to a pdf file of the brochure, allowing the customer to see exactly what they would see if they were holding a copy of the brochure.

CCE feel that the inclusion of video and sound clips on their website has vastly improved the customer's experience. This was achieved when CEE revamped the website to include a content management system that, as well as empowering more staff to take control of content of the site, also allowed for quick and easy uploading of mpegs and mp3s.

CCE are still working on the creation of an online community on the Cornex site but it has already been implemented on other sites that they manage such as the Cambridge Folk Festival website. They have created the community by making use of blogs and picture and video sharing via 3rd party sites such as YouTube and Flickr.

What difference has ICT made?

The difference the new site has made to both staff and customers alike has been vast. Before embarking on the project there was only one member of staff who had a very basic understanding of websites and html who could do any updates to the site. Since introducing a new content management system more staff have been empowered to take control of the site's content.

One of the key differences is also the impact of having introduced online ticketing. Since doing so approx 20% of bookings at the venue have shifted from the physical box office to online sales. This is expected to grow further as CCE continue to develop their software

The interaction with customers is also now greater. As well as having a 'one way push' of information out to the customers there is more two way communication via email links that allow them to comment on things and also the creation of an online user forum which has allowed CCE to get regular feedback from a panel of customers.

What was learnt?

Some of the key lessons learnt in this project were:

• To plan ahead in respect of things like creating emailing lists – CCE felt they underestimated the potential for growth in such a scheme.
• Moving existing trade online has an eventual knock-on effect to other areas of the organisation.  For example if the 20% of current online sales were to double then this would have an impact on box office staffing.
• Ownership of online activity/websites should not fall to one person or department. It is something that should be valued from the top of the organisation down. It is estimated that as many, if not more, people will visit the CCE website than might physically come through the doors of the venue. If the doors of the venue were hanging off then something would undoubtedly be done about it as soon as possible – the same attitude needs to be taken towards the virtual building (i.e. the website).
• An additional lesson learnt is that changing the culture of an organisation in this respect can be quite challenging.

Find out more

Contact name: Neil Jones

Email: neil.jones@cambridge.gov.uk