Envisionit

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Marketing Manager of Visit KC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Visit KC is an economic development organization dedicated to being the heart of the tourism industry in Kansas City.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Envisionit to accomplish?

• Our primary objective is to spark interest in visiting Kansas City and facilitate trip planning for potential visitors. The revamped VisitKC.com must serve as a vibrant reflection of our destination, emphasizing Kansas City's unique identity.
• Refresh Website Look & Feel
• Enhance Traveler Planning Experience
• Increase Site Traffic & Engagement
• Optimize Site Accessibility
• Improve Conversions

SOLUTION

How did you find Envisionit?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Envisionit over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Envisionit were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The successful contractor will play a pivotal role in reshaping the website's identity and functionality. We encourage proposals that not only address the current needs of our organization but also provide innovative solutions to ensure the website remains adaptable into the future. This collaboration is an exciting opportunity to showcase Kansas City as an exceptional destination through forward-thinking web design and technology. Design Requirements:The winning proposal should seamlessly integrate our brand standards into the new website, capturing the essence of Kansas City as a dynamic and culturally rich destination. It should exude the city's vibrant energy and showcase its diverse offerings in a manner that resonates with all audiences. Visual-Forward Approach The new website will incorporate great photography of Kansas City and will be highly visual. Image-focused designs should highlight the destination and complement the content. Campaign Branding Visit KC’s “From the Heart” campaign elements should be well represented in the design. Responsive Design A successful bid will utilize a responsive design and present on how the content will be displayed across multiple devices. Site Accessibility A successful bid will include best practices in terms of website accessibility by integrating it seamlessly into the design process. This includes but is not limited to simplified navigation, reader-friendly font sizes and thoughtfully chosen color combinations. Partner Website The selected vendor will provide a plan for the design of our affiliate website; KCRestaurantWeek.com. This website has separate branding and functionality that is separate from VisitKC.com. Functional RequirementsThe new site must seamlessly transition all existing functionality while incorporating the additional functional requirements outlined below: Itinerary Builder and Saved Searches The selected agency will offer a solution that allows users of the site to save information into an itinerary builder. Ideally, this itinerary builder would allow users to save their travel/meeting plans and access them across multiple devices. Lead-generation should be integrated within this tool that allows us to capture first-party data and track/measure visitation. Additionally, dynamic content should be integrated to offer personalized recommendations based on the user’s itinerary. Website Translation With international travel on the rise and Kansas City hosting the 2026 World Cup, language translation services should be implemented that allow users to access the content of our website across other languages. Neighborhood Mapping Visit KC would like to hear ideas on how to best utilize interactive maps that highlight Kansas City’s distinct neighborhoods and regions. These maps should be used as a tool to help planners understand the geography of our downtown neighborhoods and the surrounding regions that make up the Kansas City-metro. Customized Microsites The new website will need to provide high-impact microsites for various purposes, such as representing Visit KC’s media partners, promoting high-profile events/conventions, and highlighting special programs/initiatives requiring a distinct web presence. These microsites will be hosted under the VisitKC.com domain but should offer extensive customization options to align with the branding requirements of the mentioned use cases 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Increase site traffic & engagement
  • Comparing site traffic for the redesigned website to the same period from last year, here are some great metrics that outline our achievements: 
    • Despite receiving 3% fewer site visits compared to 2024, we managed to increase our pageviews by 1.73%. This was made possible with a much more engaged website that resulted in nearly 3 pageviews/active user, which is a 14% increase compared to the previous year.
    • Received a 47% increase in partner referrals over a 28-day time period. This can directly be attributed to the dynamic placements of partner listings that were integrated throughout the website experience.
• Refresh website look & feel
  • Every global design element was 'refreshed' or completely overhauled and more importantly, the finished result is reflective of Visit KC as a brand, organization and destination. 
• Enhance traveler planning experience
  • Tagging articles and blogs, which allow for content to feed into relevant category pages and promote "Related Content" for further exploration when browsing stories that share a common topic/category
  • Synchronizing neighborhoods with partner & event listings so visitors get a better understanding of what neighborhoods these businesses and events fall into and giving them a better geographical understanding of the various districts/regions that make up KC
  • Other UX/UI ennhancements include custom itinerary builder, interactive map that illustrates Kansas City neighborhoods and more capable/dymanic microsites
     

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Envisionit's project management skills were thorough, timely and calculated. From the onset of our partnership, they provided a high-level overview of the website redesign stages that gave us a comprehensive glimpse into the overall timeline of the project and shared the outcomes/purpose associated with each stage in the process. 

From a tactical standpoint, they provided us with a detailed project plan so we could track our progress and assign responsibilities to respective members of our team. This gave us a step-by-step understanding of how the deliverables worked together in tandem without being overtly complicated or cumbersome. Using their project management tool, we were able to easily communicate with Envisionit on simple questions related to each task and provide the feedback/direction that was needed from us to move onto the next step in the process. 

Having a micro vs macro plan was instrumental in relaying key updates to our organization's leadership from a high-level while still providing our Marketing team a detailed 'gameplan' on the deadlines, responsibilities and outcomes that we were required to execute on. 

What was your primary form of communication with Envisionit?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Envisionit was very methodical with their approach. To get a deep understanding of our destination/organization, they conducted stakeholder interviews with key partners outside of our organization to gather input that shaped the site's development. In addition to connecting with external partners, they immersed themselves into our organization / destination with a 3-day visit to Kansas City. During this visit, they connected with all of our departments to gain a better understanding of their operations and align on business goals, KPIs and priorities. Additionally, they wanted to get a first-hand tour of our destination so they capture the essense of Kansas City and ensure the revamped VisitKC.com would serve as a vibrant reflection of KC and emphasize our unique identity.

This was not their team checking off a box but rather a calculated step in setting the foundation for a successful partnership. This level of immersion allowed them to deeply understand the painpoints, strengths and opportunities first-hand, which played a pivotal role in reshaping our website's identity and functionality.

This level of effort set the stage for a successful partnership and a ironclad creative direction that would have been nearly impossible to communicate otherwise. The Envisionit team knew exactly what to do with their research and disseminated it to their team to ensure we were in lock-step with them at every step of the process. Everything from the technical requirements to the user experience exceeded our expectations and resulted in a website that confidently reflects Visit KC as a brand, organization and destination. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Envisionit could have done differently?

This is admittedly a minor note, as there were no significant areas for improvement in our experience. That said, it might have been helpful to establish clear, quantifiable KPIs prior to launch to track the success of the redesign. While this ultimately proved to be a moot point—since our post-launch metrics have all shown strong growth compared to baseline averages—having predefined goals could have provided an additional layer of alignment and measurement.