West Ham Website Wins Zeplin Award

Thriving online despite struggling on the pitch

Last season The Hammers were riding high near the top of the Premier League and ended the season in 7th place, securing a coveted UEFA Europa League spot. This season, however, the performance on the pitch is stalling, with the team currently battling to avoid relegation. This is therefore a season where the fans can easily become disengaged and so the digital efforts have had to be gargantuan. So, the results of the new website are impressive even out of context but, given the on-pitch situation, they are incredible:

– 236% increase in dwell time on match centre since launch.
– 5% increase in pages per session.
– Peak viewership 325% higher than peak on old website.
– Average viewership 185% higher than previous site/season.

Bringing together all things Hammers

Having recently launched a new app West Ham needed to bring everything together and ensure that all things Hammers were available to all fans and that the experience was second to none. The club needed their website redesign to be unrivalled to better engage all supporters globally and give them access to everything they need to know about their beloved team. Delivered in a style befitting a club now competing not just in the Premier League but also now in Europe, the club needed experience and expertise.

A richer experience

Utilising Zeplin to ensure perfect delivery of world-class designs, we have elevated the fan experience for West Ham supporters on the new website with a richer and more accessible experience, especially on mobile where dwell time is 344% higher than on the previous mobile site.

The match centre is one of the most visited areas of the website and now having the commentary, stats, and imagery all in one place provides a deeply engaging experience for fans. It acts as a true second screen experience to the action that is happening on the pitch (likely viewed on TV) and allows the fans to augment this with data, engagement opportunities, and retail upsell, alongside commentary written with passion.

Other subtle and impactful changes, such as the dynamic side bar mirroring the design of the kit that the team is playing in, elevate the experience further.

Accessible for a global audience

A key consideration in the new design was accessibility and the website conforms to the WCAG AA standard as well as having been robustly tested by the club’s Disabled Supporters’ Board.

Zeplin: one source of truth for design and development

Zeplin is the tool that helps us accurately translate designs into developed projects. We have some incredible design talent and development expertise here and if they work together seamlessly then the results are epic, and Zeplin helps us to ensure that the beautiful designs, that are conceived to make easier the life of the user and client, are realised perfectly in the end product. We previously talked a little about this on the Zeplin blog.

Thanks to an unbeatable combination of talent, experience, and utilising the best tools technology has to offer, whufc.com is a world class destination, for a club in the global elite, accessible to all.