A strong online presence is vital for organisations serving niche audiences. For Arts Law, Australia’s leading provider of legal resources and support for Australian artists and organisations, their outdated website created barriers for both their audience and staff.
Recognising this, Arts Law partnered with Meeum to revitalise its digital platform, addressing key pain points such as usability, accessibility, and operational inefficiencies.
The results have been transformational, with post-launch data showing significant improvements compared to the same three-month period the previous year:
- 97% increase in engagement on the Contract Templates page.
- 358% boost in Information Sheets engagement.
- 408% rise in search results engagement.
- 484% increase in cart engagement, with an 87% drop in cart bounce rates.
- 305% growth in account page interactions.
This case study highlights the research underpinning these changes, explains why specific decisions were made, and demonstrates how Meeum’s audience-first strategic solutions have empowered the arts community and streamlined Arts Law’s operations.
The challenge
Arts Law faced challenges with its website, which limited the organisation’s ability to serve both its internal team and its external audience effectively.
Outdated content management system
The existing WordPress setup made it slow and difficult for staff to update content. This inefficiency diverted resources from core activities and created bottlenecks in sharing timely updates with its audience.
Poor user experience
Navigating the website to access key resources such as legal contracts and information sheets was cumbersome and confusing. In particular, the ecommerce process was overly complex, creating friction for consumers and clients and discouraging purchases.
Convoluted codebase
The website’s inefficient code structure led to poor performance and higher maintenance costs. The technical limitations of the existing setup further restricted scalability and future growth.
Patchy and unreliable Salesforce integration
Salesforce was underutilised in managing client data and workflows. The existing integration was inconsistent, leading to inefficiencies in ecommerce tracking and form submissions. This lack of reliability hampered both user experience and internal operations.
The solution
Meeum developed a comprehensive solution to address Arts Law’s challenges, informed by thorough research and close collaboration with the Arts Law team.
Research-driven approach
The first phase of the project focused on uncovering the root causes of the website’s pain points through:
- User behaviour analysis: Identified drop-off points in navigation and ecommerce flows.
- Stakeholder interviews: Collaborated with Arts Law staff to better understand internal inefficiencies and operational priorities. This included interviews as well as requirements gathering workshops.
- Technical audit: Conducted a detailed review of the codebase and integration points, revealing inefficiencies in the Salesforce setup and other areas.
- Accessibility, UX, and SEO review: Evaluated the website against WCAG standards, as well as common UX and SEO benchmarks pinpointing critical areas for improvement.
- Competitor research: Meeum conducted comprehensive competitor research, exploring not only the arts and legal sectors but also adjacent fields to gain a deeper understanding of the market and the strategies employed by others.
This research informed every aspect of the rebuild, ensuring the solution was aligned with user needs and Arts Law’s mission.
Collaborative engagement
An important aspect of this project that can’t be ignored is Art Law’s appreciation and embracing of Meeum’s collaborative approach. Without an open and collaborative client who was willing to be challenged, none of this would have been possible.
Long held business rules and goals were questioned and ultimately updated to ensure a smooth process and a better customer experience.
User journey improvements
Meeum prioritised creating a more intuitive and engaging experience for site visitors. Key changes included:
- Streamlined navigation: A restructured menu and improved internal linking make it much easier for users to locate resources and navigate the site.
- Categorisation: Rather than being presented with hundreds of information sheets or contracts, the user can now view these resources categorised by their art form, such as Design, Fashion, or Music.
- Simplified ecommerce: The purchasing process for legal contracts and subscriptions was reimagined, with unnecessary steps removed and the checkout experience clarified. This resulted in a 484% increase in cart engagement and an 87% drop in cart bounce rates.
Highlighting critical resources
Two key areas of the website were given significant attention: Contracts and Information Sheets.
Contracts and ecommerce
The Contracts listing page underwent a major overhaul to improve usability and accessibility. The original page was intimidating if the user was unsure what they are looking for as they were presented with a huge alphabetical list and a search bar.
Resources are now categorised into twelve separate art forms with clear text and thumbnail images, allowing users to find the exact contract they need with minimal effort.
Every contract product page also underwent a significant update. There were three different pricing tiers for contracts, and Arts Law subscribers receive discounts on contracts. This was confusing on the old site.
Pricing structures were simplified, ensuring transparency and reducing confusion.
As well as this, logged in subscribers now see the actual price of the product they are considering, and non-logged in purchasers see the price they will pay, as well as a note inviting them to subscribe to receive a discount.
“There has always been a lot of confusion from users about what pricing tier they were eligible for and needing help navigating the confusing shopping cart. The process is so much easier now. Not only is it better for our clients but it also allows the team to spend more time doing important work and helping artists.”
Emily Phipps, Communications Manager, Arts Law
Information Sheets
The information sheets section, a critical repository of legal guidance, was also reimagined. Meeum enhanced the layout and content structure to ensure users could quickly find relevant information.
- Categorisation improvements: Information Sheets were grouped logically in the same way as contracts. This makes them easier to browse and keeps a consistent experience for the user.
- Engagement features: Code templates were re-engineered so that visual elements and media could be easily added to enhance user interaction.
- Save as pdf: Site visitors can save each information sheets as a pdf to download. This is now part of the codebase, as opposed the Arts Law staff needing to upload a unique pdf for every information sheet on the site.
The results were remarkable, with a 358% increase in engagement on information sheets, demonstrating the value of clearer organisation and improved user experience.
Purchase process updates
The original purchase flow was up to 10 steps. Initially the purchaser would need to look through a list of hundreds of contracts or use the search bar if they knew exactly what they were looking for.
Once they’d found the contract they wanted, they then had to choose from three different pricing options depending on their own situation. This was confusing and the cause of many drop-offs in the purchase process.
The checkout process had a donations popup that hindered the sales process and was difficult to close on mobile.
The site also either forced purchasers to login or create an account before purchasing. Creating an account required extensive mandatory fields and was also a major drop-off point in the sales process.
The checkout experience was streamlined, removing barriers such as forced logins, annoying popups, as well as simplifying form fields.
Removing tiered pricing and integrating optional donations and subscriptions into the cart process not only increased engagement on the Contracts page by 97% but also contributed to the broader improvements in ecommerce metrics.
Salesforce improvements
To address the challenge of the existing patchy Salesforce integration, we implemented a solution that ensures seamless integration with both sales processes and form submissions. The new system can be easily managed and updated by non-technical staff, allowing them to add or modify data feeds from the site to Salesforce without the need for a developer.
Accessibility and performance
Meeum ensured that the new website adhered to at least AA WCAG standards, meeting AAA criteria wherever possible. Key accessibility improvements included an enhanced design with improved contrast ratios, font-sizes, and heading structure.
We collaborated with Arts Law to enhance content accessibility by conducting a detailed content audit. The audit identified areas requiring updates, such as page titles, descriptions, and alt text, and provided clear recommendations for improvement. This initiative is part of an ongoing internal project managed by Arts Law.
As is standard, a mobile-first approach was adopted to provide a fully responsive design, ensuring seamless usability across all devices.
Additionally, the codebase was optimised for performance, resulting in faster page load times and a more responsive experience for all users.
The results
Page engagement and ecommerce improvements
Based on data from the three months following the relaunch (compared to the same period the previous year), the website redesign delivered measurable success:
- Contract Templates page engagement: +97%
- Information Sheets engagement: +358%
- Search results engagement: +408%
- Cart engagement: +484% (with an 87% reduction in bounce rates).
- Account page interactions: +305%
Additionally, Arts Law staff reported fewer telephone and email inquiries related to ecommerce and resource navigation, showing that customers were easily finding what they were looking for on the site, therefore freeing staff up time for higher-value work.
Speed, performance, accessibility, SEO
Site speed, performance, accessibility, best practices, as well as SEO were all improved across every page we measured. Several tools were used, with the results shown here from Google Lighthouse.
Homepage pre and post launch
Contract page pre and post launch
The collaboration between Meeum and Arts Law demonstrates the transformative potential of a research-driven website rebuild. By addressing specific challenges and focusing on user needs, Meeum delivered a modern, accessible, and scalable platform that empowers the arts community and strengthens Arts Law’s operations.
The revitalised website is a cornerstone of Arts Law’s mission, enabling the organisation to better support Australian artists while reducing administrative overhead.
For over fifteen years, Elyse has worked to build thriving companies. She has spent her career nurturing organisations, their culture and the people within them.
She has founded and exited her...