We needed to design a new feature for the 2022 Met Gala that would compel readers to register for free accounts and engage on our pages for longer. Vogue’s Met Gala red carpet gallery sees almost 2 million visitors in the first 3 days it’s live—if just 1% of visitors registered, our known user base would skyrocket. We just needed to find the right nudge.
Challenge
One of Condé Nast’s primary business initiatives is turning visitors into known users. In June 2021, we began gating content (blocking it from view, and only making it available after a user created a free account). But gates proved negative as an experience to users, and we didn’t want to risk frustrating our audience during our highest-traffic event: The Met Gala.
Thus, the design challenge: Rather than taking something away from readers, what value could we add that was worth creating an account? By implementing engaging, interactive features, we could potentially entice users to register or remind them to sign back in on one of our biggest nights of the year.
Design Rationale
The game toggles were clearly visible on the gallery page. Once a user chose to interact with the feature, they would be prompted to register to continue. They were blocked from voting until they entered their email address.
For users who decided not to continue, their reading experience (viewing the Met Gala red carpet) was not blocked and avoided risking frustration and page abandonment.
We needed to choose language that created a compelling game, but didn’t feel off-brand for Vogue. It was important to stay positive, celebrate beauty, and avoid at all costs body-shaming and celebrity put-downs. After workshopping with Editorial, we proposed “Is this look on theme?” which felt positive, yet still compelled an opinion—and guided the conversation to focus on the fashion and the topic of the evening: the dress code.
Outcomes
The feature proved a success!
2.9 million votes were cast across 10 Vogue sites, with an average of 21 votes per session.
We saw 45 million engaged minutes on the red carpet page, 29% higher than our goal.
The new feature alone produced 27k registrations in the week of launch, 83% higher than our goal.
An overlay appeared after a user cast tapped to cast their vote, in order to prompt registration.
