Nansen, a customer experience agency, has been named a 2019 Episerver Web Award winner for ‘Most Innovative Digital Solution.’ Nansen won the award in conjunction with the Los Angeles–San Diego–San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency for the newly launched Pacific Surfliner website martech news. The Episerver Web Awards aim to recognize partners and customers who have found truly innovative and creative ways to use the Episerver platform to drive standout digital experiences. Episerver’s Digital Experience platform combines web content management (WCM), e-commerce, personalization, and campaign optimization capabilities to help B2B and B2C companies improve customer engagement across every channel. National award winners were announced in late October 2019 at Episerver’s annual Ascend customer and partner conference in Miami, Florida.
The new PacificSurfliner.com website was launched in August 2019 on the Episerver platform with a fresh look, improved site features, and additional content to make planning and booking train travel even easier. The LOSSAN Agency oversees the Pacific Surfliner service, a 351-mile passenger train service serving communities on the coast of Southern California. The new website was developed to increase online bookings and customer engagement, as well as provide technological flexibility to grow with the constantly evolving world of digital marketing.
“We set out to create a highly engaging experience for all rail travelers while catering to multiple customer segments,” said Joe Grause, Chief Client Officer and Co-Owner at Nansen. “The design and information architecture of the new site provides an engaging customer experience without sacrificing the goal of driving more bookings.”
“It’s very difficult to successfully meet each customer’s various needs in one place but this site got the balance just right,” said Chad Wolf, Chief Customer and Sales Officer at Episerver. “The Pacific Surfliner website emulates the organization’s reputation as being one of the most beautiful train rides in the world, as well as a reliable travel option for millions of passengers each year. The site is a testament to delivering a customer-centric experience online by helping a visitor accomplish his or her unique goals.”
In addition to delivering timely, relevant, and accurate information to users, including service alerts and announcements, the site drives substantial traffic through to Amtrak’s points of sales for ticketing. Pacific Surfliner credits the new improved booking experience to a 40-50% increase in referral sales in fourth quarter 2019 compared to the same period the previous year martech.
“Partnering with Nansen made it possible for us to create a digital solution that increases customer engagement while promoting online bookings,” said Emilia Doerr, Marketing and Communications Manager at the LOSSAN Agency. “Now our website is no longer a pass-through for bookings on Amtrak.com, but an interactive, online destination in itself to help users plan and book trips by train in Southern California”
About Nansen
Nansen helps businesses design and implement sustainable and scalable technology solutions and platforms that enable impactful experiences across the customer journey. These solutions help companies to meet the demands of today’s customers while driving innovation for the consumers and customers of tomorrow. Nansen’s proven frameworks for digital transformation help customers achieve near-term goals, while also testing and validating concepts to meet future objectives and market demands.
Drive to explore. Passion for craft. Human at heart. This is Nansen.
About the Pacific Surfliner®
The Pacific Surfliner travels along a 351-mile coastal rail route through San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, serving 27 stations. It is the busiest state-supported intercity passenger rail route in the United States with 26 daily trains and annual ridership of nearly 3 million. To learn more and plan a trip, visit PacificSurfliner.com.
About the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency
The Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency (Agency) is a joint powers authority composed of rail owners, operators, and planning agencies along the entire LOSSAN rail corridor. In addition to working to improve passenger rail ridership, revenue, on-time performance, operational flexibility, and safety, the LOSSAN Agency assumed management responsibility for the Pacific Surfliner service in July 2015, following the execution of an interagency transfer agreement with the state of California. For more information, visit lossan.org.