Soho House
Design Lead . Research . Vision
A peek inside the world of Soho House, a private members’ club for the creative industry
Soho House is a private members’ club created for those in the film, media and creative industries. Originally set up in Soho, London, they now has 27 members’ clubs around the world. At the time, the business planned on launching a series of new houses in prime locations all over the world and in order to promote this and encourage discovery of their expanding portfolio, they wanted to relaunch the website with a new and improved design that reflects the ambition of the business.
Challenge
The website was slow and outdated, consisting of lots of micro-sites linked off the main platform. The website didn’t reflect the true identity of the brand and in addition the user flows through the content made it difficult to explore and to apply for membership. I wanted to find ways to improve the browsing experience and to create a platform that engaged its audience on an emotional level, inspiring prospective members to join the club and current members to come together and share their stories.
Process
I created a comprehensive research plan that included both generative and evaluative research. I wanted to understand the world of our members and people like them who we would like as members. The plan helped us learn about their challenges, desires and needs, both digitally and physically.
I also worked with the team to conduct stakeholder and user interviews and some of the best insights surfaced during these conversations and observations. This research helped us structure a strong problem definition from which I led a series of design thinking workshops to generate and validate ideas for the website redesign.
Insight
We learned that members would find a lot of value in discovering who our members are and the creative pursuits and industries they work in.
Certain types of content really struck a chord with members such as member interviews and features on culture, wellness, career and fashion. Members were also asking to be featured on the platform.
We also discovered that most visitors to the website were unaware of the breadth and depth of what was on offer to them, from all the different clubs, bars, restaurants, screenings, events, gym classes and the philanthropic initiatives they could get involved in such as the Soho House Impact, a mentoring initiative designed to empowers the Soho House community to make positive change.
Outcome
The new website was launched with great success in March 2020, during the recent pandemic. Despite the setback, the website performed well and a huge uplift in new and returning visitors was witnessed as the website not only delivered on the original proposition, to recruit new members and showcase the houses, it also engaged existing members and gave them a place to come and enjoy the world of Soho House during lockdown.
The challenging times leading up to and post launch also forced us to pause and pivot on some of the feature launches we had planned. We brought the launch of digital events and connect forward, giving members more ways to engage and connect with the brand, helping us retain a healthy membership base and attract new visitors who we will endeavour to convert into members as soon as the restrictions are lifted.
