The perfect homepage? Opera Australia is in the running.
An hour ago, I was pretty certain that a truly customer centric homepage did not exist in the arts sector. But then I stumbled upon Opera Australia’s website, which I hadn’t visited in a while.
Check out the screenshot above. Can you spot the customer job-to-be-done that Opera Australia is targeting on their homepage?
Both the headline and the subheading are designed to show their target audiences that Opera Australia offers a very specific benefit: liberation from the unremarkable day-to-day; the opportunity to experience something new and extraordinary.
This is a textbook example of employing customer centricity in arts marketing. Notice that there's no mention of the opera company, the conductor, the soloists, the upcoming shows.
Instead, what's featured is the transformation that audiences can expect if they decide to choose Opera Australia as a solution for their desire to get away from the mundane of everyday life.
Especially notable: except for their logo, Opera Australia doesn't even mention the word music or opera on their homepage. Why is this a simply genius marketing move? Because the customer motivation that OA is targeting here is not “Help me hear some beautiful music” or “Help me experience some high quality opera.” Customer motivation for the arts is just never that simple.
OA is highlighting a specific customer motivation that is entirely unrelated to art (“Help me escape from the mundane of my boring life so that I can be refreshed, inspired, and re-energized when I return to my job/my family.”)
That’s the thing about a customer-centric approach. When you sit down with arts sector customers and listen to their stories, you realize pretty quickly that the market category that you’re competing in is not music, or theater, or visual art. The category is the customer’s buying motivation.
Which is why, when you start thinking about your market in terms of the Job to Be Done (like “Help me escape from the mundane,”) the size of your target audience expands dramatically.
Consumers who have never before considered that opera might be a solution for their boredom with everyday life—consumers who quite possibly have never even listened to classical music—are now potential customers. You just have to convince them that your offering is the best solution for their need to escape. No pressure.
Opera Australia gets that egocentric “look at us” language can be a turnoff for Outsiders. There isn’t even the ubiquitous “BUY TICKETS HERE!” button. There’s simply an invitation to “hire” Opera Australia to help you with your desire for transformation.
And that’s how you put the customer first.
