The "Autumn Trees" website experiment
From 24th November to 2nd December, the Home page of this website had an Autumn Trees appearance. This was an experiment for a short period to test that we could make such changes, and to see what the reactions were. The intention is to use this capability in future for promotion purposes, for example to draw attention to the Exhibition after Christmas.
It was certainly noticed! Reactions were mixed: some people were spontaneously complimentary, while others didn't like it, especially in comparison with the "classic" style of the last 3 months. One comment was critical of the inconsistency of having a Home page different from all other pages, while another suggestion was that changes of this nature should be confined to one or a few pages other than the Home page.
Unfortunately, we didn't find out what occasional visitors to the website thought. They are typically the ones we are trying to influence with any promotion. People familiar enough with the website to draw comparisons between a special promotional style and the "classic" style will probably already know about what is being promoted.
There is no doubt that we can make such changes to the website relatively easily, especially having learned new techniques and developed bits and pieces that will be useful in future. The hard part will be to design changes that will achieve the aim of any particular promotion. Perhaps we need people with expertise in "sales and marketing".