Analytics showed a pattern common to large content hubs: high arrival, low engagement, significant early abandonment. Scroll depth data showed most users didn't get past the hero.

Search query analysis consistently showed that people arrived with intent expressed in one of three frames: attendance options (i.e., virtual or in-person), topic or product focus, and their professional role. That hierarchy became the conceptual foundation for much of the catalog development.

I audited all existing pages, mapping where content elements were current, their positions, and engagement. I worked with the client team to understand the current content hierarchy and found that page designs often reflected business priorities rather than user learning agendas. A more surprising takeaway, though, was that many navigation and filter options were ordered by engagement metrics, without regard to search data, broader context, or usability principles. For example, listing countries by engagement made it exceedingly difficult for anyone outside the dominant markets to find a local event. They would have to read through a list of 30+ countries to find the correct filter. The audit also revealed that the taxonomy and naming often reflected internal organizational terms that held little meaning for users. This meant building in organizational principles and naming frameworks into my recommendations. 

My work included hundreds of changes to the events hub, but I’ll focus here on content strategy for the primary search pages (eg, home, catalog) versus secondary pages (eg, campaigns, event detail) or copywriting.

Homepage

For most pages, especially the homepage, I needed to balance curation and automation to meet the business requirement of promoting priority events while ensuring a continuous display of upcoming events with minimal effort. At the same time, the page needed to feel personalized, even for a new visitor who may not yet have an account. 

Given the search engagement metrics, the client strongly wanted to feature it prominently on the homepage. While I didn’t disagree, the data told a more complicated story: search worked well for users who arrived with a specific query in mind; it consistently overwhelmed users in browsing mode, looking to see what was available within broader parameters.

To solve the latter use case, I proposed a “light personalization” frame that let users select from multiple popular dimensions. Submitting their choices led users to a pre-filtered catalog page where they could further refine their results. I wrote the module as a conversational prompt, mimicking the AI chat I originally recommended, but could not integrate it within our timeframe. This solution worked because it taught users about search parameters in a step-by-step approach before landing on the catalog page with its filter lists. It also allowed for personalization without relying on account data. 

Below that frame, the rest of the page was structured by audience appeal: global and local. Flagship events appeared first, not only because they’re the most popular, but because they carry brand authority and scale to immediately signal industry dominance. Plus, recognizable event names would reduce uncertainty for newer users. 

Below flagship, events were curated by type and category, followed by an automated feed of upcoming local events. Both were designed to demonstrate breadth of events while providing faster pathways in. Toward the bottom, modules for complementary content included additional learning and community opportunities outside events to maintain engagement with users who may not have found an event that met their needs.

Event catalog

Separating the event catalog from the event cards, I focused on filter clarity and hierarchy. For clarity, I evaluated and rewrote filter labels against search-query vocabulary to understand where internal language was getting lost. The difference between a filter someone understands and one skipped was often a single word. Once I identified the most meaningful terms, I revised the labels to distinguish plain vs. internal language and developed a framework for future naming.

I recommended that filters be broad enough to produce at least ten results. For example, filtering for all the individual countries where events were hosted meant some filters returned only one or two results, contradicting the desired impression of a robust catalog. In that case, I recommended filtering by regions (eg, EU), especially in markets where travel between countries may be easier. The client originally chose not to adopt that approach, but after successful user testing, they later implemented it.

I also updated the filters to ensure they clearly narrowed results. For example, events were often tagged with multiple or even all industries because organizers considered the event relevant to all. Rather than list 15 industry verticals with each returning similar results, I collapsed the dimension into a single “Industry focused” filter. It not only helped reduced the overall number of filter groupings, but elevated events with a specific industry focus.

The filter order was another major issue. The existing filter lists were ordered by engagement: the most-clicked options appeared first. On the surface, that sounds logical. In practice, it meant that a list of 30+ countries was ordered by market popularity, making it genuinely difficult for anyone outside the top markets to find a local event. A competitive analysis showed alphabetical ordering was standard practice, and, as an established mental model, that made sense. Still, the evidence helped make the case.

Event cards

The original event cards attempted to offer too much information with too little visual differentiation. Each card displayed the event title, a full date and time with time zone, format, language, event type, a truncated description paragraph with a “Show more” link, and a blue “Registration and details” CTA button. The result was a wall of near-identical blocks of text with no clear hierarchy telling a user where to look first.

A key point of tension was between immediacy and scannability. The card tried to provide all the information users needed up front, but in doing so, it prevented them from making any decision. My solution was to strip the card back to only what was essential for a scanning decision, and let the filters carry the rest. If someone filtered for free digital events in English, there was no need to repeat those details on every card. Removing that redundancy gave the remaining content space to breathe and created room for actual visual hierarchy.

The other main tension was balancing information consistency with event-specific flexibility. A rigid card template would create visual and structural coherence but would flatten meaningful differences between a free 45-minute webinar and a multi-day, in-person conference. The solution was to define a fixed information hierarchy so every card followed the same field sequence, while leaving flexibility in which fields were used and the language within them. At the same time, we stripped away some visuals (e.g., icons, logos) that created unnecessary cognitive load.

Outcome

While engagement results haven't been shared with our agency team yet, I can speak to early success through internal measurement. We found that the content system successfully accommodated all tested edge cases and business constraints, enabling scale across teams and markets without requiring additional resources or development.

This project reinforced the value of creativity under constraints. Without user interviews or research, I had to be more thoughtful and rigorous about what behavioral evidence we could draw from web analytics and search data. It’s easy to over-interpret user intent from a few stated preferences. Search queries and click distribution gave us insight into user patterns at scale.