Improving Dining and Entertainment Program

Background

In 2022, the Victorian Government launched a $200 million economic support package to assist businesses and the arts sector in recovering from the pandemic. The core focus was stimulating consumer spending and helping businesses manage ongoing disruptions.

I helped to manage the main Business Stimulus Package web page on the vic.gov.au website.
The different parts of this program were active at different times, including:

1. Victorian Travel Voucher Scheme and Seniors Travel Voucher Scheme,

2. Ventilation Voucher Program (Business Victoria Program),

3. Small Business Digital Adaptation Program (Business Victoria Program),

4. Business Recovery and Resilience Mentoring Program,

5. Jobs Victoria Fund (Jobs Victoria / Working for Victoria Program),

6. Melbourne Money (City of Melbourne Program)

7. Dining Entertainment Program - My Program

From this:

• $10 million round of "Melbourne Money" (Melbourne Dining Vouchers) to be delivered with the City of Melbourne (for city cafes, bars, and restaurants by reimbursing part of their bills) - City of Melbourne ran this program.
  I was not involved in delivering this program, only promoting it on the main Business Stimulus Package web page and on the COVID-19 coronavirus websites (Business and Industry pages).
  
  

• $30 million in rebates (Statewide Dining Vouchers) for food and wine experiences in regional areas and in suburbs outside the City of Melbourne council area in Melbourne, as part of the "Dining entertainment program".
  
  

• $30 million in rebates (Entertainment Voucher Scheme) for tickets to the theatre, live music, cinemas, museums, galleries, conferences, exhibitions and other events across Victoria, part of the "Dining entertainment program".

  
  

Program 1

See the program 1 >>
The Program ran for the First Time on March 29 2022.

Dining Entertainment Program was a COVID business stimulus program that supported hospitality and entertainment businesses across the state by encouraging Victorians to get out and spend on eligible food, drink, and events.

The dining entertainment program was 1 program with 2 distinctly different parts, "Dining" and "Entertainment", each with its own rules and requirements.

Users of this program had to claim the "Dining" and "Entertainment" parts separately (via different online processes and websites).

"Dining" part - Customers can claim back 25 per cent on eligible dining experiences from Tuesday 29 March 2022.

To lodge a claim, customers must:

• Dine between Monday and Thursday

• Dine in a restaurant, cafe or bar across Victoria and outside the City of Melbourne municipality

• Spend a minimum of $40 (including GST) in one transaction

"Entertainment" part - Customers can claim back 25 per cent on eligible entertainment purchases made from Tuesday 29 March 2022.

To lodge a claim, customers must:

• Purchase an entertainment experience in Victoria for any day of the week

• Spend a minimum of $40 (including GST) in one transaction

Each customer can claim back 25 per cent on eligible purchases. Up to $125 in combined rebates for dining and entertainment are available per person.

My role was to:

1. I mocked up the program's web pages and made numerous small improvements, such as changing the application button colours (light blue and mid blue) and aligning the FAQs with the program accordion to make it more user-friendly. The image shows the separate claim buttons for the two parts of the program. I then had to remove the buttons until just before the different parts were ready to accept claims.

   

2. I modified the main program image (blurring things and cropping). It features people drinking wine in the Yarra Valley. This image was also used on the main landing page of vic.gov.au.
   Below is the Facebook share of the program.

   

3. Test everything, including posting to social media. I suggested a few small improvements.

4. Uploaded files/resources and suggested further improvements with the formatting and layout, such as adding extra non-English headings in the same style as the COVID website page Signs posters templates page.
   
   

   

   
   

5. Push the program to the live CMS.
   Go live with no claim buttons and add them in later.

6. Modify the main Business Stimulus Package web page on the vic.gov.au website with updated copy and a link to the program.

7. Modify the page as needed. The "Dining" and "Entertainment" claim parts of the program went live at different times, so I needed to add buttons to claim twice (at different times).

8. My team was not allowed to proceed with advertising due to an overrun of a similar program in the City of Melbourne, called “Melbourne Money”. As a result, to promote the program, I went directly to councils and local MPs. This worked really well. (Bayside and Stonnington councils were very quick with posts about the program.) See this in the slide below.

9. I also pushed hard for it to be promoted on the COVID-19 coronavirus websites (Business and Industry pages). This required obtaining permission from several people and senior executives, and working with Senior COVID-19 Comms people on copy and getting that approved by everyone.

10. Removing claim buttons at a set time and date (as instructed).

11. Remove links to the page (from other pages), such as the Business Stimulus Package web page

12. Unpublish the page.

13. Do Analytics, UX, analysis and program feedback.
    Provide program reporting and feedback to the director, department executives and the minister.

Program feedback - What could we do better?

I observed that program 1 was confusing for users due to the differing “rules and requirements” for “entertainment” and “food/drink”. It also makes it hard to promote the program.
The program is way too confusing and painful to use for many users.

I suggested making a simpler, more user-friendly program with fewer rules/requirements if we were to run it again:

• Run the full program 7 days a week (instead of on different days).

• The general public does not understand why you are running 2 programs for the same thing.
  Don't have a different program, "Melbourne Money", just for the City of Melbourne. This feels like it's competing for attention. It means we can't advertise the Dining Entertainment Program.

• Just run the program in ALL council areas.

• ONLY have 1 claim process, as having 2 is too confusing for users.
  Just have 1 SIMPLE claim button.

• ONLY have 1 set of rules and requirements (not separate ones for "Dining" and "Entertainment").

• Promote the program everywhere and run government advertising (since many people didn't know about the program, as shown by low usage numbers).

• Get industry, Unions, government MPs, and Local Councils to all push it hard.

Program 2

See the program 2 >>
The program was re-launched on 19 September 2022.

As Program 1 didn’t spend the full $60 million in funding, we suggested that it could be reconsidered. The relaunch, based on my user feedback, offers a faster and more intuitive experience. The programme’s relaunch merged the confusing “two-claim” processes into a single process. It expanded access to seven days a week and included all council areas, making it easier to explain the program to users.

Premier Dan Andrews promoted the programme on his high-profile social media, and we ran an advertising campaign. This all helped make the programme launch significantly stronger than Program 1.

My role was to:

1. Select the main feature photo used on the main vic.gov.au website landing page (homepage) and for social media sharing.
   I chose an Indian food image because it has bright colours, is attention-grabbing, supports multiculturalism, and looks delicious ("food porn").
   Below is the Facebook share of the program after launch.

   

2. Ask Digital Victoria at the Department of Premier and Cabinet if we can have a tile on the main landing page (homepage) vic.gov.au. Book it in.

3. Recreate the web page and add all new assets, including resources for businesses and councils to use. Modify the artwork as needed so it is easy to use for business.

4. Change the wording on the new "claim button".
   Image of simplified claim button "Claim now". Much easier than program 1 with 2 buttons.

   

5. Test everything, including posting to social media. I suggested a few small improvements.

   Fix issues with Facebook and Twitter/x showing the wrong image (from program 1)

6. Push the program to the live CMS this time, including this time with the claim button.

7. Ask Digital Victoria to update the tiles on the main landing page (homepage) vic.gov.au.
   Get them to add our program into tile 1 (the most prominent location).

   

8. Add the translated assets (from the agency) after they were made. These came significantly later after the program launch.

9. Shut down the program early (remove the claim button). Add new “program ended” graphics.
   The program ended 3 weeks early because it was so popular.

10. Ask Digital Victoria to update the tiles on the main landing page (homepage) vic.gov.au.
    Remove the program.

11. Remove links to the page (from other pages), such as the Business Stimulus Package web page

12. Unpublish the page (after a set time).

13. Provide program reporting and feedback to the director, department executives and the minister.
    Do Analytics, UX, analysis and program feedback.

Program outcome

• As Premier Dan Andrews promoted the program hard, and we did government advertising, the program was busy from day 1.

• The second time we ran the program, it became the Victorian State Government's most popular program in 2022, apart from COVID-19 content, capturing between 47% and 59% of all live traffic on vic.gov.au during its run.

• We had to end the program three weeks early due to funding exhaustion (people were using it more than expected). It was significantly more popular (over 20% more popular online - based on visitation numbers) and easier for users to claim than during its initial run.