How a research-led website redesign gave Churnet Valley Railway its best year ever
Most website redesigns start with a mood board and end with a guess. A conversion-focused agency took the opposite approach with Churnet Valley Railway, one of the UK’s leading heritage railways, and the result was the railway’s best year on record.
The agency behind the project describes its method as research-led, deliberately positioning it against the standard agency playbook of redesigning first and hoping for results. The core idea is straightforward: treat each page as a growth lever you can pull one at a time, rather than launching a full site overhaul and waiting to see what sticks.
The Approach
The work centered on using research rather than guesswork to drive design decisions. Instead of a single big-bang launch, the team tackled the site incrementally, redesigning pages based on evidence of where visitors were dropping off or failing to convert.
This page-by-page method reduces the risk that comes with a full redesign. If one change underperforms, the impact is isolated. If it works, the pattern gets applied further. For a heritage railway that depends on ticket sales, events, and visitor numbers, that risk reduction matters.
The Outcome
The railway reported its best year ever following the redesign work. The case study does not break down specific revenue figures or traffic numbers beyond that headline result, but for an organization operating in a seasonal, experience-driven market, best year ever is a meaningful benchmark.
The Transferable Pattern
The case study is light on granular detail, but the structural lesson is clear enough to apply elsewhere:
- Start with research, not aesthetics. Understand why visitors are not converting before touching the design.
- Work page by page. A full redesign is a big bet. Incremental changes are testable and reversible.
- Let the data set the sequence. Prioritize pages by their potential impact on revenue, not by how outdated they look.
If you run a business where the website is the primary booking or purchase channel, this approach is worth understanding. The difference between a research-led redesign and an aesthetics-led one is the difference between a measured experiment and an expensive guess.
Where to Read More
Conversion Rate Experts published the full case study on their site. The write-up covers how the research-led method works in practice for Churnet Valley Railway specifically.
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