The D-Day has arrived and now IPL is just 1 day away. At EC the team is working round the clock to engage audiences online on two of our biggest cricket related properties; castrolcricket.com and royalchallengers.com. Royal Challengers is now running entirely on social media and has reached an inflection point with daily sign-ups breaking all records through the lifetime of the site.

As all of you know getting people to pass the sign-up barrier is one of the most difficult task for website designers. Let me share with you the performance on our sign-up page (for royalchallengers); one look at the stats below, and you will agree that they are mind blowing.





There can be several reasons behind the amazingly low bounce rate of <5% - but here are some compelling ones that I feel merit observation:


a) Social media led referral traffic is of very good quality (specially when they are originate spam-free); thus the context is well set in mind of visitor.

b) Design of sign-up page is simple and without any frills.



c) The social buzz about the website has spread offline, and people are visiting website based on references of friends; again context is well set.

d) Unlike other IPL teams, RCB website is active with real people (fans, players, coach and celebrity). The currency of communication seems genuine, and fans just love associating with a brand that is thriving.


We expect the crowds to soar as IPL 2010 unfolds. Stay tuned for more updates.