In a bid to inspire intrepid adventurers, Adventure Base worked with Strafe Creative to redesign their website. The results are epic; the site paid for itself in the first week. Customers now have access to all relevant information and the streamlined online sales process has more people booking than ever!
Since its launch, the website has been nominated for two 2021 Drum awards for ‘Best Website’ (Drum Roses Awards and the Drum DADI Awards) and won Gold for ‘Best Website’ in the UK Business Awards.
Adventure Base’s three guiding principles are, to provide daring adventures, that create human experiences, all with effortless organisation. But how could they reach more intrepid adventurers?
Where would our Adventure Base adventure take us? (the objectives)
In our adventure together, we set out with two clear goals. Firstly to grow the business from just mountaineering to include flying, trekking, skiing and more, Adventure Base had to reposition itself in the market. Secondly, to reach and engage with the corporate market, boldly taking on B2B. This all meant a new strategy, a new website and newfound confidence.
The previous website was designed with just one goal in mind, encouraging visitors to call or email to find out more about the mountaineering trips offered. This led the customers down a lengthy sales process with the team via phone calls and email to ensure all questions were answered and customers were filled with confidence ahead of a booking.
Given these trips have a high price point and they’re not as simple as booking “a week in the sun”, customers often had many many questions and so nurturing them through the process was paramount.
Paramount, but not efficient.
With these two new goals in mind, the team wanted to give potential B2C customers as much information as possible through the website in order to free up the time of the sales team. Then, they could work on designing bespoke trips for both inexperienced adventurers and corporate customers and finding new treks and tours, thus growing the business.
The website was going to have to start working harder.
An adventurous strategy (how we got there)
The Team
The success of this project was really down to the team at Adventure Base. Charlie – Managing Director, Ollie – Director of Operations and Kenton Cool – Owner, were open-minded, invested and willing to make changes to their own processes and procedures in order to build out a business that was truly reflected through the new site. We guided them through every step of the way, without it being overly technical and ensured that they met their deadlines so that we could deliver on time too.
Discovery
In order to make the website work harder, the discovery stage of our design process was the most important. We interviewed both the management team and the sales staff to really get to grips with the frequently asked questions and the biggest concerns that came from customers. We also reviewed the competition, were they doing things better than Adventure Base in any way? What was missing from their sites that we could include?
Adventure Base Audience Profiling
As a key goal for the site was to target B2B clients as well as B2C, our next step was to create personas for each ideal audience. Companies might be looking for a trip for their employees? What about someone who has always wanted to climb Everest, but never knew where to start with training or booking a trip like that? How can we help them to have a daring adventure too? What kind of information would all these audiences need?
Content Hierarchy
With all this in mind, we reviewed the content hierarchy. As mentioned, B2C customers often have many questions and concerns prior to booking a trip like this. So we designed the hierarchy and user flow in a way that would encourage them to stay on the site and explore more and more. We took into account the way the page was designed, which information was where and we aimed to push them to absorb enough information to buy a trip without having a phone call.
The Design
After this research, considerations and the commitment from Adventure Base, we were able to create user flows and wireframes that would bring the new site to life.
Creativity came from both our team of designers and the Adventure Base themselves. Their commitment to ensuring the content on the site was relevant and engaging helped to bring the online experience to life. One minute videos documenting a three-day itinerary is no easy feat, but Adventure Base is committed to filming GoPro footage and getting that content out there!
An innovative addition to the site has been the use of conversational commerce, in the form of the “adventure wizard”. A questionnaire designed with an uncertain and exploratory customer in mind. With answers to questions like “How adventurous are you or your group feeling?” listed in a conversational and relatable manner, “Netflix binger”, “this ain’t my first rodeo”, “I’m experienced”, “I’m a living god”, customers are guided through a questionnaire as if it’s a personal conversation with the sales team. Once completing the questionnaire, Adventure Base has the opportunity to design a trip that suits the customer’s needs and ultimately has a higher chance of a conversion.
An interesting twist has been the consumer behaviour change over the last year. Since staying at home became the norm, we’ve been doing and ordering everything online. We’ve all missed adventures, so why not book a daring experience online too? Even just 2 years ago, many customers wouldn’t spend over £2,000 online, however now the online buying experience is being approached differently and we’ve seen it in the results!
Reaching the Adventure Base summit (results)
The most exciting result we’ve seen for Adventure Base has been improved confidence. With a striking and effective site, the company has invested more in its advertising and marketing efforts. They now know once they get more potential customers to the website, they will convert. In fact, the redesign has led to a 142% increase in conversions.
This confidence is leading to business growth too. With more people on the site, average monthly visitors are up 249%, Adventure Base is now adding new trips and experiences. Plus, they are partnering with some of Europe’s more prolific adventure companies to offer joint treks and tours. The site has really opened doors for the business to develop and grow in line with its goals.
Adventure Base’s new site paid for itself within just one week. Despite the uncertainty in the world, customers were quick to book their next adventure and site visits increased fourfold compared to the previous year. In the months that followed the launch, there has been an average increase in sales of 315%.
The Adventure Base team no longer have to spend hours going back and forth with customers via phone and email; they can spend more time designing, creating and delivering trips for all types of customers all year round.
“We couldn’t be happier with the website Strafe have built for us. Choosing a developer to build one of your companies most important assets is not decision made lightly but having seen some of the projects Strafe had made previously the decision was made a little easier. From the moment we got going the process was smooth, transparent and the communication was great. Not only did we receive valuable web design advice we also received great conversion insight and knowledge that we now apply to our business. In fact, in the first month of launching we did £50k’s worth of sales of which we’d like to think a considerable amount is down to the new site. Thanks to Ross, Emma and the whole Strafe team for doing what they do” – The Adventure Base Team
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