Project Overview
We’ve worked with renowned luxury travel brand Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) for over ten years. As their Australian agency partner, we work together on ongoing digital marketing initiatives and look for opportunities to enhance their online performance.
In 2018, we undertook a UX review of their existing site to respond to significant technological and consumer change. We examined the site’s performance from a user experience, marketing and strategic perspective.
Following the review, we reimagined the approach to improve user engagement and lead generation, leverage existing content, and respond to critical insights garnered from the report.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Fiona Doherty (Project Manager)
Jessica Graham (Frontend Developer)
Jack Waller (Backend Developer)
Tim Anderson (UX Designer)
Adrian Sala (Designer)
Chris Ventura (Digital Strategist)
Kayleigh Martin (Copywriter)
Project Brief
To design a digital experience as exciting as travel.
We had an immense opportunity to enhance the A&K experience for website visitors. Not only could we bring travel to life through content-rich pages and dramatic imagery but the user journey could be smoother, more helpful, and ultimately drive conversions for the business.
When we revealed our conceptual designs to A&K, they were so excited we immediately began planning a substantial website redevelopment. A phased release method was adopted to work within the client's resources. Phase 1, discussed in this entry, focused on setting up the design and core site development.
To align business and user goals, we defined five key objectives:
1. Inspire visitors with the experience and destination first then sell the product
2. Help people find A&K through organic and paid search
3. Help users find the information they are looking for
4. Increase excitement for destinations and A&K’s unique travel styles
5. Showcase what travelling with A&K is really like
Project Need
One of the key challenges of a phased release is creating a smooth user experience. If updated sections of the site look and act differently from the rest, it’s easy for users to get distracted and feel lost. We faced this challenge head-on by updating the style of the existing site to mimic the new designs.
The style updates correspond to the new designs as closely as the existing CMS templates allow. As we release the subsequent phases, users will enjoy a smooth experience devoid of disparity.
To ensure the build would positively impact A&K’s bottom line, we prioritised the pages and sections that lead to higher returns. We implemented a payment gateway to drive conversions, and also revised the primary navigation to streamline the user experience.
User Experience
We made it easy for users to find what they need.
User-friendly navigation is crucial for a useful site. We reviewed the existing website and noticed that critical ‘travel style’ pages were hidden. The eight travel styles and seven variations of Small Group Journey are a crucial point of difference for A&K - each designed for a different kind of traveller. We made enhancements to surface the full array of travel styles and help users find what they were looking for faster.
We followed this concept through with regions and destinations. Users can now explore the world with a single hover and click.
We transformed the booking process from analog to digital.
Like most travel companies, A&K’s backend systems are legacy. Complexities around their tech infrastructure meant the existing site never had a mechanism to book and pay online. Previously, customers would fill out a paper form to inquire about a particular journey and then wait for the reservation team to get in touch.
We were able to transform this process from an analog to a digital one; allowing people to pay a deposit and secure their booking instantly. After successful submission, customers see a thank you page with payment confirmation. An automated email is returned to the A&K reservations team so that they can complete the booking process.
Project Marketing
Digital Marketing
We set up remarketing campaigns to support the redesign within Facebook and Google marketing networks. Due to the typically lengthy research period associated with planning and booking a holiday, the remarketing campaigns aimed to re-engage users at critical milestones. Different variations of ads were created to personalise content to users - retargeting them with the relevant content at 30 and 90-day intervals since they last visited the site.
Since the campaign launch, there has been a 45% increase in paid traffic with a 4% increase in conversions.
Content Marketing
Our UX review guided the new editorial content approach. To implement it cost-effectively, we update two destination landing pages each month - having completed around 55 at the time of writing. Moving away from a couple of hundred-word summaries on the existing site to more useful, informative, SEO-rich content of around one thousand words.
Keyword research strikes a balance between keyword quality and competitiveness and helps us select the words and phrases that will direct the right users to the right page. Off-page metadata is employed as well as Google Console indexing once a new destination landing page is populated in the CMS.
Project Privacy
Standard privacy procedure was followed under best practice on all contact forms and other areas of the website where personally identifiable data was collected. In addition, we ensure that no personal information is passed through Google Analytics (e.g. email addresses). Regular penetration testing is conducted to ensure the site and server are secure. The website, hosting and infrastructure pass this testing with no significant issues identified.
Digital - TravelTech
TravelTech helps us to get from A to B easier, quicker, cheaper, takes us to places far away while still sitting in our armchair, makes getting lost hard to do and informs, guides and assists. Take us on a journey with your TravelTech.
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