Compelling visitors to stick around and be awed by the content then be inspired to act is the raison d’etre of any travel website.
That’s why veteran whitewater rafting outfitter Western River Expeditions recently engaged the expertise of Resmark Interactive, to create a new, mobile and tablet-integrated website with 360 degree imagery and VR video capabilities that went live this week.
“Our goal with Western River Expeditions was to provide a rich environment for visitors to plan their next adventure,” says Chad Allen, Co-Founder of Resmark Interactive. For a before and after see here.
“The result is the most advanced, ground-breaking website for adventure travel and rafting to date,” adds Brandon Lake, Western River Expeditions’ CMO. He says the site is both user and mobile friendly, fresh and non-cluttered with a graphically pleasing design and “very intuitive navigation”. It features galleries of interactive 360 videos and photography and includes detailed maps, offers in-depth trip preparation advice and guest testimonials. When a visitor to the site has questions, a Western River Expeditions sales consultant is available on an easy link Live Chat.
WRE’s new site will soon be adding mile-by-mile river highlights of the Colorado and Green Rivers, both favorite river rafting destinations for this this company that escorts more people down rivers on professionally guided rafting trips in Utah, Idaho and Arizona’s Grand Canyon than any other outfitter.
By making the new website fully mobile and smartphone compatible visitors will be able to fully utilize the 360 degree virtual reality video capabilities. Users will need to attach their device to a VR viewer such as Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR or an inexpensive Cardboard VR headset for viewing. Cardboard headsets are as inexpensive as $5 on Amazon and fairly easy to assemble. Examples of Western’s 360 videos.
In addition to 360 virtual reality, the site delivers a host of I-want-to-be-here-now photos in an expanded photo gallery. Site visitors can dip in and out of over 3,000 stories and client reviews/testimonials about what it’s like to be on a river, rafting, and sleeping under the stars.
“Since our inception in 1961, Western River Expeditions has taken immense pride in taking clients down rivers safely while providing an exceptional level of customer service. When the time came to revamp our website, we wanted to tell our unique story while continuing to be a leader in the industry by creating a one-of-a-kind online experience that works and displays brilliantly on all devices,” notes Lake.
Add to that the fact that, Resmark Interactive was able to help Western River Expeditions achieve a blazing-fast page speed score of 85 (which is quite commendable for an image-rich travel website), and the user experience has been greatly enhanced as well.
Trips on this site are arranged by destination, with duration and price front and center. Along with the launch of the new website the company is introducing its very first foray abroad. New for the 2016 season are river and beach adventures in Costa Rica.