REI Adventures earns points with beautiful images, bold headlines, and lively teasers.

IN A NUTSHELL

Outdoor gear and apparel retailer REI has raised the bar for relevant website content that supports a sales objective with its REI Adventures site. A striking mix of colorful images, bold headlines, and lively teasers encourage visitors to explore—and book—the wide variety of trips that REI organizes and leads.

BRAVO

Designed to engage the adventure traveler while driving the sale of REI-led trips, the online experience of REI Adventures begins with beautiful photography. A featured trip, such as the Inca Trail, takes center stage in a design that allows for a large photo and 50-word description of the destination. Below is space for four smaller photos and trip teasers. From the index page, visitors can go directly to overviews of the five featured trips or view new trips, special offers, seasonal trips, or last-minute deals. Left-hand navigation is intuitive, with choices for viewing trips by destination, activity, group size/special needs, or date. Trip overview pages are well-written and succinct, with day-by-day itineraries and relevant contextual links that encourage visitors to learn more or sign up. Choices include view a slideshow, book the trip (identified by a highly visible orange button), and follow related links to a trip gear list and reading list. Extras like the trip map and scale for activity level complete the experience.

TRY AGAIN

Interactivity stands out as an obvious opportunity for improving the REI Adventures site. Other than a standard FAQ, there is no place for visitors to hear what recent trip participants thought of a particular trip or the REI travel experience in general. A travelers' forum or adventure travel blog would go a long way toward driving interaction with REI's target audience.