Wild Frontiers creates small group tours and tailor-made trips for adventurous travellers. The trips they offer are anything but ordinary. Their website needed to reflect that same sense of adventure and make it easier for visitors to take the next step, whether calling the team or booking a trip.
THE CHALLENGE
When Wild Frontiers came to us, three challenges were clear:
- Customers were dropping off at the checkout.
- The interface felt dated and no longer reflected the brand.
- The experience on mobile and desktop had drifted apart, so customers got a different journey depending on what device they used.
Our brief was to improve the user experience and create a more intuitive interface, making it easier for visitors to move from browsing to booking.
LETTING THE DATA SHAPE THE HOMEPAGE
A Hotjar heatmap showed that Destinations and search were the most-clicked areas of the homepage hero on desktop. People knew where they wanted to go, and they were looking for the quickest way to get there.
The existing layout worked against customer behavior. The search bar sat over a showreel video, which competed with footage that bought the Wild Frontiers experience to life. The search itself felt dated and off-brand. We used these insights to reshape the hero section around how visitors explore and take the next step:
Destinations first.
We moved the most important navigation item to the front, so the page people visited most was the easiest to reach.
A clearer search.
We redesigned the search controls to align with the brand and repositioned them to search and the showreel each had space.
Contact within reach.
With most sales happening over the phone, we added a contact bar at the top of the page that stays visible at all times.
A clear next step.
We changed the main CTA to “Plan your trip”, which feels more approachable than a hard sell. Set in the brand's signature yellow, it stands out and draws the eye.
A BOOKING JOURNEY THAT KEEPS PEOPLE FOCUSED
Next, we turned to the booking journey. Wild Frontiers’ existing system directed customers to an external site to complete their booking, creating a potential point of friction at a crucial stage.
We started by wireframing the whole process, looking at what was already working, what wasn’t, and how the content should be prioritised. That gave us a clear foundation for the design and a set of focused improvements:
Fewer distractions.
We simplified the header to just the logo, removing competing navigation to help customers stay focused on completing their booking.
A trip summary that follows you.
A sticky overview box sits beside the form and updates as users choose their options, so they can always see what they’re booking.
Clearer feedback at every step.
We designed success and error states so the users know straight away if something needs fixing.
More detail, less clutter.
Supporting details now sit behind information icons, available on hover for anyone who wants them without crowding the form.
We designed the desktop and mobile journeys together to create a consistent experience across both. Mobile deserved particular attention: Wild Frontiers encourages customers to call to book, and on mobile, the next step is already in their hands.
DESIGNED TO BE BUILT
We created a reusable design system in Figma, with shared components and variables for colour, typography and spacing. This kept desktop and mobile consistency and made future updates easier to apply across the site.
It also gave Wild Frontiers’ internal development team a clear foundation for the build. Working directly from the Figma components helped them translate the designs into a finished site that stayed true to the original intent.
THE RESULT
Since the design launched, Wild Frontiers’ conversation rate has increased by 44%. A refreshed look played its part, but the bigger win came from removing friction at the moments that mattered most: finding a destination, getting in touch, and completing a booking.
WHAT WE TOOK AWAY
Good design starts with how people actually behave, not how we assume they do. The heatmap told us what users wanted, and knowing that Wild Frontiers sell mostly over the phone told us how to support them. The design follows both, the results tend to follow too.
Thinking about your own website? Let’s talk about what’s working, what’s getting in the way and where design could make a difference. Thinking about refreshing your own website? Get in touch and let’s talk.
