A recent study found that over 69% of Americans have increased their time and activities outdoors. Due to COVID, the outdoors has become a sanctuary where people can socialize and reunite, leading to a boom in the outdoor industry.
Smart outdoorsy brands have been focusing their efforts on revitalizing their web presence and improving their marketing awareness with the right budgets to capitalize on the trend. If you haven’t yet taken advantage of the opportunities, it’s time to reach the masses and let them know you’re the best source for the types of products you peddle; doing so will increase your profits and enhance customer retention.
If you’re unsure what will draw customers in, don’t fret, we took a deep dive to see what the top adventure brands are doing right. From Patagonia to Bilite, you can learn how to stand with the best of the best.
Ready for it? Here’s an in-depth look at outdoor brands in the adventure space and beyond.
1. Bushnell
Immediately as the site loads, you’re met with action-packed images that showcase hunting and camping accessories. The home page also uses a carousel to keep prospective customers engaged. However, it isn’t necessarily Bushnell’s lively images that keep customers coming back; it’s how they communicate with their customers.
Bushnell adds value to the customer experience by educating customers. They offer quizzes and buyer guides, so customers are never disappointed with their purchases.
Bushnell also partners with different charities such as Folds of Honor and Project Childsafe. That way, customers understand that their purchase helps the company give back to the community. Giving back reinforces your company’s values, showcasing that the organization cares about its customers and their safety.
2. Patagonia
Patagonia does things a little differently. Instead of simply acknowledging how they came about on an about page, they put their history front and center so each customer has a chance to read it. Doing so gives insight into the company’s values, mission, and overall upbringing.
Not to mention, it helps customers understand that the company is experienced, knowledgeable, and trustworthy. These qualities are important to customers. After all, consumers want to purchase from a company they not only trust, but that has items that can fulfill their hiking and backpacking needs.
Plus, Patagonia advertises its charitable contributions and educates its customers. Now, you might think this is normal; however, some companies just showcase ways they give back but leave out how customers can get involved. That’s because companies don’t want to pressure customers into giving back if they don’t want to.
The way Patagonia uses its platform to spread awareness about these charities is clever. To eliminate fashion waste, they’ve created a program called worn wear, where customers can buy slightly used clothing for a discount.
The clothing consists of mountain biking essentials, outdoorsmen apparel, and even clothing for RVing. This helps customers with limited funds have quality outerwear without spending full price.
Patagonia has thereby input their mission to clean up the environment straight into their shop. As a result, they’ve increased their customer base, improved customer loyalty, and even enhanced customer retention.
3. Race Wax
Once you press enter, you’re brought to a bright and captivating page. You immediately see several options to which you can shop or learn more about the company.
What Race Wax does that many companies don’t is involve the customer in the purchasing process. Race Wax educates consumers about wax types, application methods, tips for usage, and much more. That way, Race Wax isn’t just a store but a trusted source of all things wax.
For them, it has paid off tremendously; by involving the customer, consumers trust the brand as an expert in the field. With guided videos and step-by-step instructions, it eliminates the customer from seeking information elsewhere. This results in higher retention rates, plus increased customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
In fact, Race Wax even provides mobile resources so ski fans can recommend their friends their favorite buy. These resources inherently drive sales and make customers organically promote the company to others.
In turn, Race Wax thrives off of customer reviews, engagement, and overall customer support. Since customers are more involved with the company, Race Wax doesn’t have to spend outrageous amounts on advertising; instead, they simply rely on the good word of their loyal customers.
4. Ride
This site grabs your attention the moment you arrive at its page with immersive skiing videos. Unlike other websites that rely on photos to catch your attention, Ride utilizes video graphics to engage the audience and get them interested in adventure sports.
Ride even uses videos past the homepage. For example, each product page includes a video about the product, explaining its materials, features, and comparing and contrasting it to other products.
Ride cleverly designed its product pages to inform customers and help them feel as if they’re experiencing the product for themselves. That way, it eliminates customers leaving the site due to underlying questions or concerns.
After all, product pages also feature a variety of images, detailed specs, as well as technology information, and a size chart. Customer reviews are even included on each product page to help customers determine if the product is right for them.
Unlike other companies, Ride ensures that the customer has all the information they need to make an educated purchase. As a result, they’re looked at as an expert in their field and trustworthy to buy from. Due to this reputation, Ride has seen an increase in sales and customer loyalty.
5. Moment Surf Co
The moment you land on their website, you’re engrossed in the local beach life with photos of the waves and the company’s most popular items. The homepage even features a carousel of images to keep potential customers engaged in outdoor sports.
However, what makes Moment Surf Co stand out is that they use real stills of everyday people surfing, sitting on the beach, and taking surfing lessons to showcase their products. The absence of staged photography promotes the brand as authentic and trustworthy.
Not to mention, it ensures that the brand is relatable. Showcasing people that are young, old, thin, or curvy, makes the brand feel less artificially produced and more community-driven.
In fact, Moment Surf Co is more than a brand; it prides itself on being a community. On their website, they post informational tips on how to select gear, what lessons to take, and the best spots for fishing and surfing.
By being so inclusive and involving customers throughout the process, the brand comes off as friendly and approachable. As a result, sales have increased, and customer retention is at an all-time high.
6. Biolite
Compared to other sites, Biolite is simple, but that’s why it works. With a single photo on its homepage and links to its overlanding and cooking products, it doesn’t push its advertising down your throat.
Instead, it educates the consumer on its mission and core values. Biolite displays how many people they have helped, stats on how they protect the environment, and information on how they’ve helped others save money. By displaying this information front and center, it shows customers the good the products and the company can do for the community.
Thereby encouraging customers to buy their products so the customers themselves can help the planet and protect their community. Rather than showing immersive videos or making the company seem like a community, Biolite focuses on consumers’ morals and charitable preferences.
They recognize that people purchase more products with companies that share similar beliefs. By displaying their charitable acts, they know they’ll increase their sales, and customers will stay loyal to the company due to its good deeds.
They’re on the Shopify platform so you know they’re taking advantage of a high-converting checkout process and ease of use from the admin side.
Get Inspired by These Adventure Brands
These brands know how to draw in customers and increase their sales simply by designing their website to target their customer demographic. They begin by gaining people’s attention by using immersive photos or videos that showcase their products and overall brand.
Once they’ve gained your attention, some then educate their customers on their products and help inform customers how to use them, which product is right for them, and so on. However, other companies take a different approach and simply educate customers on how the brand can help improve the community.
There are a lot of ways you can market your company, but there are always better ways. The top of your list should be redesigning your website if it’s not up to snuff. If you don’t have the right vehicle to drive customers to your products, you’ll waste valuable budget on ads that could otherwise be higher converting. We’re dedicated to helping the companies we work with to leave a lasting impression. Whether you want to build more brand awareness, increase sales, improve customer retention, or better compete with your competitors, we can help you and your business accomplish that goal.
For more information about our expertise in designing websites for adventure brands, please reach out. We look forward to it!
