ABOUT

Concept
Visit California is a nonprofit organization with a mission to develop and maintain marketing programs that inspire travel to California. Their job is to get people excited to visit the Golden state in support of rental car companies, hotels, national parks, wineries, restaurants and everything in between, and provide the tools to plan a memorable trip.

Their website was in need of a complete redesign, due to outdated content and administration, poor navigation and slow performance on mobile.

Through user research, we learned that over 90% of users had already decided to visit California by the time they visited the website. They didn’t need to be sold on the idea - they needed tools to create their dream vacation. In 2019, travel-related spending in California totaled $144.9B, up 3.2% from 2018. That spending makes tourism California’s biggest export. With this in mind, we set out to make the updated site a planning tool as well as providing vacation inspiration.

Execution
The final product needed to be user-first. We created five personas and user journeys, which the design team centred their work around. The new, state-of-the-art, mobile-friendly website integrates user-generated content with travel videos and podcasts in a flexible technical platform. The site features personalized content based on user interests and past searches.

The website combines high impact video and an elegant card-based page design that is easy to scan, maximizes simplicity and reduces cognitive load. The dynamic landing and campaign pages have increased content findability by more than 15%.

The interactive website includes a California Now blog and podcast, free Visitor’s Guides and recommendations on what to do, what to see and where to stay while there. Available in 17 languages, people from all over the world can create, save and share their dream California vacation.

The Road Trip Republic hub features more than 50 highway adventures, including a little something for every taste or interest. From scenery-loaded trips along the coast to excursions designed for anyone who loves quirky sights in the desert, there are countless ways for users to plan their road trip to the hidden gems and local favorites of California.

Clicking on a card takes a user into a specific road trip to reveal its details, including an engaging map that allows users to browse through road trip stops. Links provide additional information for users to learn more about the stop’s surrounding area.

Results
The site launch comes in the midst of a global pandemic that has had an unprecedented impact on travel. While California continues to adjust its reopening guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19, the site serves as a resource letting visitors know how to travel responsibly and linking to local information regarding regulations and openings, as well as serving up inspiration for future travel.

The new website enables Visit California to adapt during these ever-changing times by showcasing the local communities that are open for business, promoting road trip content, supporting the needs of in-state travelers, and amplifying user-generated content that is produced and developed by other travelers.

In the month after its launch, organic traffic surged 37 percent, and page load times are now 2 times faster. For Visit California, it's all about building trust and delivering the best digital customer experience for users who are ready to travel again, and with their new user-first website, planning this year’s travel memories is easy.