Building an outdoor and adventure activity to sell on the internet

You'll discover step-by-step how we create our outdoor and adventure activities for our partners on Manawa.com and share with you what works for us to promote our canyoning, paragliding, diving, snorkelling, rafting, dog sledding and other activities.

10 tips for building your outdoor and adventure activities

Number 1: Have a clear, precise title for each of your activities

At Manawa, we've found that when it comes to selling an online activity, the headline is one of the most important elements. It must always be simple and precise, and the titles that work best for us are always in the format SPORT + POINT INTEREST + SPOT. By simple and precise we mean that it should make it immediately clear what activity you're talking about and where it's taking place.

A few examples of titles: Discover ice canoeing on the Saint Lawrence in Quebec - Helicopter flights over the volcanoes and cirques of Reunion Island - Scuba diving in the Cousteau reserve, Guadeloupe - Tandem paragliding flight opposite Mont Blanc, Chamonix - Introduction to dog sledding in Avoriaz, Portes du Soleil - Introduction to the Pulischellu canyon in Bavella, Corsica...

Number 2: The photos must allow customers to project themselves into the activity 📷

We don't need to tell you that customers are reading less and less. So your visuals have to be beyond reproach and allow them to project themselves into the activity in order to make them want to book online with you. It's not easy to get good photos these days, especially for outdoor and adventure activities, but it's one of the few investments you should make without hesitation.

The idea is not to have 50 photos but to have 5 good ones for each of your activities. The photos that work well are :

• A photo of the activity in a landscape,
• A photo of customers in "action" during the activity,
• A photo of customers with smiles on their faces,
• A landscape photo showing the point(s) of interest for the activity,
• A photo of your structure (base, changing rooms, lorry, overalls, etc.) to create reassurance,
• A photo/image of the itinerary on a map showing the progress of the activity.

Videos can be great too, but it's imperative to have a video for every activity you offer so you don't 'lose' the customer when they watch it. The Centre de Vacances de la Ferme 5 Étoiles near Tadoussac in Quebec has done an incredible job on their photo and video visuals for each of their activities.

Number 3: Technical information will save you a lot of time

If you want to sell your activities online, you need to have all the technical information that will answer most of your customers' questions. You will find below the information that we believe is the minimum necessary for all your activities, but you should obviously add the specific characteristics of each of your activities.

Compulsory information : typical itinerary, duration of the activity, time required on site, minimum age, minimum and maximum number of people per group, prices, things to bring, what is included, what is excluded, pre-requisites, special conditions.

Specific information may include: the physical condition required, the number and height of canyon jumps, the power of the snowmobile fleet, the colour and temperature of the water, the number and type of horses, etc.

Number 4: Describing the activity is the most important step

The description of the activity is super important, both to make customers want to come and do it with you and to enable your website to be correctly referenced on the internet. At Manawa, this is the part where we spend the most time with our partners. There are several types of structure that work and I'll give you a typical diagram below which is one of the simplest and most effective for Manawa:

1. INTRODUCTION AND REASSURANCE - Discover the spot sport with the company and/or first name of the instructor who has been a specialist in the activity in question for X years.
2. GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION - The spot is great for sport because it has this point of interest and that point of interest and it's close to this town and an hour's drive from other towns in this region.
3. SPORT INFORMATION - Sport is great because you get to do this and that, learn this and that, feel this and that, wear this and that, go beyond this and that...
4. SPORT + SPOT - The sport in the spot is incredible because you'll be doing this and that in the heart of this and that (summarise the activity).
5. INCENTIVES TO BUY - Don't hesitate any longer and book (or get in touch) with the company and/or instructor to come and discover the sport at spot

Number 5: The meeting point must be precise and easy to find 🌍

It's quite logical, but the customer needs to be able to easily find where the business is based. The ideal is to have a map so that they can easily project themselves and/or a clickable link to google maps to generate an itinerary. If it's a bit technical, the minimum is to at least have a clear and simple postal address that they can copy and paste into Google Maps or a map to find easily (nobody uses GPS any more).

If you have meeting points outside your base, directly on the site of the activity, I invite you to create "key locations" on Google maps. You can then name them whatever you like, which will make it easier for your customers to find them. What's more, it will also help your competitors - it's collaborative!

Here's a little test to see if it's accurate and simple enough: ask one of your friends who isn't very good with his phone to connect to your site with his phone and enter the address of the meeting point for the activity on google maps or a map. If they can't do it in under 3 minutes, you'll lose customers!

Number 6: Customer reviews count and so do the stars! ⭐

Stars are important to ensure that your customers buy your outdoor and adventure activities on the Internet and choose you rather than someone else. In today's activity sector, you mainly get reviews of your facilities (which is already great), but I would also encourage you to get customer reviews of your various activities and display them on your various pages.

If John Paul, aged 54, writes that such and such an activity in such and such a place was the best part of his holiday, other customers will be reassured and more motivated to come and do the same activity. This can be done automatically or manually, but it's a real added value when it comes to selling your activities online. We have a dedicated article to help you collect customer reviews.

Number 7: If you speak more than one language, make it known

If you speak other languages, highlight them on your site. Knowing that you can manage the activity in Dutch will encourage Dutch people to come to you. Ideally, you should even duplicate your activity page in this language. It takes a bit of time, but it allows you to reach a different clientele, with much less competition, especially on the Internet.

Number 8: Online booking will become indispensable

That's not the point of this article, the aim is to help you build your products better so that you can show them to as many customers as possible, but if you don't consider switching to online booking you're going to end up losing customers. These days, anyone can book medical appointments, restaurants, hotels, shopping, etc. with just three clicks on their phone. Whether that's a good thing or not is another debate, but the important thing is that your customers are going to take less and less time to phone you or write you emails.

If you haven't already done so, we invite you to find out more about online booking software. At Manawa we are already connected with Resamare, FareHarbor, Trekksoft, BookingKit, Activitar, Bokun, Yoplanning, Regiondo and Rezdy and will continue to add more over the next few years. There are many other tools available on the market.

If you're not yet ready to take the plunge and book online, at the very least add dates to your forms. I talk about this in point 6 of my article "A few simple tips for promoting your activities".

Number 9: Cancellation policies increase conversion rates 📈

The last few years have been special and many people have had problems with cancellations and refunds in all sectors of activity. If you're flexible about last-minute cancellations, write it down clearly, as this will encourage the customer to buy. If you're not, write that down too, to protect yourself from customers who've partied too hard the night before. You can find the 5 cancellation policies that our partners choose on Manawa. Today, 60% of our activities are flexible, 15% super flexible, 15% intermediate and 10% strict or super strict.

Number 10: Prices must be clear and easy to understand

The idea here is not to tell you how much your activity should cost, but above all to encourage you to have a clear price list that is easy for customers to understand. At Manawa we always recommend that you create products where everything is included in the price of the activity. If this is not possible (ski lifts, ski touring, canyoning boots, etc.), it is important to provide all the information so that customers can easily find the equipment they need.

Bear in mind that if customers need to contact you to confirm a price or an option, they may compare prices or simply leave your site. So remember to specify the price on the activity pages, but also, if there are group prices, specific prices (high season/low season, child/teen/student prices, etc.), the ages/conditions that go with them, or prices per machine or instructor commitment, etc.

At Manawa we rarely have any questions about prices, and only exceptionally is this a deterrent for our customers. Above all, our customers want an unforgettable experience of the great outdoors and adventure!

Don't hesitate to share this article with your friends/contacts in the sector if you think it might be of interest to them, and to get back to your regional managers if you have any questions. If you are not yet a Manawa partner, click here: Join us on Manawa.com 😎.