We carried out a strategic review of the business, created a digital vision to reimagine Fred. Olsen’s guest experience and defined a roadmap for a five-phase overhaul of the digital estate.

A richer, more immersive experience

We started working with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines at the height of the consumer confidence crisis post pandemic, but also following the recent launch of two new ships, increasing their capacity from 96,000 guests to 140,000 a year. With the pressure on to drive results at speed, the first phase focused on redesigning the marketing website and booking engine, all within the existing CMS. We refined the flow, navigation structure, visual design, as well as re-claiming the homepage for cruising. We improved data capture opportunities and added more excitement to landing pages, making it easier to imagine what the onboard experience is like. The result is an new website and booking experience that has surpassed all expectations. Helping to drive digital revenues as well as attract in new customer bookings.

A focus on customer acquisition

We created a vision — a clickable prototype for what discovery through to booking and pre-trip might feel like. We were keen not to be constrained by current technical platforms, but instead imagine an online experience that would engage our primary audience, the Enthusiast. It was a great way to bring digital, sales and marketing together into a set of conversations around what could be done. 

From hand-crafted itineraries, a focus on scenic cruising and smaller ships, there are a number of compelling factors that differentiate Fred. Olsen from other mainstream market alternatives. The aim of our work was to communicate these principles within the entire experience, so that they are felt and can be recalled rather than just stated.

We brought the individual aspects of each ship to the fore as a key selling point. In the cruise page, we leveraged existing assets to better display cruise highlights, with the option to deep dive — helping build the sense of anticipation and excitement for the journey to come.

Conversion from browsing to booking

In order to reach their booking capacity targets, FOCL had to build and refresh their customer database. So all roads were required to lead sign up and we had to increase preference capture throughout the customer journey. We made more prominent the benefits of the saved cruises function and encouraged registration to this and the Fred Olsen newsletter.

An Internet Booking Engine (IBE) is a complex piece of interaction design. Fred. Olsen are part way through scoping a complete replatform, which will hopefully enable them to have far greater options for selling their offer. For this project we worked out what we were able to enhance without over investing in a platform that has a limited shelf life. We introduced a page template that clearly showed progress through the booking funnel. It’s longer than some may expect, due to options available, so setting expectations was important. We also looked at key drop-off points and worked on how we might make it clearer what the next action is. We refined the overall positioning of copy and the interaction language at key steps to make it as intuitive as possible.

Since this project was delivered

Now that we have completed the first phase, we have proved there are high-value areas of the customer experience that can greatly improve Fred.Olsen’s chances of scaling their digital and direct channels. As we move onto the next phase we will focus on driving more demand into the web estate and improving the post-book, pre-trip build up. Here we can positively affect the average revenue per guest and continue to drive digital revenue up.