Case Studies - Yosemite National Park Association

NonProfit Association  |  Yosemite National Park Association  |  www.yosemite.org

Opportunity & Challenge

As one of America’s most popular national parks, Yosemite needed to provide information to visitors planning a vacation of weekend trip. The Yosemite National Park Association is a nonprofit membership organization that provides opportunities for tourists to learn about, enjoy and experience the Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Despite the rich content and heavy traffic of their existing site, the site itself was cumbersome, disjointed, and visually unappealing. Instead of sharing the beauty of the park, the site left visitors frustrated to find the information they needed, and left park management struggling to update content. The online shopping experience was a separate component, totally removed from the main site. The Association needed a beautiful, easy to manage site with ecommerce integration into their Microsoft Navision software. That’s where Speartek came in.

Strategy

Speartek needed to design a new site, to capture the beauty and serenity of the Yosemite National Park. The experience needed to guide users quickly to the information they needed about the park, the products available for sale, and information about the association itself.

Solution

Speartek drew from nature to create a new site, rich in breathtaking imagery and painted in gentle earth tones. Yosemite.org combines user-friendly functionality with aesthetic appeal, and remains one of the Speartek staff’s favorite designs. The site launched in Spring 2009, complete with Microsoft Navision integration.

Continued Success

The site continues to be a very popular resource for information about park visits, online shopping, and a real time gallery featuring live feeds from cameras located throughout the park. A typical month sees approximately 100,000 unique visitors to the site. Yosemite is now utilizing the user friend Speartek Email Broadcast feature to keep association members and park visitors up to date on news and events around the park.

Client

Fast Facts

• Custom web design
• User experience planning to maximize ease of access to park info, membership & shopping
• Ecommerce platform and Microsoft Navision integration
• Real time image gallery featuring live feeds from cameras located throughout park