In a nutshell
- Challenge: How can this small tour company create online interactions that match the vibe of their tours?
- Solution: An embedded contact form to capture inquiries and a survey to get guest feedback.
- Result: 1700+ responses—and a consistent brand experience from 'hello' to 'see you next time.'
Under water Down Under
Australia is bloody big. The rocks are bloody big, the spiders are bloody big, even the bananas are bloody big.
But small can be beautiful too.
Live Ningaloo was founded in 2016 by Sonia Beckwith and Murray Pattison on the stunning Ningaloo Reef in Exmouth, Western Australia. The young couple wanted to provide a more intimate, eco-friendly alternative to the touristy, mass-market trips around the reef.
So they set up a company that offers memorable encounters to small groups of 10 people or less, such as:
Swimming with humpbacks and whale sharks
Snorkeling tours
Private charter tours
Scientific expeditions
Live Ningaloo’s tours are making waves in the Australian tourism industry. They won silver at the 2018 Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards. Then they took the gold in the inaugural Australia and New Zealand Adventure Tourism Awards.
The secret to their success?
Better interactions = better experiences
As they say on their blog:
“You get more time in the water with wildlife, and the wildlife is less agitated by fewer people. Better interactions = better experiences.”
Murray and Sonia want to create an unforgettable visitor experience. And not just in the water, but with every interaction along a guest’s journey—starting from the moment they first get in touch.
How do you reflect the magical experience of swimming with whales through a “contact us” form on your website, or in a survey to collect feedback about the trip? Answer: you can’t. Obviously.
But Murray and Sonia realized that they can use their online forms to extend the warm, personal vibe of their tours to their website.
“We’ve grown by heaps and heaps every year because we had a narrow focus—a product reverse engineered based on guest feedback and government regulations,” said Sonia.
“We didn’t want to lose that personal touch, so we needed an application to capture data in a personalized way. When I found Typeform, I was elated. It’s been delivering for us ever since.”
Here’s what happened when they took the plunge with Typeform.
Making contact
The first port of call for visitors asking about a trip with Live Ningaloo is a contact form built with Typeform. It’s seamlessly embedded on their Contact page, and styled to match the company’s brand.
Have a look for yourself:
“We use this form for basic questions to get contact information, the same way we’d ask if we were speaking to someone on the phone,” said Sonia.
“The form works because it reassures potential guests that we care enough to learn what they’re after and get back to them.”
It’s an important first touchpoint for people interested in a reef adventure, and helps their business manage expectations.
“Every morning we thoughtfully answer each message, always including information tailored to people’s needs,” said Sonia.
“The contact typeform on our website helps us start our communication off on the right foot. And it points to our email, so it’s easy peasy for us to keep up with questions outside of business hours.”
So that’s the introduction taken care of. But how do they leave the perfect parting impression once the ship has sailed?
Building on a foundation of feedback
As well as delighting customers at the start of their journey, Live Ningaloo also uses Typeform to ask for post-trip feedback.
Sonia and Murray got the idea for Live Ningaloo when surveying guests at a local eco-lodge nearby. And this culture of improving through feedback has continued to this day.
“You could say we were the human versions of Typeform. So after we started our business, we wanted to continue collecting customer feedback,” she said.
How do they get their customer feedback survey in front of people? By cleverly embedding it into the email where people get the photos of their humpback and whale shark tour. She did this using Typeform’s Redirect on completion feature.
Here’s what it looks like:
“Customers get a personalized thank you email from Mailchimp, which contains the feedback link inside it. Our guests fill out their email address in the typeform and once complete, they’re automatically redirected to a Dropbox folder with photos from their tour day,” said Sonia.
A whaley good fit
Sonia is delighted with Typeform and believes it’s a perfect fit for their business:
“Typeform is a brand that aligns with ours—thoughtful design paired with great people who make the brand sing,” said Sonia.
“Our brand has been augmented by Typeform. It’s been tailored to look and feel like Live Ningaloo, so our guests feel cared for all the way through the enquiry phase right down to the last communication. Typeform is rocking our socks off and it’s worth every penny!”
Let’s take a look at the features behind the forms.
How did Sonia do it?
1. Custom design “Typeform makes it so easy for us to customize the colors so we can stick to our brand,” said Sonia. “We also love the ability to add photos, videos, GIFs, and our logo when needed.” Find out how to design your typeforms in this article on our Help Center.
2. Recall information Sonia is a big advocate of personalized, human interactions in company communications. She uses the Recall Information feature to reuse respondents’ names in emails, which gives the typeform a more conversational feel.
3. Embed Live Ningaloo’s contact typeform is embedded into the company’s About page, using a “standard” embed. Find out how to embed your typeforms in this Help Center article.
4. Self notifications The contact form is also linked to their email inbox, so they receive inquiries as soon as they come in. Switch on self-notifications to get instant alerts when people fill in your typeform.
What next?
Ready to start using Typeform to handle customer inquiries?
Get started by copying our contact form template to your Workspace.
Check out this Help Center article that explains how to make a Website contact form.
Find out how to improve your business with our feedback survey templates.
Header photo by Katia Benini