Case study UK · Tanzania · Zanzibar Build · CRO · paid ads · analytics

Safari & Beach. Same brand. Site that works as hard as they do.

Sixteen years of safari expertise. The website didn't show it. Bloated, slow, plugin-heavy, and quietly burning paid-ad spend at £140 per enquiry. We rebuilt the platform around how the team actually qualifies leads — and dropped CPA by 63% inside four weeks.

OPERATOR
Safari & Beach
SECTOR
Tour operator
SCOPE
Build · CRO · paid ads · analytics
TIMELINE
8 weeks (peak-season deadline)
01 · The numbers, posted upfront

Same audience. Different economics.

£140 → £52
Cost per acquisition
63% reduction in paid CPA, four weeks post-launch.
8×
Website conversions
Same traffic, much higher conversion rate.
+400%
Organic traffic
Year-on-year, four weeks post-launch.
4 weeks
To measurable lift
From go-live to all four metrics moving.
02 · The challenge

Strong brand, site that didn't keep up.

Safari & Beach launched in 2009 — Nick Jenkins's lifelong love of Africa, born in Nairobi, paired with Jo Jenkins's experience between Zambia and Kenya. Honest, ethically curated safari and beach experiences. Loyal client base. Excellent reviews.

By the time they came to us, the website was bloated with plugins, slow to load, and difficult to navigate. Despite strong search visibility and excellent service reviews, the digital performance didn't reflect the brand.

They were spending heavily on SEO and Google Ads but enquiry levels were unpredictable. Tracking was a struggle. Cost per acquisition was sitting at £140 per enquiry — eating margin on a service that runs at premium price points but premium delivery cost too. With peak booking season approaching, they needed scale and stability fast.

The brief, in one line
Same brand, same audience, same ad budget. Site that does the work properly.
03 · The approach · four phases

Speed, clarity, tracking that tells the truth.

01

UX teardown

500+ pages restructured around how the team qualifies leads. Top-of-funnel inspiration through to bottom-of-funnel enquiry, mapped end-to-end.

02

Performance

Plugins audited and stripped. Currency converter rebuilt. CDN caching tightened. Result: load times that hold attention and convert.

03

Conversion optimisation

Personalised itinerary flow. Repeated CTAs as users scroll. Enquiry forms simplified to match how Nick and Jo actually work the leads.

04

Analytics + tracking

Proper tracking infrastructure deployed. CPA visible per channel. Decisions stop being guesswork.

04 · Before / after

Same business. Site that earns its keep.

Safari & Beach — homepage before the rebuild
Homepage — before
Safari & Beach — homepage after the rebuild
Homepage — after
Before
  • Slow, plugin-heavy WordPress site
  • Confusing navigation and poor mobile UX
  • High cost per acquisition (£140+ per enquiry)
  • Inconsistent enquiry flow from SEO and PPC
  • Cluttered design with low engagement
  • Limited tracking — performance data hard to trust
After
  • Fast, future-proof platform with proper hosting and CDN
  • Streamlined, intuitive user journey across mobile and desktop
  • CPA reduced from £140 to £52 (a 63% reduction)
  • Personalised itinerary and contact flow matched to the team's process
  • Confident, data-driven marketing with reliable per-channel tracking
  • 8× the website conversions on the same ad budget
05 · The results, in detail

Inside four weeks, every metric moved.

  1. Cost per acquisition (paid)
    £140 → £52
    63% reduction in CPA. Same channels, same budget; rebuilt funnel.
  2. Website conversions
    +8×
    From the same traffic mix. Conversion-rate optimisation and funnel rework.
  3. Organic traffic
    +400%
    Year-on-year, four weeks post-launch.
  4. Page load time
    Reduced (plugins stripped)
    Specific seconds figure pending GSC backfill before publish.
  5. Enquiry-to-booking quality
    Improved
    Better-qualified enquiries via the rebuilt forms. Numerical lift TBC by sales team.

Sources: Google Ads, Google Search Console, internal sales CRM. Four-week post-launch window. Permission and exact dates pending operator sign-off before public release.

Safari & Beach — rebuilt mobile experience
Mobile experience
Safari & Beach — search performance metrics before the rebuild
Search performance — before
Safari & Beach — search performance metrics after the rebuild
Search performance — after

“Professional and personal service backed by excellent knowledge and understanding. Booked Wild have not only improved our digital performance, increasing ROI and customer enquiries, but continue to educate us with enthusiasm and a determination for Safari & Beach to succeed. ”

Jo Jenkins
Marketing Director · Safari & Beach
06 · What's next

The site does its job. Now we keep tuning.

The relationship continues. Ongoing CRO work, content expansion through the safari and beach destination categories, and continued reduction in paid-channel dependency as organic and direct enquiry volume scales.

Your turn

Want the same arithmetic on your business?

Two-week audit. £97. You keep the document whether we continue together or not.

Run my audit — £97 See the services
Reply within one working day · Bristol & Levi