REI’s Outdoor Programs division has a mission is to inspire and educate people about the outdoors through a series of classes, events, and worldwide travel programs. Unfortunately, they often lack the required investment of staff, systems, and resources to improve their content’s effectiveness for customers. A content strategy audit helps businesses create a data-driven business case for future investment. A multi-dimensional approach was taken to consider 76 findability, engagement, and usability heuristics for all 2,100+ pages of REI Outdoor Programs’ content. This quantitative and qualitative audit resulted in an estimated $1,000,000 of immediate search engine optimization (SEO) benefits along with a prioritized list of high-ROI recommendations for future investment. These outcomes will help grow REI Outdoor Programs to more effectively inspire and educate more people for a lifetime of outdoor adventure. Learn more about REI Adventures at http://www.rei.com/adventures and REI Outdoor School at http://www.rei.com/outdoorschool.html

1. WHAT’S THE VALUE OF
OUR CONTENT?
OUR CHALLENGE
OUR SOLUTION
OUR OUTCOMES
■ Help REI Outdoor Programs increase its business with
the highest possible return on investment
■ Make a case for the value of great web content to earn
more investment of REI staff, budget, and resources
■ Determine overall content quality and effectiveness
■ Prepare for the development of a taxonomy and the
migration to a new content management system (CMS)
■ Conduct a comprehensive content inventory to find all
existing content, not just popular or well-maintained pages
■ Implement a quantitative content audit against 60+
metrics to find quick wins and longer-term opportunities
■ Perform a qualitative content audit using 16 standard
user experience (UX) heuristics from Forrester Research
■ Prioritize recommendations to guide REI’s next steps
■ An estimated $1,000,000 of search
engine optimization (SEO) findings
■ 2,187 pages audited with recommendations to improve
content findability, usability, and overall quality
■ Increased REI Outdoor Programs’ ability to inspire,
educate, and outfit people for a lifetime of outdoor
adventure and stewardship
Photo©BeckTench/MuseumofLifeandScience(creativecommonslicensed)Photo©JonathonColman/REI(creativecommonslicensed)Photo©REIOutdoorPrograms
PROJECT Web Content Audit and Analysis
CLIENT REI Outdoor Programs Division
SPONSOR Justin Donohue, REI Manager
STUDENT Jonathon Colman (mid-career MSIM)
TITLE REI Principal Experience Architect
CONTACT jcolman@rei.com