Overview
Fort Union Ranch, a working cattle ranch in New Mexico, wanted to revitalize their online presence and promote their new offering: a dude ranch experience blending wide-open adventure with rich family heritage. I was brought in to redesign their website and develop a charming, effective email campaign to drive inquiries and bookings.
Objectives
Modernize the Website: Refresh the look and feel while preserving the authenticity and history of the ranch.
Promote New Experiences: Highlight the new dude ranch offerings in a way that felt genuine and inviting.
Drive Engagement: Turn website visitors and subscribers into guests through clear storytelling and strong CTAs.
Preserve Legacy: Maintain the ranch’s roots and family history while making space for new narratives.
Challenges
Balancing Heritage and Modernity: The ranch’s rich legacy needed to shine through without feeling outdated.
Limited Visual Assets: We had to work with a lean library of photos and stories while still delivering a compelling experience.
Niche Audience: Dude ranch vacationers are a unique blend of nature-lovers, families, and Western enthusiasts—messaging had to resonate broadly without losing focus.
Our Approach
Website Redesign
We rebuilt the site with a clean, rustic-modern design that used earthy tones, spacious layouts, and serif typefaces to nod to tradition while improving usability. New content emphasized the family-run legacy, the open landscapes, and the distinct hands-on ranch experiences guests could expect.
Email Campaign Strategy
To promote the dude ranch offering, we built a multi-email drip campaign that balanced storytelling with logistics. Emails featured:
Personal anecdotes and historical tidbits from the ranch
Beautiful visuals to evoke the landscape
Clear outline of what to expect on your week at the ranch
Tone-wise, we leaned into warmth, humor, and approachable hospitality—just like the folks who run the ranch.
Results
Improved Site Engagement: Bounce rate dropped 35% and time-on-site increased significantly post-launch.
High Email Open Rates: The campaign averaged a 46% open rate and a 14% click-through rate, outperforming industry averages.
Booking Inquiries Boost: Email referrals contributed to an all new high of first time guests!
Conclusion
This project blended storytelling, design, and strategy to bring a historic New Mexico ranch into the digital era—without losing what made it special. By anchoring design in authenticity and pairing it with thoughtful email marketing, we helped Fort Union Ranch share their story and fill saddles.