blooloop recently spoke to Convious, a leading eCommerce platform for the leisure industry, about the changes being experienced by attractions and how they and their customers are engaging with different technologies in the firm’s latest webinar Looking forward to 2023: Key digital trends attractions shouldn’t miss out, available to view online on-demand.
Werner Dullmaier is the managing director for the DACH region, and Floor Rameckers is the country director for Netherlands and Belgium at Convious.
The technology firm has developed the e-commerce maturity model, where the monkey on the left represents parks that only sell tickets offline, at the beginning of the development journey. When Convious first connects with members of the leisure industry, it asks what tools they currently use, and where the venue sees itself on the scale.
The more tools and data collected, the more advanced the attraction usually is and will be able to leverage this information to make stronger strategic and pricing decisions.
“We believe that the visitor journey starts at home, so not when the visitors are entering the venue, but before that on the couch, and this only ends after the visit has taken place,” says Rameckers, illustrating the core philosophy of Convious.
Personalisation
Personalisation is a key way for operators to ensure they offer products, meet their visitors’ needs, or maybe even exceed their expectations. This begins before one-foot lands in the car park, says Dullmaier: “The visitor experience journey starts with the first glimpse of the website when you’re a potential visitor to a venue. When they start researching, gathering information, looking what kind of venue it is, what the prices are, if they have events, whatever it may be.”
By using a personalised offer from the beginning, attractions can make sure that potential customers find what they’re looking for.
“We’ve all been there, on a website looking for some information and not finding it and what that makes you do is leave the website and go somewhere else. [Successful sites] require two-way communication. Gather and reconcile data which you can use to make this experience more tailor-made the next time they visit,” adds Convious.
Offline and Online
The transition to digital has been unprecedented over the last decade, with new technologies such as AR, VR and vast improvements in mobile apps making strides in the attractions sector. However, offline still plays an integral part in the communications mix, and shouldn’t be completely overruled by online.
“It’s finding a balance,” adds Dullmaier. “In terms of digitalising, COVID-19 accelerated digital growth and acceptance by three years, but that being said, families still understand that there’s a digital path alongside the offline experience and want to spend quality time offline.
“Whenever they’re on site and enjoying the experience, they want to spend quality time together without them all staring at their smartphones. Digital elements need to improve the experience and take it to another level – it’s not about replacing the offline experience, but enhancing it.”
One element of digital that has seen rapid adoption is online ticketing. Compared to the days before mass mobile phone usage, there are limited numbers of people who turn up in a car and buy a ticket at the gate.
“The percentage by the way of sales coming from mobile devices is around 44%. This is a huge market which makes it key as an operator to have a very good, seamless mobile online experience.”
Increasing loyalty
With COVID seeing an unavoidable dive in visitor numbers for sites worldwide, increasing loyalty and ensuring a higher percentage of visitors become brand ambassadors is becoming an important priority. Operators can add this group to their target audience and unlock advertising potential by delivering personalised and tailor-made experiences that make them feel special and valued.
“It’s about building a relationship with them offline,” says Dullmaier. “During the visit, we know what we need to deliver as an attractions operator – People are looking for a safe and clean environment, they want a good commercial offer, great events and good interactions with their kids for instance.”
“A very good example of how to increase your loyalty is Season Pass programmes. Every operator knows just offering a good price for an annual pass will not do the job. What makes an annual pass so exciting for a visitor is feeling valued and receiving special discounts, perhaps with other perks such as separate entry, reserved seating and special parking spots. This is what makes a difference really and turns visitors into loyal brand ambassadors.”
Pricing
Attractions are also having to navigate a cost of living crisis, with inflation and energy bills making many families reevaluate their spending habits. Although key demographics are still looking to have a good time, they have become much more price sensitive and are selective in pursuit of gaining the most value for money.
“Potential visitors will be looking for the best price option, and we believe that venues can win here by using RTP,” says Rameckers.
RTP is a scheme commonly found in the airline industry, known commonly as Real-Time Pricing. When a plane is almost full, the airline company will increase their rates following demand, knowing that on the day they anticipate being sold out.
Customers who are more flexible with travel dates will have a greater possibility of getting a better price for their flights. RTP unlocks greater income potential for operators by incentivising quieter slots and maximising demand-based revenue.
Alongside real-time booking performance, RTP can also use data such as weather forecasts, seasonality and historical data to gauge appropriate pricing.
Engagement
Keeping visitors digitally engaged during the whole customer journey is key for operators, whether this is interacting with the venue and receiving information, interacting on social media, sharing their own experiences online or leaving reviews.
“From a marketing perspective, it is extremely important to be collecting this valuable visitor data that can be used afterwards for strategic marketing planning or single marketing campaigns and special offers. This provides a reason for keeping up communication with a target audience,” says Rameckers, who also notes differences between engaging on and offline.
“Offline engagement – you cannot really measure it or do anything with that experience afterwards. It’s just a good experience for the guest and you’re doing your job as the operator. With digital engagement, you know exactly what happened and what the outcome was, even years afterwards.”
Watch now online
The entire Looking forward to 2023: Key digital trends attractions shouldn’t miss out webinar, presented by Convious, can be viewed on-demand online.
