From our vantage point in working with a wide variety of adventure parks and zipline tour operations, the impact is clear: when take care of your operations, the guest experience improves, which leads to greater return visitation, better reviews, and ultimately more money in your pocket.
Read on for 5 tangible ideas to iron out your operations and create a lasting positive impression with every customer.
1. Take care of the details in advance:
People hate waiting, standing in long lines, filling out complicated forms, and repeating themselves. Take the cumbersome process of manually completing forms out of the equation by creating a policy that requires guests to sign digital waivers and pay in advance. This means little time spent waiting and a streamlined check-in system where guests get to move on to the adventure right away. In addition, it guarantees you have contact information for each guest, so you can contact them to come back again!
You’ll want to make sure your staff can check in guests efficiently, without having to go to multiple places to find waivers, payment information, or added items purchased.
2. Turn “Line Anxiety” To Your Advantage:
Even after you make every effort to speed check-ins and handle details in advance, there are inevitably going to be times your guests are waiting. Whether that is waiting for a safety orientation to begin or to get going on their next platform. And, studies show, waiting equals anxiety for your guests. According to Harvard Business School professor Ryan Buell, the anxiety we feel about waiting can affect how consumers experience the service—and can affect companies’ bottom lines.
We’ve all felt it. When I get to a restaurant and the place has 10 open tables but they tell me the wait is 30 minutes, I want to leave. When there are no open tables and the wait is 30 minutes, I’m inclined to stay. I can see they are busy, and hope someone leaves early. When I’m exposed to the process, I can appreciate it more. Buell has a few good tips if your clients have to wait:
“SHOWING CUSTOMERS THE WORK THAT’S BEING DONE TO SERVE THEM CAN CAUSE THEM TO MIND WAITING LESS AND VALUE THE SERVICE MORE”
To guard against that outcome, Buell recommends that service providers think carefully about how they set up their physical environments—for example, allowing the customers to focus on the service process rather than the fact they are waiting.
Buell’s data also shows that the dissatisfaction with being in line diminishes over time, so engaging with customers more quickly could help keep them patient. “When a barista comes up to you in line and asks, ‘Can I get something started for you?’ then you feel less pain from waiting,” Buell says, “plus you feel invested now and are less likely to give up.”
3. Automate More and Let Group Leaders Take the Reins:
Many adventure park and zip tour companies earn more than half their revenue and book advanced sales by selling to organized groups. While they are highly desirable for filling downtimes and repeat business, being disorganized upon their arrival might be the last time you see them. Taking care of the details before arrival can iron out these issues.
Automate the “management” of groups and empower your clients and group leaders to manage their event without you. Give direct visibility into who has signed waivers. Who has paid (if applicable). Your group leader wants their event to go smoothly, and can facilitate that if given the tools.
If you’re a Flybook user, the client terminals, are the best way for a group leader to manage their off-site or special event: a client terminal that they can track who has signed waivers and collect payments. Added bonus: group sales reps spend less time doing administrative tasks and more time selling!
4. Implement a Self Serve Kiosk:
Kiosks improve customer satisfaction by shortening check-in wait times, transaction times, and enhancing logistical flow. Implementation of a kiosk interface can reduce queues by over 30%, which can be an impactful first impression for a new customer and turn them from one time visitors into lifelong fans. Kiosks also help employees do their job effectively as they reduce the time commitment required for each customer. Especially during peak times, this aids the employees in being more efficient and reduces the stress and chaos of long lines. Leveraging the use of kiosks for ticketing and waivers will help your business manage queue time, “traffic” flow and elevate the check-in experience.
5. Add amenities to your park:
Enhancing your overall experience never has an end date. And, the good news is, it will also help your bottom line.
Adding experiences like a VIP ticket for your activity, offer the person who always wants to buy the most expensive thing an option. You get to sell them a premium item at a premium price which should have even better profit margins than your normal ticket.
Another example might be adding a campfire with smores upsell option to your birthday party packages. Parents are willing to pay for this more authentic outdoors experience, especially if you take care of the details!
All in all, the better the experience, the better the reviews and more repeat customers you’ll get. Need help with tools to smooth and improve your check-in experience and operation? We would love to support. Join us at booth 511/513 at ACCT. Reach out to The Flybook and schedule a free demo!