If you’re like many attractions operators, you use a mix of software to manage various park operations—from ticketing, e-commerce, and point-of-sale to access control, waivers, and cashless payments. But the siloed data and lack of connected systems—coupled with confusing interfaces and inflexible platforms—make it difficult to drive revenue and improve the guest experience. These pain points, including frustration with technology, result in missed revenue potential.
As we enter a new stage of the pandemic, operators face the opportunity to make impactful changes that help both staff and guests. Many are ditching their patchwork of old systems in favor of Connect&GO’s all-in-one management platform, aptly called Konnect. After being an early pioneer of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tech in the entertainment and live events industry, Connect&GO specifically built Konnect to address the challenges that attractions operators face.
(Photo Credit: Connect&GO)
Tara Morandi, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Connect&GO, draws on over a decade of industry experience to discuss strategies that water parks, family entertainment centers (FECs), and attractions of all sizes can leverage to transform their operations. Here, Morandi shares best practices for using data to its full potential:
1. Alleviate frustration with an easy-to-use system. Whether it’s an e-commerce site or ticketing, your technology should be easy to use and give front-line staff the tools they need to deliver excellent customer service. “When you can’t do simple things on the fly and you’re in the height of your season, that’s really frustrating,” Morandi says. Technology should also empower you to be proactive, innovative, and flexible, such as quickly adapting to your business’ changing needs to configure packages and run promotions.
2. Centralize data and use it to your advantage. Data that sits in silos equals lost opportunities. Disconnected systems make it harder to understand how guests are experiencing your attraction. An all-in-one management platform, like Konnect, unites your systems and gives you the insights you need to make powerful business decisions. “All these disparate systems give you fragmented data,” explains Morandi, noting that a lack of real-time, connected data was one of the reasons Connect&GO built Konnect. “That’s a game changer for this industry—knowing in real time where you’re hitting those touch points.”
3. Optimize your e-commerce store for success. Guests want an easy online purchasing process, whether they’re making a group sales reservation, renewing a season pass, or reserving a cabana. With that in mind, features that allow for robust self-service portals, upsells and cross-sells, and post-visit purchasing are key. “It’s all about reducing friction in the purchasing process, and for today’s guest, that means the ability to handle everything online, whether sitting at home or even in your parking lot,” adds Morandi.
4. Create a connected experience for guests on-site. Konnect’s Virtual Wallet technology ties everything together for guests, making it easier for them to purchase and redeem credentials by using RFID media or simple QR codes. It also facilitates the exchange of real-time data across e-commerce, point-of-sale, access control, gaming cards, and locker integrations. “Our Virtual Wallets can really save your guests time and increase spend per head,” Morandi says. By preregistering RFID media, guests can gain access, utilize cashless payments, and redeem member benefits all with a simple scan of their wearable.
5. Build and scale strong relationships. The more you know about your guests, the more you can tailor your communication to them. That’s the beauty of Konnect’s marketing automation and customer relationship management (CRM) functionality, and it starts with collecting the right information. “Having real-time data helps your staff better understand the customer journey and connect the dots,” Morandi says. Next, you need to be able to easily access this data. No more exporting email lists or wondering about the accuracy of outdated information. Instead, this completely integrated solution helps you send the right message at the right time—the ultimate in personalized marketing. Need some ideas to build and scale strong guest relationships? Download Connect&GO’s free e-book on five ideas for using marketing automation to grow your business here.
The Connect&GO Difference
In business for more than a decade, Connect&GO pivoted in 2017 from the events and entertainment industry to leisure, parlaying its expertise in enhancing guests’ on-site experience. Since then, Connect&GO has seen explosive growth—with an expanded client base and a dozen new hires from throughout the attractions and tech industries since December 2021.
“This allows us to connect with our clients and understand their true pain points, their business, and their challenges,” Morandi explains. “We’ve doubled the number of venues we’ve had every year, which through a pandemic, is even more impressive.” She expects 2022 to be the best year since Connect&GO’s inception, on track to process more than $100 million in transactions.
The company’s goal? To create the most flexible and easy-to-use management platform that gives attractions operators the real-time data they need to drive revenue and increase guest engagement.
“We focus on solutions where we work collaboratively with our clients toward the shared mission of their growth,” Morandi explains. “They grow, we grow.”
For example, Nadine St-Amant, co-owner and president of Super Aqua Club in Quebec, Canada, implemented Konnect and quickly transformed into a power user. “One of the advantages is we now know the customer journey, allowing us to better analyze the guest touchpoints at each step,” St-Amant says. “Not only do we have all the real-time data in one place on the Virtual Wallet dashboard, but it also delivers real-time numbers of people inside the park,” she adds, noting that this allows her to better manage her staff, as well.
- To learn more about Connect&GO and how you can drive revenue with their all-in-one attractions management platform, visit connectngo.com.
This story was made possible by IAAPA partner Connect&GO. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Funworld writers and editors. IAAPA does not endorse any service, company, or product mentioned within.
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