5 Ways Attractions Are Using Beacon Technology to Amplify their Visitor Experience

Attracting visitors is a top priority of today’s attractions, whether it’s an amusement park, museum, festival, or zoo. Few visitors translate into low profits. Attractions must constantly keep up with the best way to attract visitors as well as think about how to enrich their experience once they get them through the door. Traditional forms of advertising, as well as a strong social media presence, only go so far.

It’s time to think about beacon technology and its impact on attractions’ attendance.

Beacons are tiny computers that can be placed inside and outside. They operate on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and “talk” to smart devices that are close to them (between 5 and 150 feet).

Once a consumer downloads an app and comes into proximity with the beacon, they are able to receive a variety of helpful information directly on their smart device.

Attractions are using beacon technology to amplify their visitor experience offering in 5 unique ways.

1: Providing Accurate Wayfinding

Gone are the days when visitors crowd around a large “You Are Here” map at the front of the attraction or try to unfold a paper map to figure out where they want to go next. With beacon technology, visitors are able to find what they are interested in, easily. Up-to-date maps are available via beacons, as well as the location of restrooms and food locations. No more wondering around aimlessly trying to find what you are looking for, or searching for the bathroom in frustration, if the attraction employs beacons. Wayfinding has it covered, directly to the visitors’ smart phones.

2: Personalizing the Visitor Experience

The modern consumer doesn’t accept a “one size fits all” strategy. They want to feel unique and special. With beacon technology, the attraction’s experience can be tailored to each visitor like never before. Share information about certain rides, videos about animals, and important “behind the scenes” stories about historical exhibits, directly from the strategically placed beacons to the visitor’s smart device. These additions build a more fulfilling, personalized visitor experience.

3: Offering Promotions and Coupons

Beacons can help attractions increase their profit within their secondary spaces. Want to drive traffic to the gift shop? Ping out a 10% off coupon to visitors who are close by. Need more sales at the on-location restaurants? Send out a promotion for a free drink with a purchase.

Using proximity-based promotions allows the attraction to push consumers to increased spending, which adds to the overall profitability-per-visitor.

4: Increasing Gamification Interaction

People are nuts for a fun game. Remember how obsessed everyone was with Pokémon Go? Beacon technology can be set up to interact with visitors using games. Trivia about each attraction is a fun way to create engagement. There are endless ideas where attractions can leverage gamification to benefit their guests’ visits. This type of interactive experience helps visitors own their experiences, and easily share them with friends across their social media.

5: Gathering Valuable Visitor Feedback

An extra benefit implementing beacon technology offers attractions is that it gathers valuable information on the visitors. This data can answer important questions. Which of your exhibits ended up catching and holding the most attention? Which areas of the attraction see the most traffic? How high was the participation rate in the games? What are the most popular areas of the attraction that people share on social media? These analytics are essential to increasing future success. Decision makers can use their findings to create exciting new offerings, drive future attendance, and create a higher level of ongoing customer satisfaction.

Competition to get people in the door is increasing, and attractions must find a way to stay viable. Implementing beacon technology into an attraction’s app is key to creating the type of experience consumers are coming to expect. Once this new technology is embraced, there is no limit to the ways it can help increase customer satisfaction, attendance, and profit!