.png)
In our third podcast episode, we spoke to industry experts on the digital guest journey. From booking tickets online, to wayfinding through the park, our guests rely heavily on mobile devices and screen-based technology to make their experience better. But is it impacting all guests for the better?
Our Insights Director Robbie Jones and Head of Marketing at Attractions.IO Ellen Kasinopoulou shared their thoughts on the topic, delving into the trending topics of AI and a resurgence in human-to-human interactivity.
How are guests using the technology in theme parks and what are they getting out of it?
Ellen
I think we see two big trends. So the first is that they really start the digital behaviour in a big way before they even get there. So 78% we see book online, even with smaller attractions where that's typically been kind of walk up to the gate, that kind of metric has grown massively in the past few years.
And then when they get on site, they're really looking at ways to have as much fun as possible, connect with their loved ones, simplify the functional elements of the guest journey so that they can actually go ahead and have that great experience without worrying about some of the things that have historically maybe caused a little bit of friction.
So in the research that we did, 60% of guests told us that they do want to use an app when they're on site and then that was actually followed by wanting to have digital ticketing and wanting to have payments taken by mobile. So you really see a big trend for doing kind of functional benefits so that they can go away and have a great time.
Robbie
The guest experience with digital is quite an interesting relationship. Something that we picked up looking at the behaviour of theme park super fans as we call them. So 150 Americans that visit multiple theme parks every year. It's interesting to see that they need their mobile phones to get around. They want to take photos, they want to take videos, they want wayfinding to be easy, they want a frictionless experience.
But at the same time, what we're seeing is that we're losing them to the rest of the content that's on their phones. So one of the things that kind of broke my heart a little bit was that around 20% of people were answering work emails in a theme park setting. That could have been in a queue line, that could have been, you know, walking around the theme park. But if there's one thing that I think we all want from attractions is that we want that escapism.
We want that ability to step outside of the real world, focus on our family and make sure that we're enjoying every single moment and thematic elements and live experience and amazing roller coaster that we're allowed to ride on. Right now, in some cases, mobiles are hindering that experience if people are spending too much time on their devices.
But with many of these things, there's always a balance to find between making sure the experience is amazing, but offering a frictionless experience at the same time.
What is it that people feel is a really successful digital theme park experience?
Ellen
When we think about what a successful kind digital experience would look like on site, I mean, we would always say take it back to your guests and your guest journey because everywhere is slightly different. So I think a key piece of work that we do if we are onboarding a new client is actually asking them to complete a guest journey map and walk us through what the peaks and pits of that guest journey really look like so that they've got a basis for identifying where it's all at.
Beyond that, in terms of what we see them wanting, it really comes down to a few things. So you have the functional levers that eliminate friction, and that includes things like pass ticketing that they can just scan through a turnstile and enter straight away instead of having to actually stand there for sometimes 45 minutes at the beginning of the day.
So you've got admissions, you've got not waiting in line, being able to understand where queues are long, being able to skip them if that's important to you and pay for the pass at just the tap of the button. And wayfinding is the other big one.
So one of the things that did come out of our recent research was that guests are really still interested in better wayfinding and operators have moved on from thinking about it as an area. So we have, you know, got native app maps. We've got maps hosted on the web now and, you know, people kind of think that's done and dusted, but, know, there's so much more that we could do to make it immersive. There's so much more with AI that we could do to help people get there faster. It's really not one and done. So that's the first thing.
The second thing is actually just around helping them have a great day. So one of the really interesting things that came out of the report that I think we were maybe not expecting was a preference for surprise and delight experiences. So guess they want the functional benefits, but they also want operators to start doing something, you know, a little bit spicy and a little bit extra to really brighten up their day. and I think that includes, you know, sending them a little offer if they've been through X times in the last six months and you know that they love this restaurant so you can go ahead and send them that offer. It might be letting them know that you're going to upgrade them on one ride and giving them the fast pass but people are really excited about that and I think it's not something that's maybe being fully explored yet.
Are we understanding our theme park guests well enough?
Robbie
I think that's a conundrum the industry will always have to deal with but its something from an insights perspective we're absolutely driven on. Psychographics, instead of demographics, what's the psychographics of your guests? What are their attitudes? What are their interests? What are their values? And so often we see a really clear correlation between not just understanding the psychographics to get people to come to the attraction in the first place, but as you said, Ellen, how you get them to behave in the attraction to provide them with an even better experience than what they would have had without your support. So there is so much value in really digging down into those market segments, audience data.
Attitudes, interests, values, just so important to understand the guests that come through the door. I think it's really interesting the amount of data that will become available to attractions over the next few years. The rise of AI is obviously going to do a lot of the hard number crunching, but there's always going to be a need to disseminate what that information is trying to tell you. And if anything, this year we've seen two trends that have kind of come into the leisure industry that are human centric in some form.
So, two things that aren't necessarily data driven. The first is that from our trends report at the start of the year, we saw that human connection is becoming more and more important. People want to speak to another person. They want to see the whites of people's eyes. And even though there are technologies such as robots with iPads where you can check into theme parks and things, there is an ability to answer.
What guests want from an efficiency perspective with technology like that, but also from an emotional human perspective as well with an actual face and a person to talk to. And the second thing and the second trend we've seen this year is around spontaneity. Now, we are living in a fast-paced environment with AI that doesn't quite yet be able to forecast sort of spontaneous moments that may happen within parks. They happen all the time, whether it's someone falling over and you need to get, you know, an emergency services there. might be a ride breaking down when you didn't know it was going to happen, or it might be a impromptu singer or busker in the middle of the rides that just give a performance that gathers people around. That spontaneity is human integral.
And it's helping to drive a real need for people that want something that's not necessarily advertised within theme parks and other attractions. I think, you know, Instagram, social media, you can do point of view walkthroughs of pretty much every attraction you can think of on YouTube. And because we are so well taught about what's there in the first place, to be able to bring something that is completely random to the atmosphere changes the experience for the better. I really, I feel like data is going to drive like the nuts and bolts of what we think the guest experience is going to be like, but there's always going to be that pang of human intelligence that's required to make the best experiences in the future.
What would your advice be for theme park operators wanting to improve their digital guest journey?
Ellen
My recommendations for operators who are starting to think about maybe how they would want to enhance the totally Digital Guest experience in 2025 would be
to go back to your guests first and foremost, see what they want. Our research has shown that typically even though they have a preference for certain technologies or certain kind of touch points in the guest journey, they're quite often feeling like that's not really being met right now. you know, only 30% are having a great experience with digital technology on site and that is a really small percentage.
But 63% of them are telling us that they would come back more, pay more, and likely have increased loyalty to the operator if we were able to smooth out some of these touch points and experiences. So I would start with them and really kind of do the work to understand what they need.
And then I would strategically look at what you're doing to make sure that where you add technology, it's really at a point in the guest journey where it's going to either elevate that experience or minimize some source of friction. So we don't want to be kind of weaving digital touch points in for no reason, because as we said earlier, that would most likely detract from the experience that they're having. And we want to keep them very present and in the moment. But I think done at the right moment, you can have a really powerful impact naturally -
helping them to stay focused on the things that matter most when they visit.
Robbie
I think operators really need to dig down into the psychographics of guests even more. There's never been more data and information about what people's attitudes and interests and values are. And I think that stems to their behavior and their balance that they expect from a technology perspective and a guest experience perspective as well.
When is it best to give people the license to use their phones for wayfinding? If you're seeing that there's lots of people that are using queue lines to answer work emails, then maybe there's something operationally wrong that can't be solved with technology. Maybe you need more rides, maybe you need more of an immersive queue line, or maybe you just need to somehow solve society's problem that's got an addiction to mobile phones!
We know that finding the balance between technology and humans is the most important thing. And I guess that can only be done by really, really and truly understanding the people that visit your attraction.
