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Indoor Skydiving Centre iFly Sees 300% Sales Increase in media sales
Having substantially invested in building iFly indoor skydiving facilities, as a start-up, the CEO needed a system that would help take the business into profit. After implementing FuseMetrix, which provided a rapid return on investment (ROI), iFly went on to open two new sites, and grow its customer base by 95%, within a comparatively short period of time.- Customer benefits at a glance
- 300% increase in photo sales within the first four months
- Delivered ROI within 12 months
- Data analysis provided new business intelligence that improved marketing
- Automatically maximised viral marketing
- Improved communications across contact database of 40,000
- The customer contact database quickly grew to 800,000
- Enabled a more creative and innovative approach to growing the business
- FuseMetrix accommodated all business functions
- Automated admin tasks
- Real-time information reporting improved management decision-making
The challenge
Within a year of having opened the first iFly indoor skydiving tunnel, iFly CEO Simon Ward realised he needed to improve customer and prospect communication to help push the company into profit as early as possible.
Although Simon recognised that serious skydivers would naturally book repeat tickets, it was the non-skydivers who would need careful management.
“We were not communicating with our customers enough. If you’re not talking, you’re not promoting, which means missed revenue opportunities,” he explained.
Having substantially invested in building iFly indoor skydiving facilities, as a start-up, the CEO needed a system that would help take the business into profit. After implementing FuseMetrix, which provided a rapid return on investment (ROI), iFly went on to open two new sites, and grow its customer base by 95%, within a comparatively short amount of time.
The solution
iFly chose FuseMetrix from a shortlist of six solutions. In principle, the company needed a system that would:
- Work for the whole company rather than just one element of it.
- Increase footfall at the venue.
- Provide a framework to ensure customer engagement.
The functionality requirements included:
- E-booking and payment
- Customer movie and photograph management
- E-merchandising
- A variety of digital marketing facilities
- Customer relationship management (CRM).
FuseMetrix, a longstanding platform, was chosen – the ‘can do’ attitude of the development and support team, along with the flexibility of the system, were deciding factors.
The results
FuseMetrix delivered a return on investment (ROI) within 12 months. Its inbuilt data analysis tools provided new market intelligence. Repeat bookings from just 5% of the customer database were generating a larger proportion of revenue than originally thought. Also, new customers were much younger than iFly was initially targeting, and so iFly adjusted its campaigns accordingly.
With tickets sometimes being a one-off purchase, cross-selling was of the utmost importance. Within four months of implementing FuseMetrix, the sales of iFly experience movies and photos had increased by a staggering 300%. Every customer received an email linking to the footage and pictures taken during their flying session, giving them the opportunity to make a purchase.
FuseMetrix automatically uploads the files, emails the relevant customers, and keeps the movies and photos available to buy online for up to a month. Using its integrated sales and pipeline system, FuseMetrix only sends promotional emails to participants who didn’t buy on the day of their flight.
Even if customers never buy a movie or photo, the FuseMetrix system counts the emails containing links to pictures and footage that are passed around their contacts. This has provided iFly with valuable word-of-mouth marketing – which money can’t buy.
The customer registration and booking process became quicker and easier through automation. For example, each customer must complete a Statement of Risk before they’re allowed to fly. This used to disrupt the customer experience when the forms were filled in on-site. Now customers can complete the form online prior to their arrival.
By collecting more details online, FuseMetrix provided iFly with a customer marketing database and the means to run promotions. The customer database grew dramatically (from 40,000 to 800,000) because new contact detail collection opportunities were no longer being missed.
FuseMetrix is proving futureproof too:
“FuseMetrix allows us to be more creative in how we grow the business. As it develops, we simply switch on the functions we need to help us stay in control,” concluded Simon.
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