3 creative ideas for your app to create unique visitor experiences

In an industry where experiences are fundamentally human, the place of emerging digital technologies is to aid us. It is there to make the most out of these experiences - not to replace them but enhance them. 

With this insight, most attraction-oriented mobile apps already provide game-changing functionalities such as park maps, placements for content, heat maps, waiting times, or mobile food ordering. They act as a great extension, making an experience much more elaborate and delightful. Still, we all know, the industry's heart beats for the greatest experience possible, which means always taking it to the next level - and maybe an extra dash of creativity can be your unique differentiator without reinventing the wheel or adding more and more features and complexity to your mobile app. It is time to think about how to use the tools you already have at your disposal before jumping on to the next. Often, we miss out on great opportunities because we do not exploit all potentials. 

Let's get that thinking cap started... 💡

1. Use your park map as the map to your scavenger hunt

Whether it is families or groups of friends, everyone loves a bit of riddle solving and friendly competitiveness, especially if there is a treasure involved. Luckily your park map can come in handy when organizing this extra fun for your visitors. Think about adding riddles to your digital attractions information panel, hints on posters or adding hidden stickers in your attractions waiting area, for example, guiding your visitors from one to another. Here your digital solution and the offline elements build a unique experience. 

Here is an example: 

Riddle: From this pot, the adults can drink a lot. If you go where you can find me, my smell may set you free!

Answer: Coffee pot. Therefore, your visitor can find the next hint at one of your cafes, restaurants or even your souvenir shop. 

Here you can really play with the themes and stories that your venue and attractions tell. You can use this as a chance to familiarize your visitors with the stories and make them love and experience them in a whole new way.

Let your creativity run loose - if you need more inspiration for scavenger hunts, here are some examples of no other than Disney.

2.Friendly helper: Take the extra step to avoid queues 

Easy to implement via a dedicated employee with access to the messenger or via an automated system, is sending push notifications or messages to your visitors that suggest various rides with the lowest waiting times. This will not only delight your customers because they can make the most out of their day but make them feel cared for while at the same time ´´ if used deliberately, enhancing your in-venue visitor spread. 

3. Make waiting fun 

Even with limited capacity, visiting an attraction is always connected to a little bit of waiting. While your visitors know that and can prepare for that, a pleasant surprise making this experience a bit more fun is always more than welcome. Themed waiting areas are there to get your visitors into the story but also to make waiting seem less like - well, waiting. Your app could add to that experience by having location-based easter eggs pop up. To clarify: In this case, easter eggs are secret responses such as sending a message that occurs as a result of a particular trigger, the location. Here again, you could start a quiz or a raffle that picks up the waiting area’s design or storyline. If you want to make it easier for yourself, you could propose relevant content via content placements in your application. Maybe you want to retell the story behind the attraction, maybe more about the process of building it. Lastly, you could also suggest checking out your restaurants to create anticipation for lunch or cotton candy in between. With mobile food ordering, you could even guarantee the food to be ready after the next ride!

As you can see, there are many creative ways to use your existing and mobile app functionalities in novel ways to create unique experiences. And most of these ideas allow you to compliment your amazing offline world with some digital sparks. Not all efforts of connecting these two need to be complex - of course you can always implement more and more advanced technology, but sometimes a bit of creativity is all it needs to make what you have even greater! 

The last tip we want to give you before we let you go: It is always a nice idea to thank your visitors for their visit via a message in their inbox. It allows them to reminisce about their visit and gives you the opportunity to take their current high of emotions after a day at your venue, to add just another incentive for a return! May that incentive be a special offer, additional delighting content or a voucher code, this as well is up to your creativity. 


If you are looking for more advice, do not hesitate to get in touch with us!

Or dive into more insights in our resources...