Rethinking Your Facility Management Approach: Recurring Revenue

With the economy struggling, soon entertainment businesses will once again be positioned to offer guests a safe place to escape and play. But consumers will likely be more careful of where and how they spend their entertainment dollar, at least in the early phases of the recovery.

The facilities that will rebound the best will most likely be those with well-planned programs and packages. It will be important to deliver value and excitement to the consumer while building a strong revenue stream for your business. We’ve put together five things you need to know when building recurring revenue programs in your park or FEC.

No. 1: Entice guests to return with passes.

Passes are a great way to entice guests to return to your facility and build brand loyalty, and there are many ways to offer compelling passes.  For example, you could offer a ten-visit pass, a summer or another type of season pass, or an annual pass. Passes deliver value on admission or attraction pricing for guests and your facility receives the benefit of a bigger ticket item purchase and increased likelihood of return visits.

As with other offerings, be creative when packaging and marketing your passes. Consider offering other perks, such as including special offers for locker rentals, merchandise, food and beverage, or even party packages.

When pricing, consider varying payment terms to make products more attractive to more guests, such as one-time purchases, quarterly or monthly payment plans with automatic billing and renewals via tokenized credit card. Remember that you don’t have to (and shouldn’t) give away the farm – passes can be configured to reduce or otherwise change the price of an item as well. They can be a useful tool for filling in the slow times by offering a greater value during your off-peak days and a lower incentive for your busier times.

No. 2: Deliver exclusivity and value with memberships.

Another option, which delivers a high perception of value is a membership program. Instead of, for example, charging a one-time fee for an annual season pass of $99, perhaps you build an ongoing monthly membership of $9.99 per month. Over the long term, this would boost revenue received on the membership by 21% while offering a low cost of entry and delivering value for the guest.

If properly thought out, you could end up converting more guests to your higher-tiered membership programs for guests wanting additional special treatment, perks, and benefits.

Like with passes, you could include additional benefits on other items you offer, or you could drive up the perceived value by automatically enrolling members into higher-earning loyalty rewards programs as another benefit.

No. 3: Reap the benefits of more ancillary spending each visit.

Like paying for attractions in advance or with a gift card, offering guests a lower initial entry point with an ongoing payment often means that they’ll have more disposable money on their actual visits. Over time, this can equate to additional revenue in concessions, add-on attractions, and merchandise, increasing per cap spending overall.

No. 4: Automatic renewals save you time (and effort).

With passes and membership programs that automatically bill and renew, you won’t need to spend as much administrative time trying to sell another product or following up on payments, so you can pay more attention to other areas that will need your focus as you continue to adapt your service and offering over time.

No. 5: Strengthen your facility’s ties to the community.

Memberships provide a great opportunity to give back to your community as well. Perhaps you decide to give a certain number of free memberships to first responders or frontline medical personnel. Or you could offer special rates to those professionals who purchase memberships – or even some combination of both. Now more than ever, it’s important to connect and build bonds with your community, and memberships give you many ways to do that, all while earning your business long-lasting relationships.

Bottom line: How you behave now, and as you reopen, will impact how your business is perceived by your audience. 

Having a solid amount of recurring revenue will help you build a strong foundation, ready to recoup losses, and move your business forward while offering new, attractive options and payment flexibility for guests.

Need help setting up your membership program(s)? We can help. Contact us at support@centeredgesofware.com or 336.598.5934, Option 1.

Want to see how CenterEdge Software Memberships and Recurring Billing Module can help your business rebound? Schedule a virtual demo or call 336.598.5934, Option 1 today.