WHY DOES A GUEST BECOME A MEMBER?


We know we love season passes, whether we’re thumbing through our own in our purse or selling them at the entry gate. However, sometimes we forget the considerations we went through before our first membership purchase.


During our study, respondents reported that their average single day admission ticket to any given destination was $66.00, and their memberships, on average, cost $148.00. Terefore, most attraction visitors need to visit a destination 2.25 times before they see an acceptable return on investment. Fortunately, nearly everyone in our study stated that they intended to go back to their favorite 2015 destination at least 2.25 times in 2016, so they should be reaching that threshold this year! However, that number is merely an average; Baby Boomers are more price sensitive, needing to visit a destination three times before they agree with the pay-off, Generation X only needs to visit twice and Millennials agreeing with the average number of visits for their ROI to be met.


85% of our respondents said that the most important benefit of a season pass or membership was a reasonable price. In fact, nine out of ten first-time season pass purchases are made because guests realize the benefit of unlimited visits for a single price. In addition, eight out of ten first-time purchases were done because of the additional perks and benefits that come along with a membership.


Once guests become members and they’re deciding which destination to go to this weekend, 81% say “friendly staff” and “a variety of things to see and do” are the two most important deciding factors, followed by “seeing a new experience that wasn’t there last time” (77%). In fact, 25% of respondents who said they don’t have a season pass or membership said it was because their local destinations don’t have anything new to offer. Terefore, our study reveals that continually revitalizing and refreshing your destination is one of the most important factors in guest-to-member conversion.


Both SPHs and single-admission guests value the feature of your destination roughly the same; however, while members appreciate nearly everything just a bit more, they put greater value on special “members only” entrances, extended hours for members, and merchandise discounts for members.


Lastly, we wanted to see if respondents’ “talk” mirrored their “walk;” that is, we used correlation analysis to compare their key “purchase motivators” for memberships to their actual intent to purchase a membership in the next 12 months. What surfaced to the top? Insider newsletters, special members-only entrances, and just like Ann Hobing predicted for the future of membership programs – “a more personalized experience.”


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