RocketRez Relay | solving communication problems | blooloop

Nov 12, 2024

The global attractions industry has changed significantly in recent years, particularly in terms of digital innovation. For companies like RocketRez, a leading ticketing and operational software provider, meeting the increasing expectations of both operators and guests is first and foremost. The company’s latest product, Relay, addresses one of the most pervasive challenges in the industry: communication.

Relay is a new suite of communication tools for tours and attractions, designed to enhance guest experiences through personalised, automated messaging that spans the entire guest lifecycle, from pre-visit to post-visit follow-ups. It aims to improve guest satisfaction and operational efficiency while boosting revenue through upselling.

John Pendergrast, CEO of RocketRez, speaks to blooloop about the driving forces behind the creation of Relay, the gaps it fills in guest interactions, and the broader vision it supports.

When discussing the inspiration for Relay, Pendergrast emphasises how difficult communication can be in any industry, particularly in the complex world of attractions.

“Communication is hard. It’s a universal challenge; that is not unique to our industry. You can under-communicate, or you can over-communicate. We have huge amounts of information at our fingertips, and getting the right information to the right people at the right time is extremely difficult.”

Attraction operators face various guest questions and concerns, ranging from simple inquiries like directions or weather to more complex logistical questions about bookings and schedules. Despite the massive variety of communication methods—phone, email, web chat, and texting—Pendergrast says that managing these channels efficiently is the challenge.

“Guests have a constant stream of questions, and while some are as simple as ‘Where do I park?’, others are much more nuanced. How is an attraction going to meet those needs effectively?”

“Effective communication is also an opportunity to build a connection with guests,” says Pendergrast. While not always easy to quantify, positive interactions can give people a better impression of an attraction or brand, which, in turn, builds loyalty. Relay can help facilitate that connection in a way that’s both enjoyable for the guests and manageable for the operator.

Relay solves this communication problem with a suite of tools to improve guest connections for tours and attractions. It allows operators to automate personalised messages for guests, from pre-visit reminders to during-visit tips and post-visit follow-ups.

Relay can also help to boost revenue with communication touchpoints that surface upgrades and add-ons for guests. It also streamlines tasks like schedule updates and feedback requests, leading to more efficiency by freeing up operators from manual tasks.

In addition, the new solution integrates with RocketRez’s system, simplifying setup and management. Getting started is easy as Relay’s AI pulls information from your website to create customised messaging sequences that fit your operation. From there, the intuitive workflow builder lets you quickly create custom workflows that align with your guests’ journey.

The platform also offers two-way messaging to handle guests’ questions. The automated chat can be staffed by personnel or AI and will soon feature a knowledge base to enhance its ability to answer questions.

Relay is just the first step in RocketRez’s larger mission.

“Today’s Relay is all about simplifying communications, but that’s just the beginning. We want to focus on making communication between guests and attractions operators more seamless, but as we release more features, you’ll see that our broader goal is much bigger. We’re also looking at insights—helping operators understand their data better to make informed decisions.”

RocketRez aims to serve the needs of both guests and operators, ensuring clear and efficient communication while using data to continuously improve the operational side of attractions.

See also: Insights by RocketRez: pioneering reporting solutions for attractions

Relay from RocketRez can enhance the guest experience and build brand loyalty. Pendergrast shares how easy it is for confusion and stress to become a part of the guest journey:

“Have you ever bought tickets months in advance for an experience that you are really looking forward to, and when the day arrives, you can’t remember where the tickets are or if you even received them? It’s happened to me multiple times,” he says. “You’re trying to remember if it came through by text or email? Did it come through under the attraction name or the ticket site name? Finally, you give up, and you call them. Guests want to be prepared, but remembering all these details can be stressful.”

Relay solves this by sending timely reminders and important information to guests at critical moments so that they have what they need when they need it.

“Relay takes that process and says, ‘Let’s just send periodic communications at specific moments to help guests remember and be prepared’. Because let’s face it, when you’re on a vacation or a day trip with your kids, you don’t want any additional stress. You want to get your questions answered, you want to get your tickets in your hand, and you want to be prepared.”

By proactively communicating with guests, attractions can help reduce stress and improve the overall experience.

One of Relay’s other key benefits is its ability to help operators boost revenue, but Pendergrast says the approach is all about balance: “I think the key to any kind of upsell is always about value. If you offer something that genuinely adds value to the guest experience, people will pay for it. If that balance is kept, you can find a great relationship.”

He gives the example of offering discounted gift cards for food and beverage purchases, which would be a win-win for both the guest and the operator. Guests could save money, while operators would be guaranteed additional revenue:

“Say a venue sells a $30 value gift card for food and beverage or retail. If you’re bringing the kids and you get prompted with this gift card when you buy your tickets, being sold for 20 to $25 before the event, and you already know you’re going to have to buy food there, you’re going to think, ‘Hey, I’m going to save $10 on that.’ As a parent, I’m thinking, ‘That’s actually great. I’d rather do that now and save the money because I know I will have to do it later.’ And as an operator, it is a no-brainer because you know you’ll get that money.

“Relay doesn’t make those choices for you,” Pendergrast says. “But it provides the delivery system for those kinds of offers. And in the future, operators may be able to add more layers of AI to make those decisions more automated.”

While artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic in the tech world, Pendergrast says RocketRez takes a more pragmatic approach to implementing AI within Relay.

“I love talking about AI, but many competitors want to make AI the main event, the headline. But that’s not where we’re focusing. AI is a tool—it’s not the value in itself.”

Instead of using AI as the latest must-have to draw in customers, RocketRez leverages it to enhance guest communication in meaningful ways. Relay uses AI to provide helpful guest interactions, like automatically answering common questions through a chatbot or scheduling essential reminders.

“We just want to give great experiences. As a result, we need to use AI in a role that we know it’s good at. And the role that it’s good at right now is communication. It can be incredibly useful if you give it clear boundaries and specific data,” Pendergrast says. “But AI for the sake of AI is not the goal. We want to use it where it adds real value.”

“You’ll see that throughout the RocketRez platform, as we continue to expand it, AI will play a role, but it’ll play the right role at the right times, as just another tool in the toolkit.”

Automation also plays a crucial role in Relay, streamlining processes that would otherwise take up a lot of staff time. Pendergrast stresses, however, that the goal isn’t just to save time—it’s to provide guests with a better, less stressful experience.

Relay can take on some of the more mundane tasks that guests can struggle with, such as remembering where they stored their tickets or finding event details at the last minute. By automating these processes, Relay from RocketRez allows guests to focus on enjoying their day out instead of worrying about logistics.

As the number of guests increases, so do the communication challenges. Relay tackles this by providing self-service options that allow guests to get the information they need without overwhelming the staff.

“Imagine your attraction has 300,000 visitors a year. Even if just 1% of them need additional one-on-one communication, that could be as many as 3,000 phone calls. That’s a huge amount of time and effort,” Pendergrast says.

Relay provides an additional resource for guests to ask questions and receive timely answers without requiring staff intervention. This self-service model reduces the burden on attractions operators while improving the guest experience.

Of course, Relay doesn’t exist in isolation. It integrates seamlessly with the broader RocketRez system to provide operators with a streamlined, easy-to-use solution.

“We’re aiming for a seamless experience,” Pendergrast says. “Relay will increasingly become important inside of our platform, and over time, you’ll see it become deeply integrated into everything we do.”

The team aims to make Relay an essential tool within the RocketRez ecosystem, something that operators can rely on to enhance communication, improve guest experiences, and boost revenue—all with minimal effort.

Building Relay has been an ongoing journey for the RocketRez team. Pendergrast adds that product development is never a “one-and-done” process, particularly in the software space. Instead, it’s about constant iteration and improvement based on user feedback.

“Development always has to be a journey of discovery,” he says. “You start with a hypothesis about what you’re trying to achieve, and then you test that, refine it, and improve. We don’t just release something and walk away. At RocketRez, we have a philosophy of continuous improvement, and that applied heavily to Relay.”

This mindset is what Pendergrast believes sets RocketRez apart from other companies in the industry. Rather than settling for an acceptable solution, the team constantly asks, “Is there more we can do?” This constant development ethos ensures that Relay will continue to evolve and meet the ever-changing needs of attraction operators and their guests.

Looking ahead, Pendergrast says:

“The way you keep innovating is by listening,” he says. “Many companies get distracted by the latest tech trends, but we focus on being a true partner and constantly creating value for attractions. This mindset is what will drive our future innovations.”

While Pendergrast hints that big things are on the horizon for Relay and RocketRez, he says the company’s core mission will always be creating meaningful, valuable experiences for operators and guests.

Relay will be showcased at IAAPA Expo 2024 in Orlando, Florida. Attendees can book a time to see a live demo at booth #4662 by clicking here.

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