Yorkshire Wildlife Park has been welcoming animal-loving adventurers since their doors opened in 2009 on the site of the old Brockholes Farm in Branton. In 2022, the park celebrated a record-breaking year, welcoming nearly 920,000 visitors following a recent expansion to their reserves, entertainment, and accommodation.
Home to around 475 animals including over 70 different species, the park offers a wild day out for all ages, packed with educational content on their many conservation efforts.
Getting critical information about endangered species and crucial conservation efforts across to your guests isn't easy. Yorkshire Wildlife Park were finding their traditional guides and static information boards weren’t sparking the level of curiosity they wanted in their young zoo-goers. Not to mention the waste caused by all the paper.
The team were keen to create an interactive guest experience that bridged the generational gap, captivating the imaginations of both youthful adventurers and seasoned explorers. They wanted to digitally streamline their offering while promoting content that inspired their guests to protect the natural world.
They had three main areas they wanted to focus on:
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Yorkshire Wildlife Park adopted the Attractions.io tech early, and launched their experience platform in 2018. Since then, they’ve relied on their app to deliver a smooth guest journey and share their educational content with visitors.
Using push notifications and Bluetooth beacons, they reach their guests via both digital and real-life touchpoints that provide relevant content based on the guest’s location. This enhances their guest experience by creating interactive elements that capture the curiosity of digital native guests. The digital map also means they no longer have to rely on paper guides to navigate the park, and can easily find their way to talks using the interactive wayfinding feature.
‘My favourite feature of the mobile app is that you can send notifications directly to guests, and you can differ your notifications depending on whether they’re on-park or off-park. That means we can easily encourage return offers,’ said Lindsi Blakeman.
The team fostered a close relationship with Attractions.io from the start, and found the development and delivery process seamless and simple.
‘The team are great to work with,’ explained Lindsi Blakeman. ‘Jacob, who is head of Customer Success, is always on the end of the phone or email, no matter where he is in the world. We have quarterly reviews where he gives us great tips on how we can improve. Hats off, they’re great!’
The new app has been a huge success with guests, and the park has seen record-breaking download numbers since it went live. In fact, the guest-facing mobile app has a guest reach of nearly 60%, the highest the park has ever seen.
‘The Attractions.io app has improved the guest experience here tremendously. Customers and guests get a notification of when our talks are happening and it makes sure they can guide themselves around the park. It means they can make the most of their experience with us.’ - Lindsi Blakeman, Head of Sales and Marketing, Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Reviews rave about the interactive wayfinding feature that helps guests navigate the 260 acre-large park and find their way to specific enclosures and talks during their visit. To date, the app has a steady 4.8 star rating on the App Store.
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The Attractions.io platform enables real-world businesses to lead in the digital age. Our guest experience apps and powerful platform for operators provide world-renowned attractions like LEGOLAND, San Diego Zoo and Butlin’s with the tools and data they need to deliver better outcomes and experiences. From virtual queuing and interactive maps to enhanced communication with guests, we’ve got the know-how to future proof your attraction for the digital age.
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