12 free improvements you can make to your Peek Pro account
We’ve asked some of our most experienced team members at Peek to share with us their favorite tips on how to optimize your Peek Pro account. We’re going to help you reach new peaks with your company - 12 steps - 12 days. Follow one of our easy suggestions each day, and you’re sure to see a dramatic impact on your business this year (as well as the ones to come!)
Your 12-day plan to start the year off with a BANG
Get set.. go!
DAY 1: Customize your Abandoned Booking emails
If you ask any Peekster their favorite Peek Pro feature, 9 times out of 10 they bring up Abandoned Booking emails.
There are many reasons a customer gets distracted while booking an activity, leading to the dreaded Abandoned Booking. By sending customers a little reminder of the experience they’ve left behind, you can bump your sales in a big way! Our Peek Partners saw an average revenue increase of 10.2% when they started using abandoned booking emails.
Follow this guide to get your abandoned booking emails set up today.
Brenda Medina, Software Implementation Specialist:
"Peek’s abandoned booking email is completely customizable so you can draw back potential customers effectively.”
The ability to customize is your best friend in this step. In fact, the advice from Peeksters working with our most successful partners is to customize wherever possible!
By making sure these emails have a personal touch, they will read, look, and feel just like your company. This way, from the first detail to the last, you make a memorable brand impression.
Let’s take a peek at four easy ways you can do this:
Tip #1: Add a testimonial - show your customer what your experiences are about.
Tip #2: Add photos - people are way more likely to book if they trust your company and have as much information as possible, photos help them put the picture together.
Tip #3: Abandon booking (resume purchase) button - help your guests out by sending them the link to their exact booking flow.
Tip #4: Promo code - Everyone loves a deal! Promo codes give customers the nudge they need to go back and book that activity.
"Promo codes are a big one I’ve seen that bring back customers."
Here are some clever examples that hit the major points!
- They sound like real people, not just automated emails
- Have chosen photos that show past guests enjoying the experience
- Include a ‘re-book’ button or promo code
For more tips on how to customize your emails, click here.
DAY 2: Clarify your offering
Sara Wilson, Onboarding Manager:
“As you add and change products, remember that what is obvious to you may not be obvious to your customer.”
Sometimes the names we give to our products don’t quite tell the customer all they need to know. Customers like to be absolutely certain of what they are getting themselves into before they get out their credit card. Make sure your product descriptions, ticket names, photos and ticket headers paint a crystal clear picture of your experiences.
Sara has provided some specific suggestions:
Suggestion #1: Adding ‘the guide is included’ for a tour.
Suggestion #2: Changing ticket header from "Select Tickets" to "Select Rental Options" for a bike or boat rental company.
Suggestion #3: Updating the min & max number of tickets to 1, for private Charters where only 1 ticket per booking is necessary.
For more hints on how to best use your widget configurations, check out this helpdesk article.
TOP TIP: Reduce required questions!
When your customers go through your booking flow you have the choice to ask questions before or after a purchase is made.
Decreasing the amount of required questions before payment is directly correlated to conversions! Each required question decreases conversions by 3%.
Make as many questions optional, as possible!
DAY 3: Increase last minute bookings with Smart Cutoffs & Availability Rules
Normally it makes sense to disable online bookings on your website a few hours before your tour begins, to give you and your team enough time to prepare for the activity.
However, if your minimum number of seats are already booked, you’re going to run the tour anyway - so why not leave the booking open till the last minute?
Your last seats are the most profitable as you’ve already met your fixed costs for the tour. Extend your online booking cutoff and accept as many guests as possible!
Matthew Osterhaus, Product Manager:
“We’ve already seen a 5% increase in online bookings for partners using this feature!”
This intuitive Peek Pro feature asks you for the minimum amount of guests needed to run a tour, and will keep online bookings open if this number is reached.
Enable Smart Cutoffs today on any activity!
Run more profitable tours with Peek’s Availability Rules
Funnel bookings into preferred times with Peek’s innovative Availability Rules so you can run more tours that meet and exceed your cost minimums.
Customers will see availability for tours that dynamically changes depending on the bookings that have already been made.
This encourages them to book at the same time as other guests which maximizes your resources.
As tours fill up, new time slots will be unlocked.
This can be easily enabled in the configuration settings in your Peek Pro account - checkout this helpful guide and get it set up today!
DAY 4: Offer your customers more with Bundles & Add-ons
Bundles allow your customers to book and pay for multiple tours or activities all at once.
Bianca Garcia, Training Manager:
“Bundles are a resourceful way to increase your customer’s cart size - get them doing more than 1 tour and improve their experience.”
Our partners have seen a 20-25% increase in average order sizes using this feature!
There are three main ways bundles can optimize your customers’ booking flows:
Case #1: Create an optional upsell to make sure customers can book multiple experiences in one booking flow.
Case #2: Create a combo tour, offering customers a discount if they book more than one experience.
Case #3: Sell required tour packages, for example if your customer books a food tour you can set an ‘Empanada tasting session’ as a requisite of the tour.
You can enable it right now in the product section of your PeekPro account; for more detailed instructions follow this guide.
Our Success Specialists feel so strongly about the advantages of Bundles they presented a whole webinar on them! Check it out here.
Upsell your experiences with Add-ons
Peek Pro allows you to add all the extras you offer during your activities to the booking flow.
This means customers can book the extra wetsuit they need or make sure they’ll have a GoPro, at the point of booking.
Make use of Add-ons to upsell your experiences.
Amelia Hollis, Marketing Strategist:
“There are so many ways you can get creative with your Add-ons and they’re a great way to upsell your experiences!”
TOP TIP: Our data shows that the average value per booking surges around public holidays. Customers are looking to spend more on their experiences when they are celebrating. So whether it’s the 4th of July or New Years Eve make sure you have your add-ons set up and featuring in your customer emails.
Specific suggestions:
Example #1: Offer some champagne for guests to toast in the New Year.
Example #2: Hire in a live band to play on your boat before the 4th of July Fireworks.
Example #3: Include the use of a GoPro for your passengers to capture the excitement of their family adventure.
DAY 5: Make money from cancellations!
Cancellation policies are often tricky waters to navigate.
When guests cancel a tour you end up with empty seats and lost revenue. But when you enforce a cancellation policy, you worry about being the bad guy and damaging your reputation.
Cancellation insurance is the answer to your troubles! It negates the lost revenue and automatically provides a reasonable consequence for canceling a booking. Plus, when the customer doesn’t cancel it just makes you money!
Customers who go on to cancel will buy it to protect themselves and everyone else is still likely to buy it because customers are risk averse. We recommend setting up cancellation policies that are simple to understand and establishing a clear time frame for cancellation. Check out some more helpful tips and learn how to set up cancellation policies here.
DAY 6: Add a ‘Book Now’ button to your homepage
Once you generate traffic to your website, it’s critical that it’s prepped and primed for bookings.
The best way to do this? Add a clear and visible ‘Book Now’ button to your homepage.
This little button can lead to big sales! Adding this feature is one of the easiest and most effective ways to drive bookings.
Andy Bourne, Onboarding Project Manager:
“Providing a clear, obvious and easily accessible call to action has been proven to increase conversions and provide an efficient booking experience for your customers.”
Try adding it to your homepage today to turn lookers into bookers!
Where and how often this button appears on your website - along with size, color, words and font - is important for driving traffic through to the checkout process.
TOP TIPS for improving your book now button:
Tip #1: Put the price of your tour or activity near the ‘Book Now’ button
Tip #2: Place the button “above the fold”*
Tip #3: Use a bold, clear Call-To-Action phrase; Book Now, My Seat, Build Your Trip!
Tip #4: Make the button stand out by using contrasting colors
Tip #5: Don’t forget to check how the buttons look on the mobile version of your website
*It’s imperative that visitors to your website don’t have to scroll down the page to see the ‘Book Now’ button. The term “above the fold” has been coined to reference the section of your webpage that the customer will see at first glance. Make sure we see it straight away.
DAY 7: Pass credit card processing fees onto customers
While you are sure to celebrate increased bookings, there is one by-product that is certainly not as pleasant -- greater credit card processing fees. These costs may seem small on individual transactions, but they can add up quickly.
When you consider that the weighted average processing fees for Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover credit cards ranged from 1.3% to 3.5% in 2021, it’s easy to see how this extra fee would create a sizable increase in company costs.
Thanks to Peek Pro’s Taxes & Fees configuration, you have the power to choose whether to absorb this expense or pass it on to the customer.
If you would like to absorb the processing fee, make sure Partner Pays is highlighted in blue underneath the Processing Fees heading.
If you would like the customer to pay the credit card processing fee, click on Customer Pays to highlight in blue.
For more info on how to configure taxes & fees, have a look at this helpdesk article.
DAY 8: Promote and personalize your gift cards
Now that people are gifting experiences over physical presents more and more, your tour or activity is the perfect gift!
Make the most of this trend and sell gift cards directly through your website with Peek.
On Average 70% of Gift Cards don’t even end up getting redeemed! This means free money without you having to even lift a finger.
They also increase your cart sizes - customers typically spend more on a purchase when using gift cards.
Check out this article to learn more about setting up gift cards to boost revenue throughout the year
Step #1: If you haven’t already, use this guide to set up cash & activity gift cards on your website.
Step #2: Be sure to advertise your gift cards on your website and in your marketing emails!
Step #3: Customize your gift card booking flow, widget and emails.
Taylor Morgan, Customer Success Associate:
“I recently helped a partner customize their gift card emails, booking flow and widget. He was overjoyed that Peek would handle every aspect of gift cards for him and super excited to get them going!
Offering gift cards opens up a whole new audience for you to sell to! Show-off your amazing products to these new customers by customizing your gift card emails with photos and testimonials.”
DAY 9: Target your marketing with Google Analytics
Optimize your Google Analytics account by enabling enhanced ecommerce.
Matthew Osterhaus, Product Manager:
“Enhanced ecommerce is a powerful extension of google analytics that gives you a more granular insight into how your customers are moving throughout the Peek booking flow on your website.”
This powerful tool uses new action and product data to answer questions about how your customers behave.
Matt’s TOP TIPS for using enhanced ecommerce:
1. Create segments that break down why customers are booking your activities.
Example #1: Are people more likely to book if they are spending less money?
- You can create specific reports that show you, out of all the people that visit your website, who books your experiences.
- Add a segment that tracks conversions for a particular time period, then filter for cart size.
- You’ll be able to see how behavior changes for customers when they spend more or less.
2. Use these specific segments to create targeted audiences you can send to Google ads.
Example #2: Turn the data produced into a targeting audience for Google ads.
- Google analytics can produce a list of people that visited your website but didn’t book an activity.
- Download these contacts to create a targeted mailing list - these are really high value customers, as they have shown they are interested in your experiences.
- Now send this list to Google ads.
Now we have an improved integration, this data will feed right into your Peek Pro account!
This in-depth helpdesk article walks you through exactly how to set up enhanced ecommerce and how best to use it.
DAY 10: Take advantage of pricing customizations in Peek Pro!
Advanced Pricing rules give you the flexibility to automatically adjust ticket prices to drive customer behavior and maximize profits at any time of the year.
In Peek Pro you can easily set clever rules that change your prices depending on demand, such as a price increase for busier times of the year.
Drew Chowhan, SIS Trainer / Quality Assurance:
Drew’s favorite Advanced Pricing rules
Rule #1:“Combo of day of the week and time of day”
- If you are attracting less customers on Tuesday mornings, offer a discounted price for these time slots.
Rule #2:“Minimum guest rule (cost goes up or down based on how many people have booked)”
- If you need to fill 3 seats to cover your overhead costs, make the 4th, 5th and 6th seat cheaper. This will incentivize guests to book onto a tour that you're running anyway, which maximizes profit.
Rule #3:“Date range rules are great to up the price based around holiday seasons”
- Boat tour sales surge around the 4th of July, so increase your prices for the first week of July.
This step-by-step guide walks you through all the ways you can optimize prices for your activities in your Peek Pro account.
DAY 11: Get more bookings with Peek Plus
Widen your customer pool with Peek Pro’s various integrations.
Ben Kind, Director of Business Development:
“Peek has partnered with some of the largest platforms in the world to generate more exposure, sales, and customers for your business!
We’ve built connections with Groupon, Expedia and others to ensure that wherever customers are discovering things to do - your activities are front and center. We have more integrations coming in 2022 that we think you’ll be excited about as well!”
Just hit the links above for instructions, or if you’re looking to learn more about Peek Plus reach out to our team at support@peek.com and start generating more sales on our network of distribution partners.
How does Peek widen your customer pool?
Example #1: Peek.com
Peek.com is a one-stop-shop for travelers looking for incredible experiences, our very own platform for you to advertise your products.
After a few simple steps you can offer your activities to a whole new audience; they are listed in this article.
Example #2: Peek Pals
Once you’re all set on Peek.com you will be eligible for Peek Pals!
Peek Pals allows you get more sales from other tour operators in the Peek network, while also helping your customers find more activities by featuring non competitive activities.
Once a customer completes a booking with you, they’ll see other non-competitive activity recommendations nearby on the confirmation page.
Additionally, you’ll be featured as a recommendation whenever a customer books with one of your fellow Peek Pals.
You get to review the list of activities that will display in your booking flow, giving you control over the types of activities that you want customers.
Find out more about this growth-boosting opportunity in this helpdesk article.
DAY 12: Increase the quantity & quality of your reviews
Matthew Osterhaus, Product Manager:
“Did you know that 72% of customers will not convert until they have read some sort of review?!”
Customers are constantly bombarded with content, so more and more they are relying on reviews to help them make decisions.
Peek Pro understands the importance of this and so has set up Smart Reviews. This feature sends out an automated email to every customer after each activity.
TOP TIP: Customize this review email to maximize its potential!
- Make it sound and look like your company
- Add a promo code as an incentive
- Add photos
- Add options to book another activity/re-book the activity
- Include a link to gift cards
Just head to the product section of your Peek Pro account to get Smart Reviews set up.
Smart Reviews+ not only sends this email to the primary customer (the person that made the booking) but also to all other emails collected, from waivers or customer questions.
Our Partner Support team is available to install Smart Reviews+ on your account. You can call +1 (415) 361-5564, email support@peek.com, or chat in anytime!
We hope you enjoyed these tips! Please let us know if you found them useful.
Drop us an email or fill out this feedback form.
Growvember 2019: Listen to the recordings here!
Growvember 2019
What a couple of days we’ve had! Thank you to everyone who participated – we can all agree that our eight incredible speakers provided us with some awesome insights.In case you missed any of the sessions, this is your one stop shop for all the resources you need to catch up and start applying the information to your business!
Recordings
Below you’ll find links to all 8 recordings for you to watch at your convenience:3 Keys That High Growth Companies Use to Succeed - Evan Tipton8 Steps to Building a Universally Accessible Website - Andrea LopezAutomating Your Operations for Explosive and Sustainable Growth - Allan Graves5 New Ways To Grow Your Business On Peek Pro - Matt OsterhausGrowing your Conversions Using Google Adwords & Call Tracking - Steven EdwardsSystems that Scale, Profitable Distribution and Driving More Sales - Josh Oakes & Kelsey TonnerMore Direct Bookings - How We Reduced Our Reliance On OTAs - Kyle Davidson
Tips For Success: Some Big Takeaways From Arival 2019
Did you hear about Arival 2019? It was this year’s premier conference for tour & activity operators.We had a huge presence and loved meeting all of you who came. Here are our takeaways from some of the talks we attended:
Jason Hackett, Brier Katama: Marketing Foundations
‘Getting your website right is the single most important thing you can do for your business’Jason started with two key numbers:138: number of websites that your guest is going to see before they finish booking all their flights, hotels and activities.80% of your guests are still purchasing in-market. They will make their decision game day or game week.Jason ran marketing for two major tour & activity operators in New York before branching out to offer consulting with his firm, Brier Katama. He says there are three elements you need to get right before spending on marketing:
- Website (Desktop + Mobile)
- Booking Platform
We agree! And Peek can help you in the following ways:Website: Peek Pro has partnered with three companies who we recommend for website builds - TourismTiger, TomisTech and IwerxConnect. Don’t have the budget to afford a new website? We can set you up with a simple site for $200. Just email support@peek.com.Email: Collecting emails and making use of your customer list is vitally important for your success. That’s why we built an integration with Zapier so you can collect emails into your marketing software. Here’s how to set it up with Mailchimp.Booking Platform: if you don’t use Peek Pro yet, check it out.[caption id="attachment_15833" align="aligncenter" width="1792"]
All of our Growth Lab sessions were highly attended. In this picture, Kyle Davidson is giving a talk about how to grow more direct bookings. If you’d like to see this talk, Kyle is doing a repeat for Growvember on the 25th. More info.[/caption]
The Foundations of Your Marketing
Your website is where you begin and end every single piece of your digital marketing. It’s the biggest driver of SEO traffic and online bookings.But it doesn’t stop there. According to Jason, once the booking happens, many people believe that’s where marketing stops and the experience takes over. Done well, however, it never stops. After the experience, your customer will be the word of mouth champion for you. What can you do to help them go further?
- Send Photos for Them to Use: Within the Peek Pro app, you can take photos of your guests and automatically send those over. Ask your guests to upload these to social media and tag your accounts.
- Request Reviews from ALL Guests. Peek Pro’s Smart Reviews capability enables you to request reviews not just from the guest who made the booking - you can also request reviews from anyone who signs a waiver. This triples the amount of potential reviews you can get! More info about our Digital Waivers.
Building on Your Foundations
As you can see, Jason was on fire during this talk! Here are 5 further suggestions.
- Every time you evaluate your website, do so on mobile. This is where most of your guests are headed, so this is where you should be focused.
- Adjust your copy: remove fluffy adjectives - the guests care about the facts: What is it, Where is it, Who is it suited for, etc.
- You simply must run PPC Ads. The first four Google listings are ads. On mobile, this takes up the whole screen, meaning you may not even show up when people Google for your business. At a minimum, buy this ad space so you come out number one. Check out what happens when you search for ‘Eureka Tower Tickets’: The Eureka tower website is nowhere to be seen.
- Don’t be deceived by your Analytics and remember: behind every number is a human being with their own individual story and context. Collating things into data may illuminate, but it won't provide the whole picture. For example: mobile matters even more than you realize: bookings that are conducted on desktop, are often researched on phones.
- Understand who your guests actually are. Hackett suggests surveying your guests, as asking them questions during check-out reduces conversions. Or does it? Peek Pro has launched a feature that enables you to delay any unnecessary questions until after the reservation is done. Learn more here.
[caption id="attachment_15837" align="aligncenter" width="676"]
Ruzwana Bashir, our CEO, sharing the truth on stage[/caption]
Lukas Hempel, BookingKit: Getting Your Pricing & Profits Right
In this quick talk, Lukas shared with us lessons about pricing and profit:
- Everyone has something that they can upsell! Try to find three upsells for your business. Peek Pro users, that’s an easy one: have you tried selling Add-Ons or Bundles?
- Charm pricing works. Something for $0.99 converts 1.6x better than $1.
- Product vs. Price? What should you show first? The answer is simple: are you quality focused? Show the product first. Are you focused on being the most affordable? Show price, first!
- The Rule of 100. This is for when you’re running a discount. If your price is under 100, show a % discount. If your price is over 100, show the actual $ amount discount. This way, it’s easier for customers to understand what the actual discount is.
- Once someone is booked in, they become less price-sensitive. We will spend hours trying to get the best deal on a flight, sacrificing comfort and time to save $10. Then we get to the airport and spend $16 on a beer anyway! This means that your tour prices should be competitive, but your upsells when the customers are showing up can be priced higher providing you with a bigger overall margin.
That last point is particularly interesting, especially given that in Peek Pro you can customize your emails however you like to drive further revenue. If you’re a Peek Pro user, consider offering upsells in ALL your confirmation and reminder emails! We recommend sending an upsell email in the days prior to the activity to see if you can get your guests to book more than one activity.[caption id="attachment_15832" align="aligncenter" width="1792"]
We had a ton of fun meeting with existing Partners. Going to a conference soon? Reach out to us to set up a meeting.[/caption]
Akila McConnell (Unexpected Atlanta) & Lesli Peterson (Sunstone Digital Marketing): Email Marketing Insights
Akila is a well known tour operator, having presented at multiple events. She teamed up with Lesli Peterson, from Sunstone Digital Marketing, to share thoughts on online marketing.What worked for Akila in 2018?Expensive, but lots of conversions:
- TripAdvisor, OTAs
- Google Adwords
- Other Promo Codes
Inexpensive, but low conversions:
- Blogging/content/SEO
- Press Mentions
- Social Media (FB/Instagram)
- Networking and Festivals
There was only ONE marketing channel that was both inexpensive AND high converting: Email.
‘Email Marketing is your best bet!’
Email converts at a 4300% higher rate than social media. In fact, McKinsey & Co studied 72 million customers and found that conversion from social media traffic maxes out at 1.08%. Email, on the other hand, ended at 17.75% conversion in 2018. Take those figures with a grain of salt, of course, but they do point to a larger truth.The Mailchimp benchmark for open rate on newsletters is 20%. You target people based on specific action-based triggers to increase conversion rate.
4 Tactics to get started with Email Marketing
Step 1: Grow Your ListGet started:
- Get emails for all the people on your tourCapture the emails of people on your site
Level up:
- Use opt-in forms with a targeted lead magnetGet them to give you their email by offering something like a local guide for your tours (lead magnets increase opt-in rate by about 85%...!)Follow up with a welcome series immediatelySend them something letting them know about your personality and your brand of your business
Step 2: Personalize Your ContentGet started:
- Tag subscribers so you can keep track of what they’re buying
Level up:
- Auto tag customers with purchases, spend, browsing, custom fieldsAuto send campaigns based on this info
Step 3: Meet People in the MomentGet started:
- Market to upset, cross sell & build engagement between purchase and fulfillment
- 35% of Amazon sales come from cross sells and resales
- Existing customers are 60-70% more likely to sell
Level up:
- Build automations to manage this
- Implement browse-abandonment campaigns on your site
- Someone comes to your site and downloads your lead magnet. They'll often to go other parts of your site - it's possible to track the parts they're interested in and automatically send them more details about the pages they were visiting.
Step 4: Create Content that ConvertsGet started:
- Write specific call-to-actions in your subject line (this can increase open-rate by 100%)
Level up:
- Tell a story with your content (switching to story-based newsletter increased her open rate by 124%!)
- Personalize content using segmentation
They highly recommend Drip as their email marketing tool. You can connect your Peek Pro account to Drip using Zapier.So, that’s the wrap for this year. A special thanks goes to Matthew Osterhaus, our superstar Product Manager for attending many of these sessions and taking amazing notes.See you next year in Phoenix?One Last Thing:Peek Pro is running Growvember again, in 2019! By popular demand.It’s a series of online workshops available to anyone where we’ll share with you how to grow your business. It was a HUGE success in 2018.Get more info and grab your place here.
Announcing: Peek Pro 6
Today, we are happy to announce a dramatic change to our system that makes it easier for you to say “Yes” to more of your guests and offer the flexibility you’ve been asking us for.Summer 2019 makes 6 years of Peek Pro. Which is why we’re announcing Peek Pro 6: a series of upgrades coming all through 2019 that will change the game for your business.Here’s what we’ve got for you in this round of changes:
- Helping Your Guests: TEN new ways that you will be able to say yes to your guests.
- Bonus Releases: Add fire to your growth and cut operational headaches. See below!
If you’re a Peek Partner and excited about these changes, contact Partner Support to check your eligibility to be part of this phase of the rollout. You can also learn more about Peek Pro 6 in our helpdesk here.
Not a Peek Partner yet? Schedule your demo to see how Peek Pro 6 can work for you.
Ok, enough talk. Let’s get into it!
#1: SPLIT PAYMENTS
Your Guest Says: "I'm here with my friend. Can I pay cash, and he pays with a card?"Yes! You can now take as many payments as needed via any method.This is available right now.
#2 UN-CANCEL BOOKINGS
Your Guest Says: "Yesterday, we had to cancel but I have good news! We're able to proceed. Can you please un-cancel our booking?"
Yes! You can now easily reactivate a canceled booking to bring all your guests info - including questions, answers & credit cards on file - back from the dead.
This is available right now.
#3 DEPOSIT ANY AMOUNT
Your Guest Says: "Instead of a $450 deposit.. can I pay $400? That's all I have on me."Yes! You'll be able to apply custom amounts to a deposit in the back-end of Peek Pro. This is especially useful for large bookings or corporate customers!
Note: this is a feature only available through the back-end of Peek Pro.
This is available right now.
#4 PAY TOWARDS MY TOTAL
Your Guest Says: "I’ve got a $3,000 booking on Saturday - which I made a $300 deposit for. Can I pay $150 towards the total right now and pay the rest on the day?
"Yes! This is a common scenario when selling larger bookings, and demonstrates the new flexibility that Peek Pro 6 gives you. This will be especially handy when you have groups paying towards a transaction.
This is available right now.
#5 RESCHEDULE ORDERS & PAY/REFUND THE DIFFERENCE
Your Guest Says: "Hi, I booked for Monday. Can you switch me to Saturday? I'm happy to pay the difference!"
Yes! While on Peek Pro we could always change dates, now you can easily charge the difference with the payment details already on file.
Bonus: If the guest is switching to a cheaper time-slot, you can also refund them the difference.
This is available right now.
#6 CANCEL AND REFUND THE DIFFERENCE / ADD GUESTS AND PAY THE DIFFERENCE
Your Guest Says: "Hi, one of our group is sick and can no longer make it. Can we cancel their spot and receive a refund for that ticket?
"Yes! Now on Peek Pro, you can easily change group sizes and charge or refund based on the final result. Previously, you'd have to cancel and refund the booking and create a new one. Add a guest and Pay the Difference: You can also ADD a new ticket and take the payment using the payment method on file, or any other method depending on the guest preferences.
This is available right now.
#7 TRANSFER OVERPAYMENT BETWEEN BOOKINGS:
Your Guest Says: "Instead of refunding me, can we put the balance towards an additional or longer activity?"
Yes! Any time one of your guests has an additional balance, you'll be able to transfer it to any other activity or day, instead of refunding.
Coming soon.
#8 ADD CHARGE & PAY THE DIFFERENCE
Your Guest Says: "Hi, when I booked my ticket, I forgot to select the GoPro Add-On. Can you please just add that to my booking and charge the card on file?"
Yes! You can add any upsell with the card on file, no problem. In fact, this applies to Add-Ons, Custom Questions With Charges, and Additional Charges.
This is available right now.
#9 MULTIPLE EXPERIENCES, ONE BOOKING
Your Guest Says: "I'd like to book multiple experiences, and just give you my Credit Card details to pay for them all at once. Can I do that?"
Yes! Previously available only on PoS, you can now flexibly take as many bookings for experiences or upsells in the one booking and charge the one time.
This is available right now.
#10 GIFT CARDS COVER ALL COSTS
Your Guest Says: "I've got a gift card for $100 but the website is still trying to charge me taxes and fees. Can't I just pay for everything with my gift card?"
Yes! Gift cards can now pay for ALL charges associated with a booking, so long as they have the balance. You just need to configure it.
Coming soon.
Other Improvements You Don’t Want to Miss:
- Tomis Integration. We’ve integrated with Tomis Tech, a marketing software and service company. Check them out.
- Export Manifest. You can now export your daily manifest in order to manage them in other tools.
- Create Rental Bookings on Mobile. Coming later this year, the ability to create rental bookings will now be available on all devices.
- Linked Flows. See image below. You can now easily place a link between different booking flows to assist guests with their navigation.
- A New Help Desk! Have you logged into the Peek Pro help desk lately? It's changed - significantly. And for the better.
WHAT’S NEXT?
If you’re interested in moving to Peek Pro 6, and taking advantage of all these great changes, contact Partner Support for more info!Not a Peek Partner yet? Schedule your demo to see how Peek Pro 6 can work for you.
5 Steps to an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy
Our good friends over at TourismTiger know a thing or two about how to make your mark online as a tour and activity operator. In this post, Senior Content Coordinator Emma Russel takes us through some effective ways to ensure you're making the most out of your online presence. Social media can seem daunting, but trust us, this article is sure to steer you in the right direction. Thanks Emma!Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, Linkedin, YouTube...feeling overwhelmed yet? You’re not alone. Many tour operators struggle to market themselves effectively on social platforms, and even more fail to get started in the first place.Here are a few reasons why:
- I don't have the time.
- I don’t think it’s important.
- I don’t know which platforms to target.
- I don’t know what to post.
- My target market doesn’t use social media.
As a tour operator, your time is valuable, and you want to be sure every investment is worthwhile. You need a guarantee that dedicating time and effort to social media will benefit your company. You may also ask yourself: do my customers even use social media?The short answer: yes. A common misconception is that companies don’t need to worry about social media if they’re targeting anyone older than a millennial. In reality, the majority of your customers -- young and old -- use some form of social media. A 2018 report revealed 64% of adults aged 50-64 are on at least one social media site, and according to Internet Marketing Inc 76% of travelers post photos of their holiday online, while 52% gain inspiration from their friends’ Facebook photos. No matter your demographic, social media matters. Creating an online presence requires work. But ignoring this aspect of your business could mean ignoring direct channels to your customers. Social media shouldn’t be an afterthought: these platforms present a great opportunity to increase brand awareness, boost traffic to your website, and increase bookings.
Source: https://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/
Not sure where to start? Below we’ve shared a few tips to help you craft a solid, profitable social media plan:
Slow down and give it some thought
Of course you want to see fast results, but effective social media marketing requires some thought. Before setting up accounts on every platform imaginable, dedicate time to creating a plan. Are you looking to establish a brand for your company? Increase traffic? Advertise special offers? By having a clear idea of your goals, you can establish which platforms are most beneficial for your company. Before you begin, consider the factors necessary for a successful campaign:
- An understanding of which type of customer is relevant to your business and what they want
- Attractions/locations/activities people want to share
- A commitment to sharing other content outside of your own
- An eagerness to connect with your customers -- i.e. respond to reviews, reply to comments, etc.
Below are some examples of companies that know their audience:
Many of Wild Rover Tours’ Instagram and Facebook followers are ex-customers that are interested in returning to Ireland. Their social media posts are aimed at interacting with their followers and showing the best spots in Ireland.
Harry Potter Universal have a large fan base they stay engaged with. They often repost their followers’ experiences and offer the chance to be featured on their social media platforms.
Competitions are a great way to keep your followers engaged while promoting your product. In the above post, Secret Food Tours turn a new tour offering into a competition.
Be selective
It’s only natural to want to get your brand out there, utilizing all possible channels -- but for some, this means biting off more than they can chew. There’s nothing worse than an out-of-date company profile. Large gaps between posts or neglected sites imply laziness, disorganization, and a lack of interest. The fewer platforms you have to manage, the more time you can dedicate to getting it right. Rule of thumb: Facebook is your most solid option and the most widely used platform. This is not only due to its larger network of users, but also to the fact that you can display a list of your products, making it incredibly easy for a visitor to move from your Facebook page to the booking page on your site.
An example of Facebook’s capabilities on Wild Rover’s Facebook page.
Instagram is your next best option. Users on this platform are steadily increasing and Instagram is gradually becoming the platform of choice for many. Whichever (select few) platforms you ultimately choose, ensure that they are popular among your target market and focus on making your posts count. There’s no need to spread yourself too thin. Instead, be critical about which platforms can really be of benefit to you.
Source: https://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/
Understand what works
Follow successful companies and fellow operators on social media, and take note of what works for them. Pay attention to which posts have the most engagement or which had the most impact on you. Remember: the point of social media is interaction, but as a tour operator, it needs to go deeper than that. Gently encourage your customers to leave reviews on Facebook. Try offering discounts and special offers to those that share your posts. Add a face to your company by featuring your incredible guides; posts images of happy customers on your tours; link to your website. Doing all this keeps your customers/followers engaged and excited about your product. Trafalgar Travel is a fantastic example of an operator maintaining customer engagement while posting relevant material. Here is the proof.They show they care about what they do:
They always respond to messages:
They listen to their customers:
Get organized
As mentioned above, an inactive site can do more harm than good in terms of how your company is perceived. Rather than attracting customers, a disorganized account will do nothing but repel potential clients. Even if you’re short on time, there is no excuse for allowing your site to fall to the wayside. Creating a schedule ensures you always have consistent, high-quality content to share. Not only that: by scheduling what you post, you can take advantage of the most active times your users are on social media.
Source: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/
There are a ton of resources available to help you with planning and scheduling. Hootsuite is a popular social media management (SMM) system and is used by over 20% of companies including Ebay, UPS, and Gap. TweetDeck and SocialEngage are also popular with businesses.Simply input your posts, add the date/time you want to share it, and allow Hootsuite to take care of the rest. By scheduling posts in advance, you reduce the need to dedicate time to social media every day. You could even set aside time to bulk schedule posts every month or so. Plus, no need to set your alarm in the middle of the night to target overseas followers.
Set up alerts
For business owners, time is money. Scrolling through Twitter or Facebook in search of useful content to engage with can be way too time-consuming. Google Alerts sends notifications directly to your email, notifying you of activity surrounding your business. You can set them up to ping you with industry-related news or when your company’s name is mentioned. Essentially, Google Alerts takes care of the scrolling, making it easier for you to stay up to date with the latest news and activity.
Google Alerts is incredibly easy to set up.
If you’re a tour operator, social media will likely be a part of present and future marketing strategies. This is no longer a secondary aspect to tourism marketing. Social media offers incredible opportunities to increase brand awareness, draw in new customers, provide a platform for reviews and feedback, advertise your product and share relevant content.The good news is, the more thought and energy you invest in your social media marketing strategy at the beginning, the easier it will be to maintain. Take some time out to plan a strategy. The payoff could be huge if you do. If you’re a novice, don’t despair. Start small, focusing on Facebook or a similar platform, and work on expanding your audience. Scan the internet, pick and choose which aspects could work for your company, and craft a campaign that makes a splash. And remember: the goal is not to churn out content with little engagement; the goal is to create an online presence which both promotes your brand and provides a two-way channel between you and your customers. What are you waiting for? Your audience is waiting. Emma is a Content Coordinator for TourismTiger – the premier web design agency for tour and activity operators. We build websites that sell tours. Get started on yours today.
A Q&A With Peek's VP of Product
Navya is the VP of Product at Peek and is responsible for continually elevating the experience that partners & customers have with our product. Navya studied Engineering at the University of Sheffield in the UK, going on to obtain a Master of Science at Stanford University and an MBA at NYU. Prior to Peek, she ran product at StyleSeat, the world’s largest marketplace for beauty services that has fueled over $3 billion in beauty services. She has also built large-scale products at Uber, Disney and Goldman Sachs.In this post, we ask Navya about her time working at Peek, and what exciting things she is working on this year with our product team.
How did you get involved in Engineering and Product Management? Was it always something you were interested in, or was there a catalyst that encouraged you into the industry?
Growing up, I always had an innate desire to help improve the lives of people - a service before self mentality. This stems, in part, from growing up in a community of doctors in India- actually both of my parents and my sister are doctors!I started programming when I was 15, after my dad bought us our first computer - and the rest is history. It was obvious to me that technology could improve our lives. I was intrigued with the hardware and software aspects of engineering. So, I pursued a degree in Electronic Engineering in the U.K. and then a Masters in Computer Science at Stanford University.Pursuing a technical career satisfied my intellectual curiosity, but I’m also very much a people person. I wanted a career that could combine those two different worlds - technical and anthropological. I realized that as an engineer, I missed the interactions with the customers who were using the products I was building. That desire to talk with customers and dig deeper into their pain points led me to the world of Product Management.
What do you like about working with the Tours and Activities industry?
I’ve spent the better part of a decade working for startups and have a tremendous amount of respect for entrepreneurs who work day in, day out to turn their company’s vision into a reality. The Tours and Activities industry is filled with thousands of entrepreneurs who are in this exact same boat, undergoing a similar journey. I get excited about solving problems for tours & activities operators through product innovations. I am passionate about driving product development at Peek. We play a part in helping operators achieve their visions and ambitions! By putting smarter technology in the hands of our operators, we are able to change their lives for the better. That brings immense joy to my work.Finally, learning has always been a big part of my life. Having been fortunate enough to have lived in Asia, Europe & North America, I love to learn more about new cultures. The Tours & Activities industry embraces people from different cultures every day by creating memorable experiences for everybody, all over the world!
What are your 3 favorite features that Peek Pro will launch in 2019?
I can’t play favorites, but I love to talk about the problems I’m really excited for the Peek team to solve this year for our operators.Our engineers have been working super hard on massive infrastructure upgrades over the last few months that will be all coming together in 2019. This means that we’re stronger than we have ever been to drive Peek Pro to the next level. We identified three core challenges that tours & activity operators face today that we are best positioned to address with our upgraded infrastructure. 1) Grow Revenue: We know from talking to operators that big or small, whether you’re a bike rental shop, run comedy tours, or a cat cafe: growing revenue is always a top priority. Which means it’s ours too. In 2019, we’ll be introducing new product innovations to our booking flow to further drive online conversions through partner websites. We’ll also be launching integrations with partners such as Groupon to drive more bookings at full-price for our partners. This will add to a large existing network that includes Peek.com, Reserve with Google, Yelp and more. 2) Save time: Time is money. Our operators save an average of 10 hours/week with our software: managing on-the-go with our mobile apps, getting fewer calls because of self-rescheduling options, and automating business systems through connections to 750+ online business tools. Over the last year, we’ve used direct operator feedback to completely rethink & further streamline our booking & payments flow on Peek Pro. The first release will allow operators to easily split payments among different customer payment options! This is just the beginning of other exciting improvements that will follow this year.3) Provide a great customer experience: We’re more than a booking software. Our philosophy is to holistically look at customer experience.We obsess about all the steps involved for customers: from researching the options on your website, to booking an activity, to having a great experience, and leaving with great memories to share with friends.Technology can empower operators to effortlessly deliver a 5-star experience to each customer, and I can’t wait for our new product innovations in 2019 that take this end-to-end experience to the next level.
What does it take to make a great product? How do you find ways to improve the Peek Pro software?
A great product is the result of a clear vision and a team that obsesses about solving real problems for customers. Peek Pro’s vision is to be the software of choice for Tour & Activity operators. We want to be the technology backbone of these operators so they can provide amazing experiences for their customers.Everyone at Peek gets excited about helping operators grow and change their lives for the better. Our product team regularly sit down with our customers to see how the product is used, and to better understand the problems that operators face on a daily basis. We are fortunate to have an operator base that provides valuable input to help shape the future of the product.I also read every single request that comes to improve the product from current and prospective customers. We then prioritize features that solve the biggest problems and create the highest positive impact for our customers. 2018 was a big year for Peek Pro with over 600 updates to the software! We’re super excited about all the new ways we’ll improve Peek Pro for our operators in 2019.
Partner visits are vital to improving our product and seeing it in action!
What do you enjoy most about working at Peek?
So many things! Here are my top three:The Mission: Our mission to connect the world through experiences inspires me. I’m passionate about building products that customers love. Being able to directly contribute to this mission by improving the Peek Pro software gets me excited to bring my best self to work every day!The Challenge: As the businesses of our operators grow, new opportunities come up to improve their lives. I get excited about solving new problems every day that directly help our operators. Never a dull moment!The Team: I am lucky to work with Peek’s team that is passionate, collaborative, hard-working, intellectually curious, caring and loves to have fun!
Peek Company Offsite 2018
Both the Tours and Activity space and the Tech Industry are male dominated. What has your experience been like as a female leader in your industry?
My mom started her career as a dentist in 1970s in India, at a time when dentistry was highly male-dominated. Seeing her thrive in the environment by focusing on her career aspirations and bring herself has always been a source of inspiration for me. When I started my career in engineering, I received this advice from my mom that still helps me to date: Be yourself and command respect. I genuinely believe that being authentic makes you a good leader. Not feeling the pressure to fit in means I can bring my whole self to work every day. I am not shy about my feminine interests. I openly talk about my lack of interest in male professional sports (!), and actively focus on self-reflection to stay authentic. It’s important to pick a work environment where authenticity is encouraged and you can fairly compete to rise in your career. As a female leader and a mom to my 2 year old daughter, I consider it my responsibility to help younger women in the industry. I am lucky to work at Peek, which is not only female founded but has a culture that promotes great workplace equality.
Peek ladies across our Utah, San Francisco, New York and Santiago offices!
Any words of motivation to end on?
“Do what you love, love what you do”Thanks Navya! Check out more content from our SheTalks series by clicking here!
