Make sure to offer everyone who enters your site membership. Membership is the key to long term profits. Most of the more successful centres in the world have a membership to player ratio of over 10:1. If you do not use a membership system, you are missing a significant moneymaking opportunity.
The most apparent benefits of using a membership system are:
- Building a database of players. With your database, you can precisely target players for birthday parties, party nights, midnight to dawn sessions, league competitions, and so on.
- Provide a challenge to skilled regulars and protection for your beginner players with an integrated handicapping system. If you have no membership, you risk bored regulars who won't want to keep playing and beginners who struggle to get into the fun.
- You know precisely how effective your advertising campaigns are because each membership form asks members how they heard about you.
Just think about all the money you spent on advertising to get people to walk through your door. If they aren't becoming members, you won't know who they are, how they found you, or how to contact them when they walk out the door. You have practically thrown your advertising dollars away on a one-shot hit. Remember, membership is the most effective marketing tool you have. One of the biggest reasons for low profits is that owners charge too much for membership or just don't offer it.
Membership is an essential aspect of Zone or any Laser Tag. When players are members, they feel they belong to something. However, the most important factor for you, the operator, is that each member provides their details, which is crucial for future promotions and advertising.
Customers must be encouraged to become members. Some people are naturally hesitant because they feel they are committing to or joining a club. You should clearly explain the following advantages (if they are relevant at your site):
- Games become cheaper
- They get to choose their alias
- The system will track their progress, recording their scores. As they improve, they will receive more unique abilities
- They will receive newsletters and discount vouchers in the mail
- Non-members do not receive discounts and pay a higher price for games
- Non-members do not have access to the "special," more fun and exciting games
Whenever you sell a game pass, determine whether the customer is a member or not and ensure the correct price is charged, allowing your staff the opportunity to explain the benefits of membership to non-members.