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Like Ed’s Fly Shop, Wachusett tries to convert guests
SKI UTAH EXPLORES NEW APP
from the moment of their first purchase, Meyers says. Once
a guest buys a single beginner lesson, automated “Smiles
FOR PASSPORT PROGRAMS
Rewards” emails are triggered, offering two more lessons
THE ENTIRE SNOWSPORTS INDUSTRY STANDS TO GAIN for an additional $100. If the guest opts out of that offer,
WHEN AREAS CONNECT—AND STAY CONNECTED—WITH KIDS. he or she will receive a similar offer after the first lesson. LEGACIES
In the case of grade-school passport programs, state associations help The strategy behind Smiles Rewards is simple, Meyers says:
deliver children, and their families, to the slopes, but it’s up to areas to Congratulate guests on completing their first lesson, and give
keep them engaged. them an incentive to continue by offering a special upgrade
This coming season, Ski Utah will celebrate the 20th anniversary to three more days.
of its 5th and 6th Grade Passport program.
“Because of this anniversary, we wanted to make this a special year
for passport holders and the resorts who make this program possible,” Killington, winner of the 2015 NSAA Conversion Cup, THAT MOVE
says Raelene Davis, vice president of marketing for Ski Utah. was one of the earliest adapters of a progressive email mar-
To make this year special, and create a more robust passport keting campaign when it employed PURL in 2010. PURL is
product, Ski Utah has developed a custom passport experience that is a personalized uniform resource locator (URL) app that was
fully digital and integrated into its successful 4th Grade Learn to Ski and cutting edge at its time.
Ride program. This will now allow students to participate in a three-year Like top-of-the-line customer relationship manage-
immersion program, aiding in true conversion. ment tools of today, PURL is tied to transactions and queues FORWARD
This new platform will allow parents to apply and pay for the up emails welcoming guests to the resort, thanks them for US
passport online ($45 administrative fee) and the student to utilize their purchase, and sends them email offers for repeat visits.
the passport at any of Utah’s 14 resorts without any printed media. The resort is now using SilverPop, part of the IBM Watson
It also allows for immediate redemption, so no more waiting one to Marketing software.
two weeks for a physical passport to arrive. The 2018 recipients of the
The advantage for Ski Utah and its member resorts in adopting
this new platform is threefold:
1. It provides the resort immediate access to passport holders upon Jan W. Leonard Award
checking in at the resort, allowing them to communicate with their
parents and keep them engaged throughout their passport journey.
2. It provides an opportunity for Ski Utah’s partner retailers to
effectively market to passport parents, letting them know of for exceptional contribution to the
special rental and purchase offers.
3. It allows Ski Utah the ability to track the student’s three-year journey, B77.1 American Standards Committee.
from the first lesson in fourth grade, through the fifth- and sixth-grade
trial period, to season pass conversion in seventh grade. Chandler Burgess/Killington Resort

“This is going to be an amazing improvement to our already successful
program, and we’re looking forward to the many new doors it will
open for us—both in terms of inspiring students, and parents, to ski At Killington, their strategy is to provide excellent guest services then stay in
more to providing tools to help them become life-long participants touch using top-of-the-line customer relationship management tools. Sid Roslund Maynard Russell
in our sport,” says Davis.
Since the inception of Ski Utah’s school program, more than “When people are hot on us, they’ve made the commit-
200,000 fourth graders have learned to ski or snowboard, and more ment and we need to stay in communication with them,” Former Executive Director ANSI B77 Former Chair and Vice-Chair ANSI B77
Former Technical Services
Eastern Sales, Skytrac and Chairkit
than 150,000 fifth and sixth graders have honed their ski and snow- says Rob Megnin, the resort’s sales and marketing director. Director, NSAA Loading Conveyors
board skills on Utah slopes. “With beginners it’s all about staying in touch and rolling
out the red carpet for them when they get here.”

You still need a mix of old school though, as these areas
Email marketing based on transactional data averages Here at Skytrac, we carry on a legacy as the most
eight times more opens and clicks than any other type are well aware. Before there were computers, businesses still customer-centric lift builders in North America.
of email and can generate six times more revenue. put a premium on customer relations. While some of those
—Experian tactics may be considered old school or quaint, they’re hardly We design solutions that are innovative, economical
irrelevant when it comes to making the all-important human and efficient.
connection with guests. Old-school CRM involves greeting

50 | NSAA JOURNAL | FALL 2018