The Experience Institute is Making It Easy to Love Columbus
Visitor-centric mobile and PC platform helps local businesses spot “product gaps” and gain insight into customer satisfaction.
Clark, NJ, October 04, 2014 --(PR.com)-- The Experience Institute® (TEI), creator of the Experience Dedicated™ Destination (EDD ─ We are Ed) accreditation program, is enhancing the visitor experience and providing businesses with valuable insight in Columbus, Ohio using technology from Gold Mobile. A recent TEI case study released this summer documents the company’s efforts to capture visitor feedback and identify areas of improvement using mobile surveys and local business involvement.
The Experience Institute® was brought in by Experience Columbus (CVB/DMO) and The Greater Columbus Sports Commission to achieve one of the destination’s six over-arching goals - to provide an enhanced visitor experience, Make it Easy to Love Columbus. Through the Ed accreditation program, business owners and community leaders are able to come together to shape the total visitor experience as a competitive advantage and measure progress over time. The program is ongoing, but so far has resulted in valuable data and metrics for over 200 participating businesses and destination leaders.
“When we began the Ed sector sessions, some businesses – that had never been in the same room before – were talking with pride about how to improve the visitor experience and community,” said Brian Ross, CTA, President and CEO of Experience Columbus. “Our community is excited about having a trend-line measure of total service and eventual comparison to our competitive set.”
Gold Mobile is using its cloud-based platform to power the feedback portion of the program, using quick surveys to gauge the visitor experience. The mobile and digital surveys, which can be accessed through a variety of touch points, offer up five questions at a time out of a sixty question pool—great for the on-the-go visitor looking to get back to their vacation. The surveys collect visitor data, including comments, first-time visits, length of stay, repeat visits, recommend & return intentions, pre/during/post brand image, and product ‘gaps” based on visitor wants.
"For destinations that rely on visitor spending and positive word-of-mouth, the experience is their 'product' that they strengthen together,” said Mickey Schaefer, CEO & Founder of The Experience Institute®. "Because of Ed, destinations can now use meaningful metrics to measure the visitor experience daily and over time, and take collective action on 'things that matter' to visitors. As Ed grows nationwide, the ultimate goal is to have consumers seek out the We are Ed logo as a sign that the community is working together to make their experience the best it can be.”
The Experience Dedicated™ Destination accreditation program was developed from over 2,000 hours of primary research with stakeholders in four pilot study destinations, including Baltimore, Indianapolis, Spokane, and Fort Worth and, after a successful one-year Beta in Columbus, is currently available for full-scale deployment across the country. San Jose will become the second destination to proclaim they are Ed.
About The EXPERIENCE Institute®
Through a collaborative strategic partnership, Mickey Schaefer & Associates LLC and The Republik, Inc, have worked together to define the consumer-based standards and best practices of the Experience Dedicated™ Destination, culminating in a formal joint venture between the two companies with The EXPERIENCE Institute®. Both founding companies have received recognition and awards for their work serving destinations and the industry ─ bringing new focus to destination brand differentiation, the importance of ongoing visitor/consumer data and the holistic view of the total visitor experience. www.TheExperienceInstitute.org
About Gold Mobile
Gold Mobile is the provider of a cloud-based platform geared at enhancing companies’ mobile ordering, payment, and loyalty programs. The Gold Mobile platform engages customers during critical touch points with personalized offers and content, real-time transactions and instant rewards. For more information, please visit http://gold-mobile.com
The Experience Institute® was brought in by Experience Columbus (CVB/DMO) and The Greater Columbus Sports Commission to achieve one of the destination’s six over-arching goals - to provide an enhanced visitor experience, Make it Easy to Love Columbus. Through the Ed accreditation program, business owners and community leaders are able to come together to shape the total visitor experience as a competitive advantage and measure progress over time. The program is ongoing, but so far has resulted in valuable data and metrics for over 200 participating businesses and destination leaders.
“When we began the Ed sector sessions, some businesses – that had never been in the same room before – were talking with pride about how to improve the visitor experience and community,” said Brian Ross, CTA, President and CEO of Experience Columbus. “Our community is excited about having a trend-line measure of total service and eventual comparison to our competitive set.”
Gold Mobile is using its cloud-based platform to power the feedback portion of the program, using quick surveys to gauge the visitor experience. The mobile and digital surveys, which can be accessed through a variety of touch points, offer up five questions at a time out of a sixty question pool—great for the on-the-go visitor looking to get back to their vacation. The surveys collect visitor data, including comments, first-time visits, length of stay, repeat visits, recommend & return intentions, pre/during/post brand image, and product ‘gaps” based on visitor wants.
"For destinations that rely on visitor spending and positive word-of-mouth, the experience is their 'product' that they strengthen together,” said Mickey Schaefer, CEO & Founder of The Experience Institute®. "Because of Ed, destinations can now use meaningful metrics to measure the visitor experience daily and over time, and take collective action on 'things that matter' to visitors. As Ed grows nationwide, the ultimate goal is to have consumers seek out the We are Ed logo as a sign that the community is working together to make their experience the best it can be.”
The Experience Dedicated™ Destination accreditation program was developed from over 2,000 hours of primary research with stakeholders in four pilot study destinations, including Baltimore, Indianapolis, Spokane, and Fort Worth and, after a successful one-year Beta in Columbus, is currently available for full-scale deployment across the country. San Jose will become the second destination to proclaim they are Ed.
About The EXPERIENCE Institute®
Through a collaborative strategic partnership, Mickey Schaefer & Associates LLC and The Republik, Inc, have worked together to define the consumer-based standards and best practices of the Experience Dedicated™ Destination, culminating in a formal joint venture between the two companies with The EXPERIENCE Institute®. Both founding companies have received recognition and awards for their work serving destinations and the industry ─ bringing new focus to destination brand differentiation, the importance of ongoing visitor/consumer data and the holistic view of the total visitor experience. www.TheExperienceInstitute.org
About Gold Mobile
Gold Mobile is the provider of a cloud-based platform geared at enhancing companies’ mobile ordering, payment, and loyalty programs. The Gold Mobile platform engages customers during critical touch points with personalized offers and content, real-time transactions and instant rewards. For more information, please visit http://gold-mobile.com
Contact
Gold Mobile
Jason A. Howie
848-467-4560, ext. 270
www.gold-mobile.com
The Experience Institute
Mickey Schaefer, CEO/Founder
(520) 219-0469
mickey@theexperienceinstitute.org
Jason A. Howie
848-467-4560, ext. 270
www.gold-mobile.com
The Experience Institute
Mickey Schaefer, CEO/Founder
(520) 219-0469
mickey@theexperienceinstitute.org
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