Clip ‘n Climb climbing centres recently approached MP Digital, a web development agency with over 22 years’ experience and a team of specialists producing bespoke customer engagement solutions focused on online purchasing experiences. With an existing online booking system that was unable to handle the pressures of a growing multi-centre business taking a large volume of reservations and enquiries each month, Clip ‘n Climb required a more advanced system that could handle this level of business. Working with international POS printing solutions provider Star Micronics for its cloud printing capabilities, MP Digital today provides Clip ‘n Climb with a powerful global online booking system.
The web development agency was tasked with developing a fully unified solution that would allow Clip ‘n Climb to manage session capacities and take bookings online in the same way. The system needed to have multi-tenancy capabilities so it would be able to support a number of centres using a single code base. This would allow multiple centres to be supported against any issues, while benefitting from new features and maintenance across all sites. Any patches could be rolled out across the system, rather than having to make individual changes to each centre’s system. With a high volume of visitors coming from mobile and tablet devices, it was also crucial that the system was optimised for use by mobile devices.
With Clip ‘n Climb rapidly expanding to 350 centres globally and 75+ in the UK, the new booking system allows its centres around the world to convert customers online efficiently as well as manage bookings, capacities, payments, vouchers, discounts, offers and much more. The system is specifically tailored to Clip ‘n Climb to provide all the required technology and capabilities available to staff, while providing an improved user experience for customers booking online.
Key features include:
- Clip ‘n Climb party system helps to automate and manage the entire party process from booking to visit.
- Windcave/Fidelity payment integration to provide an improved transaction fee for all Clip ‘n Climb centres allowing for centre terminal and online payments to benefit from one provider and a better rate.
- Waivers system – the Clip ‘n Climb booking system includes a fully automated and online waiver management system allowing customers to complete their waiver online before arrival at the centre. Using ‘Kiosk Mode’ customers can also complete their waiver at the centre directly into the system.
- Membership system – the system automates the sign up process and allows payment to be taken via direct debit each month. Membership allows the customer to book onto specific sessions.
- API System – provides the ability to send a customer’s data to other systems that support MP Digital’s API Integration. Such systems could include MailChimp, Campaign Monitor or Accountancy software.
MP Digital approached Star to provide a cloud printing solution that could handle the large number of centres globally using the system. The solution is Star’s unique CloudPRNT™ technology that offers a seamless omni-channel customer experience and provides businesses with a new way of communicating directly to a receipt, ticket, label or online order printer, allowing integration of online purchasing with physical outlets. It works with the chosen online ordering platform or e-commerce solution to create print jobs and eliminate the need for additional tablets for order inputting. Furthermore, opting for a managed service, MP Digital and Clip ‘n Climb benefit from StarPrinter.Online, a dedicated service for businesses to manage the printer estate.
David Pearce, Technical Director, Star Micronics EMEA, explains: “Star CloudPRNT is relatively simple to set up using your own host server and Star’s intelligent printers. However, for those who prefer a fully managed service with no backend knowledge, Star has recently introduced StarPrinter.Online which is a dedicated service for businesses to manage their printer estate with minimal set up time and cost. This allows printing direct from an ordering website through the REST API or direct from the page with JavaScript, or even via email with zero integration.”
Key features include:
- Remotely manage devices from a central location with no need to manage local IP addresses
- Use Star’s REST API, or a bridging service/plugin to connect existing applications and websites to a printer without writing any code
- Customers who do not want to use the API can send Star’s easy to read markup or an html file to the StarPrinter.Online email in order to print instead
- Reliable tracking of print jobs. Receive webhook based notification of device status changes, print job results, barcode scans, new device connections to a group, etc.
- Scalable as businesses grow. Simply add more printers and peripherals when needed without having to worry about server upgrades
- StarPrinter.Online uses Star distributed servers taking the hassle and cost out of hosting
- StarPrinter.Online dashboard allows users to have an overview of devices and activity.
David Maran, Director, MP Digital, concludes: “The aim of our solution was to provide more flexibility to Clip ‘n Climb centres whilst also improving the customer journey, with the ultimate aim of generating more bookings. Working in partnership with Star and taking advantage of their expertise in cloud printing has enabled us to achieve this. The system has been a great success, giving Clip ‘n Climb more control and less risk. Since launch, the bookings conversion rate across all centres has increased by 25%.”
