UKC

What incentives would you like to see?

In reply to ozbaker: free tea, use of rope, tape.

In reply to gd303uk:

I prefer to lead on my own rope rather than one I don't know the history of.

I think most walls already have "loyalty schemes" in the form of direct debit memberships, often at a very substantial discount.

Neil

In reply to ozbaker: Once the wall has got good, realistically graded and reasonably/regularly changed routes and good music...then I'd say free sessions, or food etc

In reply to ozbaker:
Cheaper entrance fees for climbing more often. Everything else just feels a bit gimmicky to me.

In reply to Neil Williams:

it's an indoor wall rope hardly worth worrying about imo, it just saves me taking my 50 or 60m one there, but I understand your concern but I don't think walls would use dodgy rope. but correct me if I am wrong.

In reply to ozbaker: a pass that was determined by number of climbs not months you have it for etc, nothing wrong with the time ones, just that when the sun shines I try to get out.

In reply to gd303uk:

I don't think *walls* would, but it's a question of whether climbers log falls etc properly or not. I think it's an overhead they wouldn't want.

Why not buy a cheap 30m rope for wall use?

Neil

In reply to ozbaker:

You pay your normal fee for entry 5 times, 6th time is free etc...

Reward for your loyal customers, without having to commit to paying for a whole year.

In reply to ozbaker: A loyalty card like most coffee shops do. Get a stamp each climb, and get 1 free climb with six stamps?

That would be great I think.

In reply to Neil Williams:

i have never logged a fall at a wall, and fall a good bit. do walls you visit require this?
cheers
Graham

In reply to gd303uk:

Some walls already do that up to a point eg pre-paid sessions at ten for the price of nine or whatever. A "loyalty scheme" that doesn't reward people who come more often kind of defeats the object, though...

But yeah, I'd agree that apart from fixed time passes and "six for the price of five" passes (or whatever), trying random rewards for regular climbers seems a bit weird and gimmicky.

In reply to ozbaker: awesome walls do a good thing with like a game board as your member card and each time you go you get a stamp hich gets you free things like tea and cake and a free climb - I kept losing my card though which mean't it was back to the start for me!

I think more walls should adopt it though I suspect its all down to cost!

In reply to ozbaker: substantial discounts on membership for monthly/3 month/6month/year memberships are all I want really. Like to use my own rope, not bothered about drinking tea or eating cake when I'm climbing.

Maybe the stamp idea is a good one, I feel I'm more likely to return if I feel I'm getting a good deal every time I go though (discount for bulk buy/longer term passes etc).

In reply to gd303uk:

In the US it's common for walls to insist on providing lead ropes (because they don't know the condition of your own ropes). They insist all falls *on those ropes* are logged.

Have a Google about. I don't think it's something we would want to get into.

Neil

In reply to gd303uk:

Big Rock do one of those, 10% discount for buying 10. It's a good idea, saves both a bit of cash and the hassle of having to pay each time.

Neil

In reply to ozbaker:
Thanks everyone for some great replys so far.
Since our wall is already considerably cheeper than all of our competition i have been considering other ways to reward loyal climbers.
I do see what you mean though, free teas and coffees can seem a bit gimmickey.
Anyone interested in free cake nights?

Oz.

In reply to Neil Williams: wow i learn summit every day , I agree I wouldn't want that scheme over here but after the a few more business people breaking their legs and suing etc. i can see it happening, i hope not though,

In reply to gd303uk: It does seem like an impressively ass-backwards way of doing it - "we don't trust you to know the history of your own rope, so we're going to insist that you use ours and then track the history of it for us..."

In reply to Martin1978:

Awesome walls already do that - but you get one free climb after 50 paid ones. (they give you 2 point per pound spent, which you can spend as you like, on a climb, or on tea, coffee etc)

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

they have a more boring electronic points card now...

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Brought to you by the country where safety is about who might or might not get sued and how much for rather than actual safety.

<no smiley>

Neil

In reply to Ramblin dave: i agree mate, crazy,

In reply to tlm: At Awesome they give you 2p for every pound you spend on the electronic cards, i am up to £7

In reply to ozbaker:
Regular informal competitions seem like quite a good thing to give people something extra to keep coming back for. "Do as many of these routes as you can in a month" things (like the Big Rock leading aggregate or the Castle boulder ladder) seem particularly good, because they don't get in the way of people who've just turned up for a climb. And the boulder ladder is based on month-on-month improvement as well, so it's not just for the wads.

In reply to Neil Williams:

Yes, I've come across this at quite a few of the walls I've climbed at in the US. Most of the time you can only get them if you are 'lead certified', which is an additional test on top of the 'belay certified' one.

For me, who visits the walls while on business travel, this system works very well as I only need to pack my boots and harness and then find someone to partner with when I get there.

Gavin

In reply to gd303uk:

Which means that you have spent a mere £350

In reply to tlm:

Ha, I will not be showing this thread to my wife

In reply to ozbaker: creation do a good loyaty scheme,£32 a month for unlimited entry which saves me about £18 as I climb there twice a week.
You also get free tea and coffee,15% off in the shop,2 free entries a month for new climbers and 2hrs free instruction a year,so I'm happy. Had to sign a 1yr contract but was happy to do that

In reply to ozbaker: A prize for a random "taking part-er" in wall comps would probably give people more incentives to join in (bouldering wall thing really)

In reply to ozbaker:

I haven't seen a scheme yet that's enticed me since it would mean using the same wall too much and I get bored of them quickly

In reply to Ed Navigante: You mean like picking scorecards out at random and giving away 2 pairs of boots?

In reply to Ed Navigante:

Which is exactly what The Foundry offers with their winter bouldering league.

In reply to ozbaker:

..........free tea...

*sighs*

In reply to ozbaker:
Thanks everyone for for some good quality replys.

In reply to ozbaker and everyone else,

Hi Folks, sorry about the late reply to this thread!

As has been stated we do a loyalty scheme that gives you back 2p in the pound. We picked this in line with many other companies offering loyalty points.

I agreed that the fun has been taking out of it now we don't have the old style monopoly cards in use. The smiles we used to get when someone got their free cuppa or their eventual free climb was great!

So, moving forward we are going to introduce a new scheme soon that will bring the cards back but with a twist! Full details will be announced here soon once we have finalised them.

As some big supermarket said once 'every little helps'!

Happy climbing everyone.


Dave Douglas
Awesome Walls Climbing Centres Ltd
Liverpool/Stockport/Stoke-on-Trent/Dublin (opening September 2012)

In reply to ozbaker:

Paying me to climb at them in Summertime?