For years, Charge About only knew the name of one person per booking, the one who filled out the form. Everyone else riding was a stranger.
Campbell Read is a die-hard mountain biker who was skeptical of eBikes when they first showed up, like a lot of cyclists, the idea of strapping a motor to a bike didn’t sit right. Then he tried one.
“On an eBike, I found some trails that I didn’t even know existed,” Campbell said. “I quickly realized how, with this technology, more folks can experience mountain biking and more trails, whether they are a die-hard cyclist or not.”
Living on New Zealand’s South Island, surrounded by millions of international tourists, launching an eBike rental business felt obvious. “It was an opportunity too awesome to ignore,” Campbell said. Charge About was born, supplying riders of all skill levels with high-end French Moustache e-bikes running Bosch motors on the trails in and around Queenstown.
Getting there took real trial and error, and Campbell has three lessons for other adventure tourism operators.
1. Use Data to Build Marketing Strategy
“With any new product or service, you may know that it’s awesome, but you should carefully consider how you want to get the message across to people who have never heard of your business before,” Campbell said. “A thorough marketing roadmap makes sure that you’re on the right path and reaching the right people. You need data to do that.”
Charge About added Wherewolf to centralize customer data, and the arrival app came with a built-in fix: it captures every rider’s information, not just the person who booked.
“Before Wherewolf we would simply get the information from one person. Now we tend to be better at grabbing people’s details and growing the dataset by using Wherewolf.”
— Campbell Read, Charge About
That fuller dataset let Campbell see which customer types were actually buying, where they were hearing about Charge About, and which packages different segments preferred, insight he now uses to put marketing dollars where they actually perform.
2. Build a Consistent Brand Experience From Start to Finish
In a crowded Queenstown adventure tourism market, brand recognition has been core to Charge About’s growth, built through consistent branding across print, digital, social, and display advertising.
For Campbell, that consistency has to extend to check-in. Guests are handed an iPad running a custom-branded Wherewolf app the moment they arrive.
“Our Wherewolf app user interface ensures we look professional. We were using another online form builder, but Wherewolf has more of a sleek appeal in how it looks and functions,” Campbell said.
3. Automate Operational Processes
Getting operational processes right from day one mattered to Campbell, and Wherewolf’s check-in freed up staff time that used to go toward admin.
“The app is intuitive and easy to use and allows us to spend more quality time on other important parts of the business,” Campbell said. Data is collated automatically, no manual entry, no exporting to a spreadsheet, and the Wherewolf Dashboard breaks customers down by activity and demographic on its own.
The automation carries past check-in, too. An automatic follow-up email prompts guests for a TripAdvisor review right after their ride.
“Wherewolf sends out the TripAdvisor introduction to ask how it’s all going, so that makes things run more smoothly,” Campbell said. “Through TripAdvisor our customer base has been growing, and this has had a noticeable effect on Viator.”
Doing What They Love
All of that automation buys the Charge About team one thing: more time on the trails around Lake Wakatipu and Gibbston, riding alongside guests, matching them to the right bike, and swapping stories about where they ended up.
“We love to have a yarn and debrief on where folk got to and enthuse about our amazing eBikes.”
— Campbell Read, Charge About
If this sounds like where your business is at, get in touch with our team to see what Wherewolf could do for you.