The popularity of ziplining has skyrocketed in the past couple of decades with ziplines popping up in locations all over the world. With people raving about their experiences on social media, more and more people are wanting to get in on the fun. They’re literally having the time of their life and everybody wants a photo to document it. 

An absolutely fantastic way to boost your business is to supply your guests with stunning, high-quality photos documenting their experience and giving them the chance to show off their acrobatics to the world — or at least the fact that they were brave enough to go on a zipline!

But how do you do it? How do you choose zipline photo software? Read on to find out!

Choosing the right zipline photo software is absolutely crucial to making your photo service a resounding success. You can hire a photographer that will do great work, but the logistics is where things get bogged down.

Keep in mind these factors when choosing zipline photo software.

Photos are the perfect additional income stream for a zipline business. Guests are having the time of their life doing something that they don’t normally do and guests talk about it for months afterward. A zipline tour is one of the highlights of a person’s vacation!

The whole point of buying a camera, adding a photographer to your team, and getting them set up to do their job is to make more money while keeping guests happy. Many people think that taking a picture is just clicking a button, but there’s a whole lot more behind it. Just buying the equipment is an investment!

If you’re going to put in all that money and work, you should expect a measurable return on your investment. The right zipline photo software can help you do that. 

In other words, many guests are more than happy to purchase photos of their antics. That’s why so many of the most loved brands in tourism, including Disney, provide this service. With the right software, it’s easy to provide photos at an affordable price point that will encourage guests to purchase them.

Plus, you get free marketing!  Most people are chomping at the bit to share their photos on Social Media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. Just drop a friendly reminder to mention your zipline company in their post with your favorite hashtag. Guests that had a fabulous time on your tour will be stoked to help you out.

These days, with a camera in every smartphone people are used to being able to instantly post photos of their shenanigans. The same thing happens when they come on your zipline tour. They’re itching to show off their photos before you even get back to base camp! 

They want high-quality photos, from better angles, that only you can provide. They do not want mediocre snaps from their (or their guides) smartphone. These amazing photos, capturing them at the peak of the experience, is what they are going to want to show off! Not to mention, they want to enjoy their time flying through the air rather than waste it trying to get quick snaps of each other that don’t turn out anyway. So offer them high-quality photos that make them look good and you can be sure they’ll be plastering them all over social media. Choosing a zipline photo software that allows them to instantly view and share their professional photos from their phone is essential!

You also want to choose a zipline photo software that offers technical support, no matter how easy it is to use. Let’s face it, not everyone is a whiz with IT.  Easy-to-use software that ensures guests receive the correct photos cuts down significantly on customer service issues. With support staff in-house and a technical support team behind the scenes if there is a problem guests will be sure to get a quick resolution.

All hail the all-powerful TripAdvisor!  You already know how critically important it is to keep your rating up on TripAdvisor. Even one negative or mediocre review can affect your business.

You also know that you can’t break TripAdvisor’s rules (or other review platforms) by rewarding guests for their 5-star posts. 

To get 5-star reviews, you need to target your best guests. Your best guests are going to be the ones buying your awesome photos, they’re invested. They were excited about their tour, they’re excited to share the photos with all their friends, and they’ll be excited to leave 5-Star reviews. 

Having software that makes capturing those great reviews from your best guests is critical.

This is a big one for keeping your costs under control. Choose a zipline photo software company that works based on transactional pricing and is in line with your cash flow. This means that you only pay if it is successful for your business. The great thing about this is that the software vendor is only making money if you are making money! You’re real partners and in it together. This further encourages an amazing experience every time you use your zipline photo software.

With transactional pricing, it means there are no upfront costs. It means that you don’t have to take on the risk of buying a zipline photo software that ends up not making you the money that you expected. You only pay when you actually are successful with photos.

That also means that you’re not paying for software during the off-season that you don’t use. Seriously, you’re not making money in the off-season, so why should your software vendor get to leech off of you for those months?

When you’re not dumping money into a software that you’re not using or prepaying for it before you see results, you have more money available to invest in other parts of your business.

Definitely look for a zipline photo software company that does not require you to lock yourself into a contract with them. Especially with the way things are these days, you don’t know what’s going to happen with your business even in the next few months. You could have tons of excited customers, weary of the lockdowns, thronging to your business to let off some steam — or you could be struggling to survive until things pick up again.

Being forced to tie yourself to a software vendor is pretty much the last thing you want to do. You could end up throwing away much-needed funds to keep your business afloat.
On top of that, you want the software vendor to work with you each step of the way. Having a contract means, the software vendor can sit back and relax while you work through issues. Without a contract, the software vendor has to prove each day that they are worthy of your dollar.

Finally, the software you choose has to be easy to use. You’re running a streamlined operation. People are coming through on vacation, having fun. They don’t want to be stuck racking their brain, trying to figure out how to get their pictures. 

The same thing goes for your staff. When they aren’t stuck in the corner trying to figure out why the photo software isn’t working, they are free to spend more time interacting with your customers, i.e. amazing more customers and making more sales. 

And the experience doesn’t stop there. If a guest calls back with an issue your staff needs to be able to quickly resolve it and turn that customer’s frown upside down. That’s how you get and keep rave reviews and keep the word about your business positive and upbeat!

You can check out the full details here, but here is a quick version of how PicThrive helped a Colorado adventure company Royal Gorge Rafting & Zipline Tours boost their business.

As the largest and #1 ranked whitewater outfitter in the Royal Gorge, RGR already offered its guests an unparalleled experience. From whitewater rafting to zipline tours, premium accommodations, and a bar and grill that has been voted #1 in the region for 10 years, guests tend to leave quite happy.

But they wanted to take things to the next level.

Guests loved RGR’s professional photo service, but they did not love waiting in line while the staff frantically tried to burn USBs for everyone. The photos had to be manually managed, organized, and backed up, which ended up eating up resources and leaving them vulnerable to errors. They even had to hire extra staff just to keep guests happy for the photo service. On top of the sales they lost when people didn’t want to wait in line, they also lost sales from customers who changed their minds and wanted to buy the photos later. Once they were gone, there was no good way to give them their photos.

All that went away when they implemented PicThrive.

In just one month with PicThrive, RGR enjoyed saving over 150 hours of labor dealing with guest photos. On top of that, they enjoyed a 25% increase in photo revenue. That’s on top of the money they saved in labor!

And the best part? They also saw a 30% hike in their review quantity with customers gushing about the fabulous and stress-free vacation they enjoyed at RGR. 

PicThrive revolutionized the way RGR was delivering its rafting and zipline photo memories. Not only did it streamline their photo process, saving their staff and guests valuable time, guests had instant access to their photos via email and text message. 

Royal Gorge Rafting & Zipline could win on two levels. First, they could get their best guests sharing on social media and writing positive reviews right away from their phones. Secondly, they earned a valuable auxiliary revenue stream that helped them reinvest in their business, tours and staff.

PicThrive provides customer support 24/7 ensuring that should there be any bumps in the road that they would be addressed in real-time by a team that cared. This provided the confidence RGR needed in a zipline photo software and a stellar customer experience that WOW’d guests.

Cultivating those WOW moments, differentiate Royal Gorge Rafting & Ziplines business, and helped encourage guests to share their experiences with other potential customers on social media sites and review platforms.

On top of that, PicThrive doesn’t charge subscription fees, doesn’t require you to sign a contract or lock yourself down in any way. Allowing RGR to use the software, and pay for it, only when they need it and when it was successful. Knowing that when they do need it, PicThrive is active and ready to be used at a  moment’s notice.

Ready to dive in and enjoy the same benefits? Check out PicThrive today!