Complicated coupons, inconvenient payment processes, and even walk-in birthday parties can cause small friction points, leading to big frustration.

Reputation is critical to any business’s success, and maintaining one that’s positive is easier said than done. Most companies have a plan for handling significant customer issues, but It doesn’t take huge mistakes to wreak havoc. Even minor friction points can erode your guests’ perception of your business over time. 

Read on for seven common friction points that could damage your business and what to do about them.

Digital signage can be a strategic tool for your business. 

In several online family entertainment forums lately, I've seen questions from operators about how best to leverage monitors and display signage.

Some advice they received was to load up images onto a USB thumb drive and plug them into the TVs and "set it and forget it." The issue with using an approach such as this means often that keeping the content fresh also gets forgotten, which means the business could lose the revenue-boosting potential of these displays.

When you use a digital signage system, like CenterEdge's Digital Signage, the system works in tandem with your point of sale. This enables you to keep the content, specifically pricing, fresh. Today, we're sharing the tips from one of our most popular posts with tips to help you reap all the benefits of using your CenterEdge Digital Signage.

Improved guest experience, seamless scheduling, and barrier-free buying experiences are just some of the benefits of careful capacity management processes and systems.

Many amusement facilities have needed to adjust how they manage capacity for admissions and attractions over the last year. Processes for ticketing, access control, and cash handling have most likely all been affected. But even though COVID brought a sense of urgency around reimagining our businesses, it always makes sense to review your processes and systems from time to time to ensure you’re operating as effectively as possible.

In conversations with new operators at recent educational events, I’ve found that people are unsure whether or not to use capacity management tools or offer timed experiences for guests. When carefully implemented, robust capacity management tools can create significant benefits for your guests and your business. Read on for our top five to help you decide how your facility should proceed.

Today’s blog was written by CenterEdge Trainer, Alex Buenrostro, with input from two FEC industry veterans from our training team, Andy Rye and Matthew Mayer. 

By Alex Buenrostro

There has been a recent influx of onboarding new FEC and amusement team members and that includes a lot of new supervisors and managers. We’ve been getting a lot of questions about onboarding new managers and the skills they need to be able to run effective shifts and oversee operations. So we put together this getting started guide to help new managers build a strong foundation. And as always, we’re here to help.

Being able to mobilize a high-performing team quickly, respond to challenges, and maximize the tools at your disposal make all the difference to success. 

You can never know how one seemingly small moment can have a massive impact on your business. This week, we sat down with David Dimberio, owner of Combat Ops Entertainment in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He shared his team’s response to a social media wave that caused significant changes for his business. Their ability to remain agile, enthusiastic, and flexible made all the difference. 

We’re sharing his story and the lessons we learned from Combat Ops’ experience.

Offer your guests a better sales experience online with a cohesive online store. 

Your online store is a critical component of your sales team. But there is a lot more to effective online sales than simply adding your inventory to an online store. Today’s blog features insights first published in our CenterEdge Help Center by Technical Writer and client eCommerce theming expert Lena Plaut. 

Though she’s been a member of the training team for nearly five years, she also has a wealth of knowledge in this area, with 15 years’ worth of experience in digital media. Read on for Lena’s top tips to help you deliver a better online experience, and be sure to check out other training team blog posts and documentation in the CenterEdge Help Center.

New resources for FEC managers to learn more about personnel, inventory management, Advantage Groups, point of sale, web store, and reporting functionality in your CenterEdge system. 

As you hire or promote new managers to lead your FEC or amusement park, they will need a deeper understanding of your facility management tools to help you operate more effectively. 

That’s why CenterEdge is rolling out a new, four-part manager training series to give new managers comprehensive training of the key software functionality. Each session will last for one hour. 

The series is free for all CenterEdge clients with an active Licensing and Service Agreement (LSA) or a current support agreement. Read on for an overview of what the sessions will cover, and then register for our upcoming event series.

The new Advantage Memberships provides new ways to implement meaningful membership programs for your guests and your business.  

Membership programs can be a terrific way to differentiate your business from your competition, which is more important than ever during our industry’s recovery.

Our CenterEdge team has been hard at work reimagining our current Memberships and Recurring Billing offerings to give you brand new tools to help you develop, manage, and maximize your membership programs. In this three-part blog series, we’ll share these tools, a real-world client case study, and tips to help you implement your program successfully. 

First up, let’s take a look at the new Advantage Memberships.

Find out the assumptions that keep your FEC overpaying for merchant services. 

There are many misconceptions regarding merchant services that can cost your business significantly every month and year. But understanding all the ins and outs of credit card processing could be considered a full-time job. That’s why we’re introducing this three-part blog series to help you get to the root of the costs, which types of fees you have control over, how often you should be evaluating your program, and the most important considerations to scrutinize when you decide to dig in. 

Let’s start by tackling the three biggest assumptions about credit card processing that can cost operators like you a lot of money - and what you can do about it. 

Give your waiver and check-in processes a boost with the new Advantage waiver system.

As you’re setting the stage for a successful 2021, you’re no doubt reviewing all of your processes. Two that can make or break your guests’ perception of your facility are your liability waiver and check-in processes.

This past year, CenterEdge released a new waiver experience available for free to all users with an active license and service agreement (LSA), and if you haven’t done so already, now is a great time to schedule your upgrade. Also, check out these six tips to help you refresh your waiver, improve your guest experience, and reap all the benefits.