“...for every dollar resorts spend with Stakecam.com, they gain back $37.”
I'll mention upfront this article is data heavy and may not interest the average skier / snowboarder. However, if you are affiliated with the ski industry, measure Average Revenue per Skier Visits, or want to see the math behind how Stakecam.com is proven to get over 12% more visitors to a resort* using SnowCAP™ technology, read on!
The Claim:
We claim that for every dollar resorts spend with Stakecam.com, they gain back $37. How do we arrive at this conclusion?
The Math:
Creating a representative Average Revenue per Skier Visit metric from fiscal reports of three leading North American ski & snowboard resort corporations, gives $76.17 (Source: Peak Resorts Reports Results for FY2015 gives this number as $67.45 in 2015, Intrawest Reports FY2016 gives $95.46, Vail Resorts FY2016 gives $65.59).
$76.17 Average Revenue Per Visit x (1000 projected users ÷ 2) = $38,085 total revenue gained
Given
- $76.17 Average Revenue Per Visit = Calculated from above three representative fiscal reports
- 1000 projected users = projected users to sign up in year one by simply posting a link on homepage; as this number goes up so does total
- 2 = half of all users who sign up for SnowCAP™ alerts ski / snowboard more*
- $38,085 = expected total revenue gained for resort in year one
From this simple calculation, if a resort spends $1 per user, gains at least 1000 users, the resort takes in at least $38,000 of additional revenue annually. In this article we interpret SnowCAP™ 2016/17 User Survey data conservatively; actual results are more compelling. See below that over one-tenth report skiing / snowboarding twice as much or more (≥ 200%)!
Percentage of SnowCAP™ Users That Ski More
Why does the system work this well?
After using the system for a year, we have some theories why our numbers are so remarkable.
Theory #1: If a picture says 1000 words, an animated gif says 10,000...literally.
SnowCAP™ takes the last two hours of webcam footage and puts it together in a lightweight, animation of conditions. Until someone invents teleportation, it's the closest you can get to being in every snowstorm while it's happening.
Think of it like TV verses newspapers. Americans who get their news from newspapers have fallen 7% in the last three years alone! (Source: Pew Research Center) I think most will agree that video is far more informative than text-only. All other current platforms for notifying skiers / boarders of conditions are text-only. If they're the same price, why would you stay with a text-only platform?
Theory #2: Less is more.
To explain, let's use a sports analogy - why has the National Football League (NFL) soared past Major League Baseball (MLB) as America's national pastime over the past few decades? Along with strategically utilizing technology to attract a younger demographic, analysts think it has to do with the NFL having less games per season; 16 to baseball's 162. The result is much more excitement generated per game.
Taking advantage of this phenomenon is how Stakecam.com's system frames a snow day, even if there happen to be fewer in a season due to climate change. Instead of not skiing because "I'll go next time," our system reminds skiers / boarders, conditions are perfect now...so "go NOW". This gives the best of both worlds - non-passively putting good conditions right in the face of skiers / boarders while staying quiet if conditions haven't been great. The result is more excitement for powder days and less despondence for stagnant weather.
Stakecam.com user surveys bear this concept out. Over and over users prefer the SnowCAP™ system. When asked how they compare to conventional, text-only alerts, a remarkable 96.4% like the SnowCAP™ alerting system better, with 50.6% reporting as "liking [SnowCAP™] far better" than text-only and 97.5% reporting "feeling excited to ski / snowboard" because of SnowCAP™.*
After observing the data from historical analogous markets (print vs. television, etc.), there's no surprise a system like SnowCAP™ works as well as it does. Almost any space where print is converted to animated imagery you see an increase in customer acceptance, just google tv advertising vs print, or mobile vs print. Traditionally the problem has been the cost difference - animated media is typically more expensive. But with artificial intelligence bridging this gap that trend is rapidly changing. This is why Stakecam.com is able to provide an animated, immersive snow alerting system at competitive costs with conventional text-only systems. ■
I'd like more info on what Stakecam.com can do!
*based on Stakecam.com 2016/17 User Survey results