Client: East Lancashire Railway (ELR)
Industry: Heritage Railways, Tourism
Project Aim: To provide an integrated ticketing solution across five stations, creating a seamless online booking experience that maximised ticket sales and enhanced the customer journey.
East Lancashire Railway (ELR) was one of the most popular heritage railways in the UK, operating vintage steam and diesel trains along a 12-mile route connecting several picturesque stations. As part of their mission to provide an exceptional experience for visitors, ELR needed an advanced ticketing system to streamline operations, enhance customer convenience, and boost ticket sales. QuayTickets and their UNIFY ticketing software were selected as their partner to achieve these objectives.
Project Aims
The primary goal of this partnership was to provide an integrated ticketing system across ELR’s five stations, coupled with an intuitive and branded online booking platform. This project focused on three key areas:
- Maximising Ticket Sales: QuayTickets delivered a robust system capable of handling high volumes of bookings, especially during peak times and special events, such as Christmas services or themed rides.
- Enhancing Customer Experience: Creating a seamless, easy-to-use online booking journey was critical to improve customer satisfaction and ensure smooth transactions. This included a consistent branding experience across all touchpoints to reinforce ELR’s identity.
- Omni-Channel Support: In addition to the ticketing platform, QuayTickets provided an omni-channel contact centre to support customer inquiries, enhancing the overall service experience.
Solution Delivered
QuayTickets provided an end-to-end solution tailored to East Lancashire Railway’s needs:
- Integrated Ticketing System: QuayTickets developed and deployed the UNIFY integrated ticketing system across all five ELR stations. This system allowed real-time coordination of ticket sales, ensuring inventory management was centralised and accurate. Customers could book tickets online, over the phone, or at the stations, with all systems fully integrated.
- Seamless Branded Online Journey: To enhance the customer experience, QuayTickets created a fully branded online booking portal for ELR, ensuring the railway’s heritage and identity were reflected throughout the user journey. The platform was mobile-friendly and optimised for ease of use, providing visitors with a frictionless path from ticket selection to payment.
- Omni-Channel Contact Centre Support: QuayTickets’ omni-channel contact centre provided personalised customer service via phone, email, and social media, catering to both inquiries and issues related to bookings, refunds, and event information. This human touchpoint helped boost customer satisfaction, particularly during high-demand events like ELR’s dining and Santa trains.
- Marketing Support: To further maximise ticket sales, QuayTickets offered tailored marketing support to help ELR promote its events, such as diesel and steam galas as well as dining trains, ale trails, and gin tasting trains. QuayTickets assisted with promotional campaigns across multiple channels, including email marketing, social media, and partnership outreach.
- Destination Listings on QuayTickets.com: In addition to the dedicated ELR booking site, QuayTickets listed ELR’s services on its own destination platform, QuayTickets.com, increasing visibility to a broader audience of culture and tourism enthusiasts. This additional exposure helped attract new visitors, driving incremental sales and revenue.
Results
- Increased Ticket Sales: The integrated ticketing system enables more efficient sales processing, especially during peak periods, leading to a noticeable increase in ticket sales. ELR is able to handle higher volumes without technical issues, minimising customer frustration and maximising revenue.
- Enhanced Customer Experience: With a seamless and branded online booking system, ELR’s customers experience a smoother journey from booking to travel. Positive feedback indicates that the ease of use, combined with support from QuayTickets’ omni-channel contact centre, greatly improves the overall experience.
- Greater Visibility and Audience Reach: The marketing support from QuayTickets, coupled with the destination listings on QuayTickets.com, helps ELR reach a wider audience. Ticket sales for special events and seasonal rides, in particular, see significant boosts as a result of these efforts.
Martin McCann – Head of Passenger and Customer Services says:
“QuayTickets is an exceptional partner for the East Lancashire Railway. Their dedication to outstanding customer service, combined with a deep understanding of our operations, truly elevates our customer experience. Through their expertise, we see a remarkable increase in ticket sales, allowing us to reach more railway enthusiasts and visitors than ever before. Their team consistently goes above and beyond, making QuayTickets an invaluable asset to our success.”
Added Value
- Omni-Channel Contact Centre: The contact centre plays a crucial role in customer engagement. Access to phone, email, and social media support gives ELR’s customers confidence that help is available whenever they need it.
- Marketing Support: QuayTickets’ expertise in marketing proves invaluable for ELR’s promotional efforts. By leveraging QuayTickets’ vast customer base and applying effective marketing strategies, ELR sees increased awareness and engagement, leading to higher ticket sales.
- Listing on QuayTickets.com: As one of the most recognised ticketing platforms in the UK, QuayTickets.com provides ELR with an additional sales channel. This not only increases visibility for the railway but also allows customers to discover ELR alongside other destinations, potentially increasing cross-promotional opportunities.
In Summary
QuayTickets’ comprehensive approach to integrated ticketing, branded online booking, omni-channel customer support, and strategic marketing plays a pivotal role in enhancing East Lancashire Railway’s operations and driving increased ticket sales. By providing a seamless customer experience and maximising sales channels, QuayTickets helps ELR achieve its goals, cementing their position as a premier heritage railway destination. This successful partnership continues to evolve, with QuayTickets poised to support ELR in future initiatives aimed at improving visitor engagement and further growing their vital ticket revenue.
