Driving bottom line growth through analyticsHow the Cincinnati Zoo achieved a 400% ROI in less than one year

Zoos serve a critical mission: to protect and preserve wildlife, offering visitors the opportunity to see and learn about animals up close.

But how do you keep visitors coming back, year after

year? And continually find new ways to grow revenue?

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is a Top 10 Zagat-rated zoo drawing more than 1.3 million visitors annually.

The Zoo wanted deeper insights into operations so it could continue to innovate and drive more business. ..

That meant finding ways to:• Improve attendance• Boost sales of food and merchandise• Staff the park more efficiently

“...we found IBM not only had a solution that fit our budget, it was also the deepest and most capable solution for what we were looking to do, and was scalable to adapt to our changing needs.”

–Director of Operations, Cincinnati Zoo

Business analytics from IBM helps the zoo

understand visitors’ behaviors.

• How many people walk through the gates each day?• Eat at concessions?• Purchase zoo merchandise?• Buy tickets to the penguin show or other attractions?

A loyalty card promotion allows the Zoo to collect this information each time a visitor scans their membership card or visitor badge.

Using self-service analytics tools, the Zoo combined member,

weather and demographic data, making it easy to see

trends and answer questions about guests and operations.

Reports, charts and dashboards helped zoo staff project what would happen if an attraction opened closer to lunch time. How many more people will stop by? And what does this mean in terms of food demands?

The Zoo even compared members and non members. What are they buying or not buying…do they come on rainy or sunny days…and what effect does the weather have on visitors depending on where they live?

With greater insight into each visitor’s movements and spending patterns, the Zoo could optimize operations and provide a more personalized experience.

It could see, for example, that the Jones family lives 12 miles from the Zoo, visits monthly on Saturdays for four hours, and stops at the giraffe house after lunch.

Each time the family’s loyalty card is scanned, the zoo collects information that provides insight into venue frequency and the Jones’ favorite places to visit.

Based on these insights, it can send discount offers for attractions and the café directly to the family’s membership card.

For example, a location-aware trigger on the card sends a 20% off coupon for the gift shop to the Jones’ phone. .

The store associate then uses product availability and insight into the family’s preferences to mention the stuffed giraffes.

Staff also track visitor activity to determine which venues and food stands to open. If the temperature is 80 degrees by 9 a.m., employees use analytics on their mobile devices to open more water stations.

Reports and dashboards helped the Zoo see a spike in ice cream sales during the last hour of the day.

Now it keeps some ice cream kiosks open until closing time, keeping visitors satisfied and earning more revenue for the park.

Without analytics, the ice cream stalls would be closed, and a revenue opportunity would be lost forever.

$140,000Marketing funds saved per year

50,000New visits due to enhanced marketing

25 percentMore purchases by loyalty card holders

$2,000Increase in ice cream sales per day

For Cincinnati Zoo, listening to customers and acting on insights found through analytics really paid off.

Discover how IBM Business Analytics midmarket solutions

can help you think big, but start small.

Are you ready to take the next step?

bit.ly/MidsizeBA

Visit our web site:

Connect with us:

twitter.com/MidmarketIBM

linkedin.com/company/ibm-for-midsize-businesses