A New Wave of Satisfaction: Iterable Enhances Customer Experiences at Georgia Aquarium

Located in downtown Atlanta, and receiving more than 2.2 million visitors in the past year, Georgia Aquarium is the most-visited non-profit aquarium in North America and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Although it’s land-locked, hundreds of miles from any ocean, the facility provides guests the opportunity to move between oceans and experience unique wonders. 

With thrilling hands-on exhibits, experiences, and presentations, visitors are inspired while learning about the ocean and encountering its inhabitants, including whale sharks, manta rays, African penguins, dolphins, and more. Georgia Aquarium strives to demonstrate how research and conservation support biodiversity underwater. 

A critical part of customer attraction, acquisition, and retention is delivering a consistent, interactive brand experience from start to finish. If positive personal connections aren’t made, guests likely won’t come again. That’s why Georgia Aquarium has chosen Iterable to support engaging, personalized brand experiences as guests buy tickets, plan their visit, arrive at the facility, view exhibits, participate in events, shop, and even after they depart.

Aquarium ticket sales fund research, food and care for the animals, facility maintenance, and more. The Aquarium operates solely on ticket sales. Before Iterable, ticket delivery relied on an old email service provider (ESP), which had delays, failed to arrive in inboxes, and content was sometimes flat, feeling disjointed from guests’ in-person brand experiences. As a result, guests suffered, and so did the Aquarium. 

“We want our guests to have a smile on their face at all points in their interactions with us, from initial research to excitedly planning a trip to the facility,” explained Josh Cherfoli, Senior Director of Marketing and Digital Engagement at Georgia Aquarium. 

Without a prompt ticket delivery, customers may encounter a longer-than-expected wait at the door or miss an event altogether. When they open their ticket to find lackluster, unintuitive content, the ticketing scenario is further strained, creating more friction for the high volume of guests expected at Georgia Aquarium each year. This friction can lead to strained brand perceptions or increased frustration that eventually dampens visitors’ joyful experiences, and will deter someone from returning. 

As the Aquarium missed key opportunities with its former ESP to enhance visits, drive revenue streams, and build guest relationships that create repeat visits, memberships, or donations, they sought a straightforward solution that could evolve with changing needs. 

The search led to Iterable, a solution that seamlessly delivers individualized, harmonized customer communications and supports in-depth data management. The user interface is intuitive, with a drag and drop template editor to create more sophisticated emails reflecting the Aquarium’s visual brand identity and voice. 

With Iterable Studio, Georgia Aquarium develops and activates broader email campaigns—a welcome or promotional series for new guests or loyalty campaigns for returning members that engage customers at all phases of the brand lifecycle.

With cross-channel capabilities and a flexible data model, Iterable also integrates ticket, transaction, and customer data with the aquarium’s back-office ticket system and content management system (CMS). As a result, each customer receives targeted, relevant messages tied to planning, visits, purchase history, and more. Instead of a transactional mindset with customers, Georgia Aquarium now has conversational, fruitful interactions—thanks to Iterable.

It was impossible with the previous ESP solution to guarantee ticket delivery to guests. With Iterable integration to the ticketing system via API, guests choose to have their tickets delivered via email or SMS. With SMS functionality in Iterable, guests will instantly receive a ticket barcode that is scanned at the door, and that speeds up their aquarium entry. 

Since implementing this option for guests, Georgia Aquarium observed a 3.97 percent increase in customer transactions with a 2.5 percent increase in average order value. And customer satisfaction improved: There’s been a 96 percent decrease in issues tracked during call center interactions and social media monitoring. 

In-Person Hybrid Experiences

Booking tickets for animal encounters and different shows has historically meant a long wait for guests. When there are multiple shows during the day and limited capacity, it means hundreds of visitors stand idle, growing impatient to get seats and see thrilling animals up-close. Their time could be better spent. 

Using the Iterable SMS functionality with the Aquarium’s reservation system, guests scan a QR code that takes them to the Aquarium site where they book. That prompts a text with their seat reservation. Alternatively, they can text a keyword or number that delivers a reservation booking link and confirmation. Waiting lines are a thing of the past and guests gain more time to explore exhibits, browse the gift shop, grab a snack or meal, and see their favorite animals. 

This change resulted in a 96 percent increase in the Net Promoter Score (NPS) score for tickets and happier, more joyful customers.  

There are occasions where a program must be canceled unexpectedly, on short notice. The Aquarium hates to leave guests hanging and would rather give them a heads up so they can maximize their time and see as many exhibits as possible during their visit. Reaching them quickly and directly with cancellation notices is essential. 

Iterable allows the aquarium to immediately distribute a message to guests’ emails while they move through the facility. This took hours to perform the same task in their former ESP solution. They hope to pivot to SMS delivery by the end of 2022, further improving communication, connections, and the aquarium experience for every guest.