Bowhunter Archery Case Study

Bowhunter Archery’s small team weren’t able to respond to booking requests and enquiries in an efficient manner resulting in lost sales.

Elizabeth explains:

“Being a small, family-run business, time management is one of our greatest financial challenges. Since we operate over eight different outdoor, woodland-based activities, we aren’t always able to answer phone calls or respond promptly to emails, messages, or even texts. On top of that, our remote location means mobile phone signals are unreliable, making it difficult to handle bookings or reply to enquiries efficiently. As a result, we were missing out on potential visitors, unable to fill last-minute spots simply because we couldn’t receive those calls.

“To address this, we realised we needed a system that would allow guests, comfortable with online booking, to check real-time availability and reserve their preferred slots at their own convenience – ensuring they can choose what best suits for their memorable experiences in Scotland.”

Introducing a new online booking system can potentially cause some initial challenges as the system beds in and a business and their staff get familiar with new functions. For Bowhunter Archery however, this was a relatively positive experience. “The onboarding experience with our booking platform was handled smoothly, complete with tutorials and ongoing support – which was especially helpful since I’m not very confident with technology. Although there were a few stressful situations of my own making, the support team always guided me through patiently and quickly resolved any mistakes I made.

Ongoing support

Bowhunter Archery have multiple different activities that can be booked, and with staff numbers limiting scheduling, this added a level of complexity to using their system. Many of the team weren’t naturally comfortable with using technology, however the online booking system supplier has been able to provide ongoing support through:

• online knowledge resources, tutorials and Q&A
• on-demand assistance
• tailored training sessions through Microsoft Teams

Bowhunter Archery gave this advice to other activity businesses looking for a booking system.

“Have a clear strategy and think about it from the customer’s perspective too. We knew our customers required ease of use, real-time availability, and automatic information – and we did too. We also required extras like:

• waiver forms
• resource-based availability
• staff to sign in and manage their own bookings

When you have an idea of what you require as a business, have discussions, view demos, test out the system and don’t be afraid to ask questions.”