10 Ways Cineplex Can Improve the Customer Experience
1. Popcorn bags to go. Customers LOVE movie theatre popcorn, yet if you want to stop by a theatre to buy a bag to take home, there are no options for making that bag portable. Why not have a second set of bags with a simple fold-over flap to close it? Suddenly, more sales and they’re not even taking up seats! I’d pick up a bag at least once a month and most people I ask who live near a theatre agree they would on occasion too. Note: Poptopia is NOT a valid alternative.
2. Unclutter the website. There’s way too much going on. You can start by stripping out the Google ads that have nothing to do with Cineplex or movies. You’re in the business of entertainment, and if I see that your website has Google ads it tells me you put more value on a few pennies per click than you do on the customer experience. Unless you want to distract me and have me leave your website.
3. Fix the ‘Tickets’ box on the new front page. The old way worked, but you replaced it with a new system that hasn’t been tested and doesn’t work. You already have a ‘By Movie’ option, so why do I have to select which movie from the drop-down when I’m searching ‘By Theatre’ before I can pick a date and see what’s playing? At the very least, test your products before making them live.
4. The menus are a shitshow. You have a sort of orphan menu immediately next to the logo where the 2 of 3 items are not likely to be high priority links (E-Sports is otherwise buried in the menu hierarchy, but here it’s in prime space).
Split menus are not entirely connected, and the hierarchy is unnecessarily redundant and confusing.
5. The VIP experience is a great concept but still needs some work. For starters, and for the benefit of patrons who have not yet had the pleasure, consider letting them know in advance that they should arrive at least 15 minutes early if they want food service to their seat. One of the purposes of reserved seating is so that you don’t have to arrive early, so it sucks when you arrive 10 minutes early and can’t order food to your seat, despite the fact that you still have 10 minutes before going through 20 minutes worth of ads and trailers.
6. The VIP ‘staff’ should probably be trained a bit better on customer service. For example, if you see a patron carrying their own tray packed with food and dishes back to their theatre, maybe it’d be cool if you offered to help them.
7. If a customer has a complaint, maybe consider addressing the complaint before jumping straight into “we need to see your ticket”. Defaulting to distrust of your patron isn’t smart, especially when they come to you with a complaint.
8. Timeplay is good concept, but how about stepping up the prizes a little? It seems a bit insulting that you have a theatre with 400 patrons who have collectively spent over $10,000 on tickets and food, and the total prize pool costs you about $3 in food and drink.
9. To whomever is managing the Twitter account — if you’re told that there’s an issue with a particular theatre and given the location and you see it’s happening right now, maybe you could give that theatre a quick call? Sending me a link to a global feedback page doesn’t help in any way.
10. Worth repeating: take-home popcorn bags. Why hasn’t this happened yet?
