I sometimes feel I do too much critiquing and too little suggesting. Like, somehow, I’m the 400 pound, mullet-sporting guy on his 3rd beer at the baseball game yelling at the 2nd baseman to hustle. So, every once in a while on a Wednesday I’ll try to balance the scales a bit and put my own ideas up for display, analysis, and critique. (view all ‘WID’ posts).

After my early analysis of how Vail Resorts had a constant push lined up for EpicPass sales, the summer lull has begun. There’s no longer a strict deadline, big selling point, or buzz from a combined effort of these 7 resorts.

Right now, most of us are enjoying the near-perfect weather that late-Spring and early-Summer provides. Cycling, train running, kayaking, golf and short sleeves are all welcomed changes. Before too long, however, we’ll be wishing for winter. We’ll open the door to go for a quick ride and get hit in the face with 95 degree temps and wish the winter wasn’t three months away.

EpicDay Reminders
If I were Vail Resorts, I’d build a dynamic list of everyone who bought a 2011/12 EpicPass but hasn’t yet purchased the 12/13 version. Then on the 6-month anniversary of their biggest day (as recorded in EpicMix) I’d send them an email like this:

It’s true that the design above (a 10 minute remix if an EpicMix collage) is nearing perfection, but maybe, with some serious effort, the Epic designers could slightly improve on such a masterpiece.

But the idea is simple, remind them of how awesome their day was six months ago, get them the feeling back at a time when the heat of summer might start to wear on their inner skier, and remind them to renew their pass.

To take it one step further, I’d tie these messages to the recipients local weather and only send them when the temp is above 90 degrees locally to make sure it arrived when I wanted it to.

Round Two
Then, a couple months later in the fall, I’d hit them again if they still haven’t renewed with another similar reminder with a “A month from now…” messaging instead of “6 months ago…”. They have images, data, accomplishments, weather history and more. In short, everything you need to help skiers remember their favorite days on the mountain.

Now, this is specific to EpicMix, but I see possibilities for other resorts as well, especially those who track how many days their passholders rack up. Hit them up with a similar email with pictures taken by your social media crew on the 6-month anniversary of their 10th day or a massive powder day they showed up for. There are many ways to use the data you have to bring back those memories.

That’s what I’d do.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.