There are two major considerations that together define quite different software requirements for the trampoline park model: ‘pay and play’ and safety/authentication.

The ‘pay and play’ concept really underpins how the majority of our customers engage with us, and we aim to have most of those booking online. It’s hugely important to make this process easy and efficient, so having a seamless connection between our website and our CRM system is of real significance.

However, one of the risks associated with this lies in customer identification and indemnities. The system needs to be able to identify the individual, so that when they come into the park we’re able to make sure they are indeed the right person; that they’ve signed the relevant disclaimers; and that they’ve been through the safety briefing. In addition, in the case of children, the system needs to enable a guardian or parent to authenticate and agree to the safety briefing.

The trampoline park model also means the software has to cope with a much greater volume of bookings, and help operators to manage this workflow and customer density much more effectively.

Currently, there isn’t really a system available that I feel is consistently and sufficiently reliable in terms of digitising and automating this process – from online booking to customer identification and authentication – so we often have to run a paper-based disclaimer system in parallel, which is crazy in today’s world.

We need far greater sophistication in the system – within the CRM in particular – to ensure the highest levels of health and safety, while at the same time making the customer booking and check-in process efficient, and making it possible to target your marketing as efficiently as possible.

It’s incumbent on the software provider to understand how the trampoline park model differs, and to provide solutions that promote and encourage customer self-administration. That means streamlined online pre-booking, with automated waiver processes for multiple jumpers which are easily accessible, editable and meet legal parameters.

In addition, the software must support enhanced front-of-house processes with quick check-in, easily acquirable merchandise (i.e. trampolining socks) and rapid payment processing.

From a reporting perspective, the software needs to reflect the fact that the booker may not be the jumper. Can the software differentiate between the two and make this clear to anyone reading the reports? Operators also need to understand which sessions are working and which aren’t, when the difference between 10 per cent and 100 per cent attendance for one session can be as much as £1,000.

Finally, British Gymnastics, ROSPA and 11 other organisations urged trampoline parks to sign up to and abide by a set of safety rules in November 2016. Software providers therefore need to look at how they can support the essential role of facility maintenance through responsive solutions that can flag operational failure, highlight recurring issues and automate responses for calls to action.

Trampoline parks have a very different relationship with the customer compared to more traditional health clubs. Whereas traditional clubs typically have a one-to-one relationship, trampoline parks will – in the majority of cases – have a one-to-many relationship where people are trying to book families, friends and groups of people on to a single session.

The software needs to be able to cater for this essential booking requirement, while also coping with the fact that a typical trampoline park might get the same number of bookings in a day as a traditional health club might get in a month.

Moreover, the system has to manage significant peaks or spikes in this booking volume – evenings, weekends and holidays, for example.

The other main consideration is that we need to prevent queues at the front desk. We’re currently looking at enabling barcode mobile sign-in to help address this challenge.

We’re also adding core functionality around social media and gamification to encourage repeat bookings, drive customer loyalty and support our clients’ moves towards more of a membership system.