September 26, 2022

A Ferociously Fun Summer – LoyalFree Dino Trail

Created on 16/09/22

What does the LoyalFree app do?

The LoyalFree app was designed to increase footfall and high street engagement and is currently available in 70+ towns and cities across the UK. The app allows users to save money when they shop locally and discover exclusive deals, exciting local events and interactive trails, all from their smartphone!

What is an interactive trail on the LoyalFree app?

LoyalFree offers a fun and interactive alternative to paper based trails. The app can host augmented reality, Q&A, audio and video trails to help bring the high street to life. Our interactive trails aid the promotion of businesses and footfall into your high street while also providing valuable data and insight into participation.

LoyalFree Dino Trail

LoyalFree designed their pre-packaged interactive Dino Trail to create a free, family-friendly experience for high street visitors all over the UK during the school summer holidays. The trail aimed to increase footfall, dwell time and local spend in participating towns and cities whilst also offering a fun and educational activity for families.

Business – Maraki Colour
Trail host – One Oswestry

How does a Q&A trail work?

A Q&A trail works by using the LoyalFree app to locate a poster, displayed at a business along the high street. Each poster asks a question, participants then scan the QR codes on the posters, using the in-app scan feature, to reveal the answer. For the Dino Trail, each poster asked a Dinosaur themed trivia question. Some locations revealed not only a dinosaur fact but also a letter which could then be used to create an anagram once all locations had been visited. Completing the trail entered participants into a local prize draw and if they could solve and submit the anagram, they gained an extra entry!

Dino Trail Learnings

Key Figures

  • 17 BIDs and councils hosted the Dino Trail in their area
  • There were a total of 11802 trail views
  • 1170 groups of people checked in at a location

Key Results

72% of app users who participated in the trails had 3 or more people in their group, only 5% completed it alone

82% of participants went into at least one other business on the day they took part in the trail, that was not on the in Dino Trail location list, 53% went into 2 or 3 more businesses than the trail list and 5% went in 10 or more additional businesses!

98% of participants we surveyed said they spent some money on the high street whilst completing the trail, with 80% spending over £10 and nearly 10% saying they spent over £50

Over 60% of those we surveyed said they have also used other features of the app (either before, during or after the trail), such as deals, events and non interactive trail

What the public said:

‘We loved it! Knew it was on in Bradford but stumbled upon the Ilkley one when we were there. Great fun and would do again, definitely! Thank you’

‘The Dino Trail in Brighouse was well thought out, easy to navigate and all businesses went all in with it. Decorations and window dressings were fabulous. We had a very enjoyable day out wandering round Brighouse following the trail and general good wander around the town’

‘The kids absolutely loved taking part in this’

LoyalFree Partnership Manager, Sophie Carrick, added: ‘It’s been amazing to see the success of the Dino trail this summer. As one of our first prepackaged trails, the response from our partners and the public has been outstanding. It’s been fantastic to see the creativity of our partners, encouraging residents and visitors of their towns and cities to explore the high street, discovering new places they wouldn’t ordinarily venture to. Many have merged LoyalFree technology with interactive experiences, games, window displays and prizes along their route. I can’t wait to see the results of our next prepackaged interactive trail!‘

Trail spotlight – Visit Brighouse (Brighouse BID)

  • 2,955 Total Location Check-Ins
  • 263 Groups Checked-In
  • 98 Groups completed the trail by checking in at all 15 of the locations

Brighouse produced the most successful results by going above and beyond with their summer of dinosaur activities. The trail ran from 3rd – 20th August, during this period Brighouse hosted a Dino Experience day on 13th August with full-sized dinosaurs, face painting and entertainment – in which the Dino Trail also played a key role. Local businesses also embraced the dino theme by creating spectacular shop window displays alongside their A3 LoyalFree posters to excite and entice the public. Visit brighouse also partnered with local business Page Bookshop to provide 5 dino prize boxes as an incentive for participants to complete the trail!

Trail spotlight – Hereford City Life (Hereford BID)

  • 1,488 Total Location Check-Ins
  • 176 Groups Checked-In
  • 40 Groups completed the trail by checking in at all 11 of the locations

Hereford City Centre had great success with their Dino Trail which ran from 29th July – 4th September. They hosted two Dino Days on the 6th and 20th of August where visitors could dig for bones, meet a velociraptor and take part in the LoyalFree Dino Trail. Hereford City Life used social media to create an online marketing campaign to promote the Dino Trail. The campaign also featured Doris The Dinosaur, the Hereford Dino Trail mascot! The clever marketing campaign saw Doris the Dinosaur appear in photos and instagram reels as she visited business along the trail.

To discover amazing deals, fun competitions, local events and exciting trails near you, download the LoyalFree app here: www.loyalfree.co.uk/download or find it by searching for ‘LoyalFree’ on the iOS and Android app stores.

If you’d like to know more about how an app could support your area then please email [email protected] to request more information.