Thanks to its secretary Susanna Morrison, Royal Belfast GC’s adoption of the Eagle club members’ app belies the description on its website as ‘the oldest golf club in Ireland’.
By embracing the revolution in online communications the club and its app are now enjoying huge support from its members young and old, largely because it’s so easy to use – two taps and you’re reading the club news, checking fixture dates, or looking at messages, daily course conditions and so on.
While Eagle’s app works on laptops and PCs as well as smartphones and tablets, making it ideal for all age groups, Royal Belfast GC’s experience to date also confirms recent findings that smartphones and iPads/tablets are bridging the age gap.
Following a presentation to a GCMA meeting by Eagle Digital’s marketing manager Declan Hayes, Susanna downloaded it for the club’s marketing committee who soon saw the app as a way of revolutionising the club’s communications capabilities. Well aware of the decline in member visits to the club’s news web page, for Susanna Eagle’s app user friendliness makes it the ideal solution.
Susanna explains how the Eagle app has more than met her initial expectations, “Going to the members’ page on the website meant having to log in, remember the password, etc., etc. – the decline in the number of visits proved this was proving a barrier. It’s not just the younger members that carry their smartphones with them. Our older members are now taking them up as well, or tablets because it’s easier to see content on their larger screens.
Susanna continues, “For my part, I was keen the club kept abreast of new communications technology, partly to appeal to its younger members and partly because the Eagle app’s much easier compared to the cumbersome log in procedures of the website’s members’ pages.
“The net result is that the members’ feedback is really, really good. They like the fact it’s just two clicks to see the latest news, check fixture dates, or get a member’s contact details. I like the fact it’s very easy and quick for me and my team to update the Eagle app’s content, and that alone makes it an invaluable communications tool for the club.
The user-friendliness is key, as Susanna clarifies, “Because they have found it so easy to use, we haven’t needed to run any introductory sessions for the members. And now that our older members are getting in on the act as well, the club’s got itself a terrific communications tool that works for all age groups.
Susanna summarises, “There’s no doubt in my mind that the club’s website has a great value for our external audiences, most obviously casual visitors and society organisers who need to be wowed by the imagery of our course and clubhouse, and who need the kind of information that a website page is ideal for, such as green fees, society packages and so on.
“Our members have different information needs – fixture dates, news, messages, daily course conditions and so on – and they need this to hand. With so many members now using smartphones and tablets the Eagle app is the ideal way to deliver that information. It’s also the easiest way for me to upload that information and ensure they get it. I absolutely recommend it to anyone managing a club.”
Eagle www.eagle.uk.com
Royal Belfast GC www.royalbelfast.com