Featured Quote:
“The mobile app is a great selling feature, and I think it's the way of the future. Then there’s the flexibility in the software—how you can really leverage it to do a lot of things in regard to automations and workflows. The platform’s UI looks nice, it’s simple and straightforward. It's that ease-of-use from both the client side and the staff side, which entices people to use it more.”
- Jaelen Josiah, Town of Caledon
Caledon’s Custom-Branded Mobile App
After five years of a successful partnership with Xplor Recreation, the Town of Caledon was looking for ways to continue to innovate and expand upon their offerings to their growing community. With the support of Caledon’s Account Manager, Jaelen identified that our white-label mobile app would be a powerful solution for their customers.
Drivers for Launching a Mobile App
After putting together a business case, Jaelen uncovered a few major drivers that supported the Town of Caledon moving forward with an app—from community usage patterns to modern expectations.
Preparing for fast-paced population growth
Jaelen explained that, although Caledon is not one of the larger municipalities in the GTA, the town is expected to experience immense growth over the next 25 years. With this in mind, their team has been focused on ways to prepare for the uptick in their population, so that they can continue to provide incredible services as their community expands.
“One of the main things I focused on last year was preparing Caledon for the growth we're expecting. Our population's supposed to experience pretty rapid expansion from 80,000 to close to 300,000 by 2050. So, to keep up with the rising demands of our community, we needed to come up with innovative ways of doing business. More self-serve options, like the mobile app, help free up staff to have more meaningful interactions with customers.”
80% of community members register online
Then there was the fact that Jaelen discovered that 80% of Caledon’s population was already registering for their programs online through Xplor Recreation’s embedded module. Add to that the number of users who were accessing the platform from their mobile devices—65%—and it’s easy to see why a mobile app was the next logical step for the town.
"Around 80% of our population registers for our programs online and that was a key factor in our business case of wanting the mobile app. 65% of users were already accessing the platform via mobile devices, so we had a significant amount of people who we knew would immediately be interested in a mobile app experience.”
Keeping up with—and surpassing—modern expectations
Understanding the importance of offering a modern platform for their community members, Jaelen shared that Caledon wanted to ensure they weren’t falling behind the expectations of digital consumers. He felt like offering a mobile app was the next logical step in providing the best service and experience for their customers.
“We saw how many people were already accessing our registrations on their mobile phones, so it was a natural progression. It's the way that other industries have progressed, and I think we tend to see parks and recreation always trailing in that, especially in the public sector—but that hasn’t been our experience with Xplor Recreation. The mobile app wasn't a hard sell for us because we could see that it’s the way of the future.”
The Solution: Xplor Recreation’s White-Label App
Jaelen’s business case for offering a mobile app was met with overwhelming positivity and excitement from his team. This, in combination with a couple of our app’s key features, ultimately led to Caledon deciding to move forward with implementing Xplor Recreation's custom-branded, fully native app.
Custom-branded, native mobile app
One of the key reasons for Caledon’s decision to launch an app with Xplor Recreation was its native functionality. Being a fully native application, our offering gives users an experience that’s entirely contained within the app—which provides a more secure and streamlined platform. In addition, our native app can be custom branded—a fact that Caledon’s team of designers was extremely excited about.
“It being a native application and being able to brand it as our own was really cool and was one of the things that convinced us to move forward. Our communications team was so excited when we approached them with this project because they got to develop a new brand for the mobile app—and they could see the benefits for our residents.”
AI-powered smart search
Another key reason Caledon was sold on our mobile app was its AI-powered smart search feature. This capability allows customers to dynamically search for activities, rather than rely on filters.
Regardless of an individual’s tech know-how, this feature empowers everyone to browse, find, and register for the programs they’re interested in with ease. For example, using our smart search AI, customers can use natural language searches like "fitness classes for adults on Thursday mornings."
"We had a customer or two in the past who shared that they were having trouble finding specific program drop-in details. So, when we tested the app's AI-powered smart search and it worked so well, that was yet another key feature that drew us in. We knew it would benefit customers like them, and we know from the feedback we've received that many are using this function all the time."
The Results of Caledon’s Custom-Branded App
After a rigorous implementation, Caledon launched the app with incredible success. Jaelen shared that their staff and community both love the platform, and they anticipate it being integral to their registration strategy as their population grows.
Streamlined implementation and launch
One of the first successful milestones after moving forward with the app was the actual launch of the platform itself. Jaelen was quick to mention how swift and easy implementation was due to the app mirroring their website configurations.
Feeling confident about the creation of the platform, Jaelen and his team were able to focus on promoting the mobile app’s release. From roadside signage to promotional videos, Caledon did an incredible job marketing the app, which ultimately further streamlined their implementation.
"We completed implementation fairly quickly—in around two-to-three months. Because the app is a copy of our website and database, there wasn't anything for us to be concerned about or figure out. We put our energy into promoting the app, which was worth it—and I’d recommend to other municipalities to put the resources into doing that too.”
An app that staff are proud to promote
Since launching the app, Caledon’s staff have commented on how easy it is to use. Jaelen said that their team has been truly excited to share the app with their community members, as it’s clear that the platform will benefit their user experience.
“Overwhelmingly, our staff have said the app is easy to use and they were really excited to show it to our residents."
Simplified membership card management
Another noteworthy result that Jaelen shared is the positive feedback they’ve received from community members regarding the digital membership cards. Built right into the application, Caledon customers no longer need to worry about carrying around—or keeping track of—a physical card.
“Our customers love that they get to have their membership cards readily available on their phones. They can now just forget about it. And if a customer loses their card, we tell them that they can either come in for a replacement card for a fee or just download the app for free. Same with customers purchasing new memberships—we ask if they want a physical card or if they want to have it directly on their phone. It's another way for that convenience to be right in their pocket.”
Key Results of Our Partnership Since 2019
In addition to the launch of their mobile app, Jaelen shared a few other key benefits the Town of Caledon has experienced since going live with Xplor Recreation back in 2019. From an incredibly strong account management relationship to our platform’s easy-to-use interface, below are a few of the most noteworthy results from our partnership with Caledon.
Incredible Account Management
When talking about the benefits that have resulted from our partnership, outside of the app, one of the first things Jaelen shared was how much he values the account management they’ve received. Calling their Account Manager an “internal champion,” he said that they’ve had an incredible experience working with her over the years.
In fact, they’ve enjoyed partnering together so much that Caledon and Xplor Recreation recently put on a user group training session to help share knowledge and best practices about our platform with other customers. Jaelen expressed that he and his team are truly grateful for the two-way partnership.
“Our Account Manager is amazing. I don't have enough good things to say about her, honestly. On a personal level, she's very easygoing and very helpful. We have such a strong relationship that we wanted to collaborate even further, so we hosted a networking event with her as the backbone. The wanting and willingness to have that partnership go both ways, to share the knowledge amongst other users and other municipalities is so huge.”
User-Friendly Online Customer Experience
Another major benefit that Jaelen’s team has noticed since Caledon switched to Xplor Recreation is the easy-to-use customer interface. He said that he has overheard community members share how user-friendly they find the software—as made evident by Caledon’s 80% online registration statistic mentioned above! In particular, he mentioned that customers who are new to the area often share how much easier it is to register online through Caledon’s website, compared to other municipalities.
“Customers who’ve come from other towns or cities tell us that they find Xplor Recreation a lot more visually appealing and user-friendly than the software they were using before they moved to Caledon.”
A Scalable and Flexible Platform for Staff
When it comes to how our platform has impacted their staff, Jaelen noted how much better our software has been for his team when compared to their previous provider. Commenting on the flexibility and scalability of the platform, he said that staff find it simple to use and customize without needing any additional training from our team.
“I like the flexibility and scalability of what you can do independently using the training database. For example, this year we focused on workflows and automation within the software. It has improved things on both the customer and the staff side—on the customer side, they get reminders for things they may have missed. Then, on the staff side, our team can rely on the software to send out these nudges, so they don’t have to remember to do things manually.”
Streamlined Training for New Employees
As a result of our software being so user-friendly, Caledon has also been able to streamline their training for new staff. Jaelen mentioned that our platform’s user interface makes it simple and easy for employees to pick up right away, minimizing the amount of time needed to get staff trained on their systems.
"The software has a very user-friendly interface. I think that really helps reduce the amount of time that we have to dedicate to staff training because—almost like when you buy a new phone—everything just makes sense.”
