Several ways on how and where to cut costs and where shouldn’t do it

How can you save in your ER business:
1. Expensive online advertising.
Analyze the cost for clicks (e.g. Google Ads). What is the share of the cost of a click from the price of a ticket? If it is more than half the price of the ticket, then you need to find a way to reduce this cost. You can achieve this by using keywords and phrases, making your ads more relevant, changing your bidding strategy, etc.

2. Software.
Developing your own software requires a big budget, time-consuming and an experienced programmer. By using a ready-made booking system, you pay only for the purchase/monthly subscription, thus getting a tried and tested system along with customer support and a user guide.

3. Cheaper rent.
Big shopping malls are very good locations but also have high rental fees. You could select a smaller (but still popular) shopping mall, places near hotels or other tourist attractions or close to popular party places: bars, restaurants or night clubs. You could also rent a basement, which is very common in Europe. The rent fee is usually less but don’t forget to make eye-catching signage, so clients can find you easily.
You could also cut your costs by installing an escape cube, as it requires much less space yet provides a full escape room experience. This way you also save on the installation of the escape room equipment and furniture, since the escape cube already includes decorated walls and other required implements. Take a look at our escape cubes catalog.

4. Save on human resources!
One game master should be able to manage up to 3 rooms at the same time. There shouldn’t be a need to hire more people.
By equipping your rooms with an automatic hint system, you will be able to avoid human errors and also reduce the number of game masters.
Get maximum from your game master! Train them to act like the character they are portraying so they can play the role before and during the escape game and received more five-star reviews and bookings!
With the same personnel costs, you will be able to gain more profit and increase your efficiency.

And now, let’s discuss which costs should NOT be cut in an escape room business:
1. The quality of your service and equipment.
Polite, charismatic and professional game masters and staff is a key point in your service quality. BUT even the best game master can’t improve the quality of the escape room, so we recommend that you buy only high quality escape rooms from a reliable/proven supplier with extensive experience and a lot of reviews from real customers. It is important not only because of the game experience but it will save you the cost of repairing the room (long term saving). Some ER owners buy cheaper rooms and they don’t care about the quality of materials, customer service and vandal-resistant equipment. It might sound attractive (short term saving) but long term, it will end up costing more.
Why is it important to buy high quality ER’s with customer service: read this article here.

2. WOW effects of your escape room.
3rd generation rooms provide full immersion to the game experience and in addition you can add extra effects: such as lightning, sounds, music, etc. The players must have some kind of trigger/experience that will stick in their memory and they will have ever-lasting memories and tell their friends, as we already mentioned: word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising.
Allocate a healthy budget for website development.
3. Don’t go for cheap website.
The quality of the content of the website and social networks – is the “face” of the company. It will either encourage players to come to your business, or not. Try making a professional website. Make sure it is easy to use: the players should easily see the rooms you provide, short description, some photos (don’t forget about professional promo videos and photos!), the price for room and CTA button. Remember to highlight your services, not just the background. Don’t include too many animations either, as it will slow down your website. Try to find the golden ratio 🙂

4. Don’t cut the price for tickets.
Some ER owners place their Escape rooms on groupons and cut the price by half or more. This is not the best strategy, as it leads to an audience of “freeloaders” who will never come for the full price or encourage people to hold out in order to wait for a special price. Plus, because it’s cheap they might be careless with your equipment. Don’t forget that people usually check competitors as well and compare the prices. Some of them think that a low price means low service and then not even try out your game. Your business should be profitable, otherwise it won’t be sustainable. However this method allows newcomers to save on advertising for the first time. We recommend using such services and discounts in very small doses. Consult with a marketing specialist or finance specialist to choose the right strategy for your business, in order to grow and shine!

Running a business will always require quite a lot of work, patience and time. Understanding some points in marketing, finance or even law will help you to find a common language with the specialists in these fields. Don’t be afraid to Google some questions, visit workshops and be a part of the ER owners community.

We recommend that you join the professional community of ER owners, where you can always find answers to any business-related questions. Check right here.

Being a part of our community, we ask you to please actively express your opinion, so that we can expand our advice, because this can be especially useful for those who are just starting their journey! Join the discussion in the comments!