Crystal Ski Explorer iOS app

The opportunity

Crystal Ski’s proposition is built around its overseas expertise and the quality of its resort reps. That expertise was strongly delivered on-mountain, but difficult for customers to access before departure and in-resort, particularly when on the slopes. The brief was to extend that value digitally through a native mobile experience that would become a core part of the customer journey.

Identifying value propositions

Initial ideation was grounded in the customer journey map, identifying key moments where digital support could meaningfully extend the ski experience before, during and after travel. Early value propositions were tested through focus groups, helping us refine which concepts resonated most strongly and which would genuinely motivate usage.

From this, we developed a user acquisition strategy that directly shaped the product roadmap across three phases:

1. We focused on building a base of skiers beyond just existing customers, with particular emphasis on “party lead” skiers — the individuals who typically organise group trips and influence booking decisions.
2. We expanded engagement through social and group-oriented features designed to give every member of a ski party a reason to download and actively use the app, not just the person who booked.
3. We layered in post-booking services and value-added functionality to increase retention and deepen utility for paying customers once their holiday was confirmed.

The product itself was designed specifically for the realities of skiing — on-mountain conditions, glove-friendly usage, variable visibility — combining rep-generated content, live snow and weather data, and GPS-based piste mapping.

Taking the app to market

We launched a soft release in the first season with existing customers, using it as a live testing environment to gather behavioural feedback and iterate quickly on core features.

This proved successful, allowing us to refine the proposition ahead of a more ambitious hard launch in the second season. At that point, the app became a central promotional asset for Crystal, featured prominently at skiing events and trade shows, supported by in-person engagement rather than paid media.

The outcome

The app achieved 3,000 downloads in its first month and 55,000 downloads in its second full season — driven entirely by word of mouth and customer recommendation.

It became a clear differentiator for Crystal Ski, strengthening pre-departure engagement and setting a new benchmark for mobile product thinking across the wider SHG group.