Ticketing and Fan Data: How They Influence Fan Engagement
Fan engagement is the holy grail of professional sports and entertainment. Without engaged fans, brands don’t generate revenues. And no revenues means no profit. So in the pursuit of fans, teams and brands often look to a long list of data points. Those data points include ticketing and fan data.
How important is ticketing and fan data to a brand’s fan engagement strategies? Important enough that KORE specifically mentions it on their website. Check it out yourself. KORE publishes one of the leading sports data intelligence platforms in the industry. If they believe ticketing and fan data is important, you can bet it is.
A Crucial Ecosystem
It has been said that fan engagement strategies are so intertwined with ticketing and fan data that they form a crucial ecosystem. That ecosystem is responsible for not only enhancing the overall fan experience, but also driving revenues.
As a complete ecosystem, both factors influence one another. Here is the perfect example: effective fan engagement strategies drive ticket sales. Meanwhile ticketing data provides direction for future fan engagement strategies. When everything is working as it should, a brand ends up with a continual spiral that leads to better fan engagement and strong ticketing.
Ticketing: 3 Considerations
Ticketing (a.k.a., ticket sales) is obviously a primary revenue driver for sports teams and brands. Within that understanding there are three considerations:
1. Driving Sales
Effective fan engagement drives ticket sales. It creates engagement and demand, thereby encouraging fans to engage in the in-venue experience instead of watching from home.
2. Enhancing the Buying Experience
Modern ticketing systems are designed to better engage with fans in a more personal way. From personalized purchasing offers to contactless transactions, enhancing the buying experience makes it more pleasant for fans.
3. Encouraging Repeat Purchases
The combination of modern ticketing systems and fan engagement strategies should build loyalty over time. Loyal fans are more likely to be repeat buyers; they are more likely to invest their limited entertainment dollars in the brand they are emotionally invested in.
The Fan Data Aspect
Ticketing and its related data are only one half of the equation. What about fan data? Fan data is data that tells brands everything they need to know about preferences, behaviors, and interactions. It is critical to both ticketing and fan engagement. Here is why: you cannot engage with fans or boost ticket sales if you don’t understand who fans are and what they want.
Fan data and engagement strategies work together to facilitate:
- Personalization – Fan data informs decisions about tailoring engagement strategies to everything from ticketing to in-venue experiences. Specifically where ticketing is concerned, think customized email campaigns or in-app experiences.
- Segmentation – Segmentation in the fan experience arena is a good thing. With the right fan data, fans can be segmented into targeted audiences selected to receive ticket promotions, special offers, etc. based on their preferences and behaviors.
- Analytics – Fan data also fuels predictive analytics they can tell decision-makers what to expect with future ticketing and fan engagement. Predictive analytics is the latest thing in fan engagement anyway.
Fan engagement strategies are key to both bringing in new fans and building loyalty among existing fans. Both are necessary in a highly competitive sports and entertainment market. And whether brands understand it or not, ticketing and fan data have an interdependent relationship with fan engagement.
Strong fan engagement drives ticket sales. Ticketing and fan data make for better engagement strategies. Combining the strategies with the data that fuels them creates an ecosystem that builds loyalty, increases brand strength, and drives revenues to new heights.
