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CX: The Art Behind the Science

May 08, 2019

Sam Richardson

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CX measurement software has made it possible for virtually any company to collect feedback from its customers and distribute it to the organization. The efficiency and scalability of customer experience input has been welcomed by CX practitioners and insight professionals – attracting multi-billion-dollar valuations and acquisitions. While this has been a positive development for the CX discipline, many companies have not realized the Customer Experience and financial gains they expected. Why? Because technology alone is not enough to drive results. Here’s a few reasons why:

It Takes More than Tech to Maximize the Value of CX

Measuring and understanding Customer Experience (CX) can be as much of an art as a science, something lost with a “tech-only” approach.  Technology is a tool in the process and an indispensable one, but in and of itself it’s not enough to maximize the value of CX for companies and brands.

What do you lose?  A lot. This “one-size-fits-all” approach means you give up the ability to evolve and customize your program right out of the gate and as the market changes.  Behind the tool there is, or should be, an advisory process that helps fine-tune questionnaires, integrate the data, and apply the appropriate analytics for each brand’s specific needs.  A  tech-only platform puts a heavy burden on the company, which may or may not have the internal resources to follow through. The result is an incomplete picture of the customer journey.

What, not why

Technology platforms are built for operational customer experience management. They’re fast and effective at providing feedback to managers in the field.  But they lack the strategic dimension that a knowledgeable insights firm brings to the task. They talk only to current customers ( “during” the journey), and fail to capture data on the “before” and the “after” of the customer experience.  They don’t have the capability to incorporate the longer-term influences of ‘brand’ in the process, and brand, as we have repeatedly seen, is a critical element in influencing buying decisions.

The result is that the  operational CX program delivers little or no insight into the company’s potential customers and their movement along the customer journey. This translates into lost sales.  Much the same is true of former customers: there’s no ability to answer the critical question “why”?  Why are they no longer customers?  Could something have been done to prevent their defection?  Is there an offer that would potentially win them back?  The platforms can identify who is no longer a customer but the critical insight into the motivation behind the churn is lost.

There is also the question of “future proofing.”  A tech-only platform will only evolve so fast in keeping with broader market demands.  CX measurement software firms   are reluctant to make changes just to accommodate a single user.  Once again, companies are forced to rely on their own internal resource to address versioning issues, another example of how what is billed as a relatively simple solution can quickly spiral into something much more complex and demanding.

Data is everywhere

At this point, capturing CX data is no longer an issue for most companies.  Platforms in place are delivering massive amounts of information to brand teams and marketing managers in something approximating real time.  Maximizing the insights derived from that data will separate companies that are capable of delivering an exceptional customer experience from those that are just average. That can’t be done with technology alone.

Brand Health Measurement: Developing Your Brand's Core Strength

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Thriving in a Transformational Time

April 09, 2019

Sam Richardson

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This year’s Food Marketing Conference at Western Michigan University focused on the ongoing transformation of the industry, which is being driven by the maturation of omnichannel shopping behaviors and expectations. Below are some important takeaways that resonated with me during my time at the conference:

1. Learning isn’t hard; forgetting the old ways of doing things is hard

The fact is, the new realities call for lots of letting go. Among the most important things to forget? Thinking that (a) “channel” comes before “shopper,” (b) today’s competitors are your biggest threats, and (c) your brand is tied to a specific physical product. As an example of this last item, one alcohol beverage company is riding the wave of cannabis legalization by transforming its purpose to “mood management.”

2. There’s a big difference between digital sales and digitally-influenced sales

The first may be small for many brands, and the second may be large. Today’s omnichannel path to purchase (P2P) creates many interactive touchpoints, with instore and online research and purchasing influencing each other. As a result, many ecommerce teams are misreading shoppers’ online research as missed sales when they are actually a purposeful part of the P2P. Understanding this interaction is critical to mastering the omnichannel P2P.

3. The Customer Experience (CX) grading curve isn’t the same as the academic grading curve.

The speaker’s example: 99 – 100 = A; 96 – 98 = A-; 93 – 95 = B; 91 – 92 = C; < 91 = F. He further suggested that this “Tiger Mom” scale is going to further tighten as shoppers raise their expectations based on the best customer experiences they encounter. If you’re not creating better and better customer and brand experiences, you’re falling behind.

4. Know whether your Brand is in line with the experiences your customers are expecting

Customer Experience is the new Brand, and vice versa. Brands are becoming retailers through direct-to-consumer platforms, and retailers are becoming (stronger) brands through their own-label products and an increasing array of services, like delivery. Brand equity is created – and tested – through every experience in which consumers and shoppers experience the brand. Is your premium brand is found in off-price stores, that’s a disconnect. And if your “better for the environment” brand is advertised on a show or network that downplays the risks of climate change, that’s a disconnect, too.

5. When it comes to omnichannel, are you all in, or just all over the place?

As businesses accelerate and execute their omnichannel strategies and tactics, there’s often more emphasis on activation than integration. Make sure your efforts are coordinated and evaluated holistically. Being “all in” in omnichannel means seeing it and building it from the shopper’s perspective, making the most of each touchpoint, and knowing which ones matter most to shoppers and your bottom line.

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When Season Ticket Holders Don’t Renew

April 02, 2019

Sam Richardson

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Getting repeat customers is the holy grail of most businesses, and what’s better for that than a sports fan and season ticket holder? Fan loyalty is huge, and for many franchises tickets are hard to come by. In some cases, families pass them down from generation to generation. So when fans stop renewing it suggests something is going seriously wrong.

What does it take to drive these people away? Losing games isn’t usually enough. In fact, some of the worst-performing teams have some of the most loyal fans. For these folks a game is more than a game – it’s a social event, it’s a part of who they are. Most realize that teams will have their ups and downs and they’re willing to tolerate that, even when there’s more downs than ups.

But there are other aspects to the fan experience besides on-field performance, and they can alienate even the most loyal of customers. For management, the question is: how do you identify these issues?  How do you know what’s motivating your fans? What circumstance or combination of circumstances finally drove them away? Answer:  you have to measure it.

Fan Experience (FX) is the new battleground

The reality is that Fan Experience (FX) is the new battleground in sport.  Every sports organization needs actionable Fan Intelligence to compete and to maintain and build loyalty.  Questions management needs to ask (and answer) include:  what are fans saying online and in the stadium? How does that correlate with ticket purchasing?  With stadium behaviors? What are they saying about the food, the concession stand lines, the cost of tickets? And these need to be answered in as close to “real time” as possible.

Today’s CX technology allows sports teams to track fan reactions and the path to purchase across multiple channels and to correlate the data with business outcomes. It provides tools for understanding what works and what doesn’t and for quickly moving that information to the place in the organization where it can have the greatest impact. It has an Artificial Intelligence capability incorporating predictive behavior analysis to anticipate future fan needs.  All of this  reflects a simple principle: loyalty is built when management responds to customer issues – whether that’s at a department store or on the soccer pitch.

CX program gives better understanding

And this doesn’t just apply to season tickets. Sponsors are looking for better ways to measure their investments in on-field, broadcast and online advertising. They want to know the ‘true’ value – in dollars – of their sponsorship. They want to know how the fans react, and they want to see the numbers. A CX program can provide the framework essential to this understanding.

One recent example illustrates the point. Nepa was brought in by a sports franchise for purposes of sponsorship validation. We used multi-channel research (social media, TV, digital) along with traditional surveying to analyze and measure the impact of sponsorship on fan buying behavior. In this instance we found that the franchise was charging just $100,000 for a sponsorship that was delivering value worth more than $500,000.  A lot of money was being left on the table.

In another instance, our Sports Optimizer platform gave a franchise the ability to directly connect with its supporters and  gather feedback from thousands of regular fans and high value season ticket holders. Through this, we identified new ways for sponsors to interact with fans inside and outside of the stadium. And with real time analysis throughout the season, the team’s business management team could track progress after each home game. The result was a $1.3M increase in sponsorship value and an 18% boost in season ticket renewals.

In the past, teams mostly measured in-game exposure to signage and TV viewership and called it a day.  But now the competitive stakes have been raised.  For many franchises, it’s time to re-think the fan engagement process. A good way to get started is to establish a benchmark from which to measure progress for your organization in all areas including fan experience, retail and hospitality optimization, and sponsorship valuation. This can help identify problem areas and open the door to actionable and revenue-drive solutions.

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Empower Employees Win Customers

March 20, 2019

Sam Richardson

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Win in the Age of the Customer with Empowered Employees

Learn how measurement and analytics can lead a winning customer strategy by empowering employees with the information that matters most to meeting customer needs. Enjoy the following sections:

– Introduction from Jan Carlzon, former SAS CEO and visionary customer-centric management author

– Exclusive perspective from Forrester CX analysts about CX competencies in the “Age of the Customer”

– How to scope your CX measurement program to drive change in the business

– Practical tips to prioritize the CX actions that drive satisfaction and growth

– How to bring a CX strategy to life by empowering employees to meet customers needs.

Download here



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Does Your Sports Strategy Rely Too Much on GameDay Tactics?

March 15, 2019

Sam Richardson

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“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.

Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

Sun Tzu, Art of War

Since starting with Nepa Global Sports, I’ve been fortunate to attend many great professional sports conferences and seminars around the country. I’ve met great leaders, representing the best-known professional sports leagues and teams in the world, and had the pleasure of engaging with some really smart, cool and talented folks.

Sports is fun but it’s a business too, and leagues and teams are like everybody else trying to come to grips with rapidly changing business demands and consumer needs.  So, whether it’s trying to accurately evaluate the value of their sponsorships, monetize social media, engage more fully with their sponsors or better understand their fan bases there’s a need to know more.

Sports business professionals get it. They understand that they need to know what motivates their fans in order to guide the strategic direction and to bring value to their partners, but they have got to put in the time, effort and most importantly, the resources needed to capture this critical information and drive consumer insight.

This may be due to the seasonal nature of sports; all too often, short-term tactical needs seem to take the priority over longer-term objectives. In baseball you would call that an error.

How many sports marketers look at their budgets based on long-term and short-term objectives? Consider:  what resources have you put aside for development, research, insight and understanding, and how much of that is being directed at tactics such as digital advertising or social media? To be really successful you have to measure, and not just once every five years, but constantly and in real time.

It’s all very well finding new fans to come through the turnstiles, but if you don’t know who they are or what your offer means to them, that turnstile effectively becomes a revolving door, churning revenues that have to be constantly replaced.

The sports success franchise that is riding high on the back of a winning streak and great attendance today is a potential headache tomorrow if the team’s management isn’t working to uncover how it can continue to get better by understanding and serving its customers.

In order to be successful over time, it’s estimated that marketers should be investing at least 60% of their resources in long-term brand building, with the remainder in short-term sales activation to achieve the best returns on their marketing investment.

I would guess that most sports marketing teams are probably putting less than 20% of their budgets aside for long-term strategy while fighting the weekly fires of life in seasonal sports by throwing the rest of the budget at short-term tactics.

A recent study from McKinsey on short-term vs long-term resourcing in business, reported the following:

“Among the firms we identified as focused on the long term, average revenue and earnings growth were 47 percent and 36 percent higher, respectively, … Companies that were managed for the long-term added nearly 12,000 more jobs on average than their peers from 2001 to 2015.”

Too many sports business professionals rely on on-field performance or worse still, their instinct or what they have done in the past, to gauge what their fans are thinking and feeling.

“Winning cures everything,” is the mantra. And it’s true, but only in the short term.

Sponsors have a different approach – they’re now looking for better ways to measure investment by analyzing specific KPIs, and they want to know the ‘true’ value – in dollars – of their sponsorship.

So how do you continue to grow your brands, provide value to partners and guard against complacency? The answer is surprisingly simple. Do the research!

Longer term sports organizations need to identify and optimize their fans’ path to purchase. And they also need to provide sponsors with a true valuation of what their sponsorship is worth in the eyes of consumers.

Fan Experience (FX) is the new battleground in sport and every sports organization needs actionable Fan Intelligence to compete. If you’re curious about how your organization’s fan experience measurement stacks up and how to take it to the next level, I’d love to talk with you.

We can start with a simple assessment.  It just takes a few minutes and you’ll receive an immediate analysis and a free copy of Nepa Sports “Cultivating FX measurement” eBook, based on decades of experience working with teams at all stages of maturity.

Click here to start your assessment.

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3 Key Takeaways from The National Grocers Association Show 2019

March 04, 2019

Sam Richardson

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As someone who has worked in the customer experience space for over 20 years, across multiple industries, I was happy to bring it back home to my earlier days by attending this year’s NGA Show in San Diego. Right away it was easy to see what a great representation this year’s conference was in showcasing the growing number of resources available to independent grocers – who are competing in today’s technology driven world.  As I reflect on the providers and exhibitors, I’m left with dozens of takeaways, however below I havsae prioritized on my top three:

1. Mobile Mania & Omnichannel Omnipresence

It’s really no surprise that mobile accessibility is key to winning and keeping customers.  From independents up to the largest chains, many shoppers are using a mobile device to research grocery purchases, build shopping lists and pay. And today, price comparison only accounts for a small part of that research. Keeping things like ingredients and brand reputations in mind, this means grocers will need to have a seamless experience at all levels: online, mobile app and in-store.

It’s no longer enough for CPG brands to understand the omnichannel path-to-purchase, but retailers also need to step up their game.  Pay by mobile is increasingly an expectation, and if a retailer doesn’t already accept mobile payment, they are behind.  It was Steve Bishop who said it best in his presentation, “Independent retailers need to consider how to make it seamless for shoppers to move between online and in-store.”

2. Marketing (R)Evolution

Creative marketing can be a real win for local grocery retailers – whether an independent or large chain.  While traditional mailers and circulars are still a key aspect of the advertising push, the drawing power of a low-cost YouTube video can really maximize returns in marketing.  It doesn’t have to be Academy Award winning. It can be about your stores’ core beliefs or even footage from a service event. At the end of the day, it just has to be authentic and show your customers the respect you have for them.

3. Experience Maximization

Brick and mortar store locations can meet future shopper expectations by taking advantage of readily available technology and continuously working to improve the overall experience.  Advances in mobile technology are available to help shoppers find the right aisle, pick the right product and even market to them while in store.

Smart home devices will start to roll out into grocery stores to provide that same type of assistance and, eventually, work between store and home (“Alexa – can you tell me how many rolls of paper towels I have left?”). Despite the emphasis on technology, the in-store experience will continue to be significant. No matter your store size, it will be essential to evaluate and measure customer experience and more importantly, further enhance it with actions that drive profitability. Not everyone can afford a data scientist, but everyone will need to be able to respond to data.

It is not by mistake that I have mentioned technology numerous times. Over the past few days I met with at least a dozen “data aggregators”– everything from basket data, to SKU analysis to inventory. Almost every retailer I spoke with talked about the changes from just two years ago when all focus was on product variety and traditional marketing.

Today, experts in the industry have recognized that gathering data is essential for the future success of a business. I would take it a step further to suggest that it is essential for the future success of a business to know how to take action on that data. Having a dedicated function at every location isn’t always possible. However, having a road map to achieve and partners that support you in that effort will always help you win with your customers.  As the grocery industry continues to go through massive change, a huge opportunity exists for retailers that use data to deliver omnichannel experiences that meet their customers changing needs.

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5 Key Takeaways – National Sports Forum 2019

February 19, 2019

Sam Richardson

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I recently attended my first National Sports Forum in Las Vegas and, Wow – what an event for the sports business enthusiast! It’s a big show and I was fortunate to have a veteran tour guide, Steve Livingstone, Head of Nepa Global Sports. As Steve and I reflected on the seminars and conversations, here are 5 things that stood out most:

1. Clubs ‘Engagement’ Focus Risks Fan Experience

Sports business leaders are enthusiastic about “fan engagement.” Many teams and their partners were discussing ways to involve the fan in more aspects of the game. It struck us how few were talking to fans about their view of the “experience.”

Since Valentine’s Day just passed, I’ll use a dating example to demonstrate experience vs. engagement. A husband goes all out for a date night: flowers, car service, dinner, theater, etc. He spends hours in planning and several hundred dollars on the evening. However, what she really wanted was the two hours of just the two of them together. In the end, it was all great and very appreciated, but if he had just asked, he would have known that a nice quiet dinner would’ve been enough. And saved some time, effort and money in the process. And remember, those expectations are now higher for next year. Think of your fans in the same way – take some time just to ask what they want directly.

2. Maximize Sponsorships by Understanding Affinity

Not surprisingly, the topic of maximizing sponsorship came up often at NSF. Taking that all in, sponsorship value is at its best when fans’ passions intersect with sponsor’s offers. That doesn’t mean 100% engagement with every sponsor, but those partnerships should relate based on the fans’ demographics, interests and buying behaviors. If that’s the case, it will be a mutually rewarding proposition for the fan, the team and the sponsors. You shouldn’t leave one party out of that mix, or all three suffer.  If the sponsors don’t experience an uplift of the sales from fans, they won’t renew – leading to lost revenue that impacts what the club can do for the fans.

Teams can avoid this trap with strong measurement – not just in sales or attendance, but also a measurable affinity. Again, talk to your fans and establish KPIs that will help you evaluate the success of sponsorships, including those that can be tied directly to valuation.

3. Drowning in Data

Teams are getting more data, but doing relatively less with it. Market data, fan data, attendance data, merchandise & concessions data – I saw an NSF presentation about data that corresponds to movements within the stadium to evaluate concessionaires and seating in sections. With all this data, teams are often left with generic takeaways from a single source of data. It is understandable that most teams don’t employ a full-time data scientist, but it’s also important that they understand where data should be merged, where there are gaps and how that data can benefit the entire organization.

4. Play as a Team

Even in a small environment, teams seemingly operate separately from one another.  You can find the best example of this when speaking with two members of the same team in different departments.  While speaking with them on current projects, one brought up specifics in their marketing initiatives, which prompted the other to respond, “I wish I had known that earlier, we could have used that information in selling tickets.”  Even in smaller offices, teamwork sometimes is overshadowed – not necessarily maliciously, but often as a result of everyone trying to focus on their own job.  It may require someone taking the initiative, but your fan engagement, fan experience, ticket sales, events and sponsorships can – and should – all be working together.

5. You Can’t Please Everyone

Recognize that you can never please 100% of the people 100% of the time. That even goes for everything above – don’t expect a one-size-fits-all approach. I’ll summarize this idea in one of the most memorable session takeaways, when Las Vegas Aviators VP Chuck Johnson said there will always be CAVE people.  What are CAVE people? They are “Citizens Against Virtually Everything.” That sums it up quite well.

I’m sure many of you walked away with some great takeaways. For me, an overarching theme was – the time is now.  Sports will continue to evolve, fans will continue to evolve and their business together will continue to evolve.  I heard several times that front offices can no longer afford to wait, things are moving far too fast.  Measure now, analyze now, evaluate now and win as a team now. I’m looking forward to NSF ’20, where I’m sure we’ll hear teams talking more about “Fan Experience.”

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3 Signs Your DIY CX Measurement is Weakening Your CX Strategy

February 13, 2019

Nepa CX Measurement

Sam Richardson

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Developing a customer experience strategy is easier said than done. It’s a process that needs to be built on a strong foundation, and your measurement will continuously guide the broader CX strategy. As companies grow and evolve, resources are needed to evaluate current performance and chart the path ahead. Dedication, accuracy and clear KPIs that are aligned with overall business goals all play an important role in building your success and supporting long term goals.

Companies that overstay their time on a DIY CX Measurement program risk losing ground to competitors and create operational inefficiencies internally.

Here are three benefits that many companies experience when upgrading to professional CX measurement.

1. You need to focus on what matters most

You know your business inside and out. But are you looking at the bigger picture? Or are you focused on the right metrics? It’s one thing to be an expert on you, but when it comes to developing a strategy for your customer experience, you need to be an expert on them. Understanding your industry benchmarks, advancements, setbacks and overall target customer behavior is key.

Choosing the right CX partner with a flexible model will provide an outside-in perspective on your most relevant focus areas. Having a CX expert in your court will allow you to configure the technology to your needs and ultimately streamline your efforts understand your customers by asking the right questions at the right time.

2. Get full value from your CX data

Disparate tools and insights may give you the basic information you need, but advanced technology, data science, and industry expertise provides the holistic view of your customer base that unlocks growth.

Your CX program should be producing continuous feedback to align with the other sources of data in the business. If these areas are not in sync, you run the risk of only analyzing a piece of the puzzle. Advanced machine learning techniques combined with industry knowledge prioritize which actions will produce bottom line results.

3. Start leveraging your measurements to direct strategy

When it comes to CX, most organizations attack the symptom, not the cause. The symptom could be an upset customer because your company did not accept their credit card of choice.  However, more importantly, the cause could be a lack of overall payment options. Many organizations focus on short term goals and how to quickly and efficiently address a customer’s issue. While perfecting the response to a bad experience is important, it’s just as important to identify common issues and put plans in place that prevent these bad experiences.

Businesses with a successful CX program have mastered the art of identifying and meeting customer needs while at the same time, delivering results. CX Measurement is a critical piece of a CX Strategy that professional CX technology and services can help you master – so that you can fail fast and identify opportunities to adapt to win customer loyalty in the long run.

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Making good things happen on the omnichannel path to purchase

February 01, 2019

Sam Richardson

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The old proverb has it that “good things come to those who wait”. According to the Internet, Abraham Lincoln added “but only what’s left by those who hustle.”

Whether Lincoln said that or not, the point remains: Waiting for shoppers to find your brand is not a winning strategy. Today, only a few brands and shopper insights leaders are beginning to fully understand the omnichannel path to purchase from the perspective of their shoppers. Those who invest in understanding shoppers’ behaviors and motivations through the omnichannel path to purchase are increasing conversion rates and growing market share by focusing investment and activity on touchpoints that matter most to shoppers. These leaders will enjoy growth, while brands that rely on outmoded constructs that separate online vs. offline, behavior vs. motivation, and paid vs. earned vs. owned, will fight over the scraps.

Early adopters across the globe are seeing the benefits of connecting the dots across dozens of online and offline touchpoints. Here are three ways Nepa is seeing shopper-centric understanding drive conversion and grow sales and market share:

1. More effective initiatives and investments, based on what matters most to shoppers

Many of the insight sources and marketing analytics techniques employed today haven’t kept up with explosion in touchpoints that can influence conversion. For example, Marketing Mix Modeling is a solid approach, but it’s typically limited to evaluating paid media with years of historical data. Similarly, multi-touch attribution modeling relies solely on online touchpoints, ignoring offline interactions. And many approaches disregard the ways in which online touchpoints influence offline sales, and vice versa, which we see across multiple categories and geographies.

In short, traditional methods don’t line up with today’s purchase paths, which might include an online product search, skimming a blog post, checking prices in store, reading a friend’s social media post, and, perhaps, a purchase on an eCommerce site. By capturing the shopper’s actual omnichannel experience, Marketers can learn the conversion power of every touchpoint, individually and in combinations, and make more effective decisions on budgets and other resources.

2. Competitive Intelligence and Inspiration

Traditional marketing analytics focus on one brand and how it’s marketed, as well as related consumer behavior. But brands and markets don’t exist in a vacuum. Omnichannel path to purchase methods recognize this obvious truth. By taking a shopper-led perspective at the category level, omnichannel sheds light on how every brand and touchpoint impact the shopper’s decisions along the path to purchase – including those of competitors. The insight gained can inspire brands to try new strategies and tactics, and to identify and neutralize their competitors’ advantages.

3. Strengthen Retail Partnerships

The path to purchase involves decisions on where to buy, as well as what to buy. Multiple retailers with similar offerings are competing for shoppers’ dollars. An omnichannel approach can help identify exactly where and why a retailer is losing category sales to a competitor. Early adopters are applying these insights to strengthen strategic retail partnerships and establish themselves as trusted category advisers. For example, Nepa recently provided a CPG client with insights and recommendations that helped its largest retail customer, Walmart, understand exactly where and why they lost purchases to Amazon. This kind of actionable intelligence leads to competitive advantage and growth.

The point is clear to early adopters of omnichannel analytics: along the path to purchase, good things happen when you hustle.

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Why Investing In Fan Insights Is a Smart Play

October 24, 2018

Sam Richardson

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Sports fans are extremely passionate and typically quick to give you their thoughts about a certain player or team. However, many sports teams and organizations do not capitalize on this passion and generosity by asking their supporters about the experience of being a fan. As a result, fan experience suffers and leads to less engagement and profitability.

In recent years, professional athletes have adopted a much more scientific approach to their training and conditioning. To stay competitive, professional sports organizations should do the same with fan insights. Here are the reasons why teams should listen and act on fan experience.

Better Fan Experience, Better Ticket Sales

In the sports world, poor sales performance is often attributed to team performance or the efforts of the sales team. But we know from other industries that the customer experience matters to customer acquisition and retention. Gameday fans have many critical moments of truth with sports brands as they park, buy concessions and much more.

Is every member of the team behind the team contributing to satisfying the fan and optimizing the fan experience? How do you know if everything is going smoothly to ensure that your fans have a great experience that they want to share with others? The answer to these questions will help drive sales through repurchase and recommendation.

Just like a coach reviews game footage, continuous fan experience insights can uncover the real reasons behind poor sales performance. Often, it’s not just the sales executive who fumbled.

Better Fan Experience, Better Gameday Revenue

Fan Experience not only keeps the turnstiles turning – fan engagement also drives spend at the merchandise and concession stands. It’s not surprising that a key factor to minimizing gameday sales are the length of lines – but it’s also a big stadium cost driver to manage the crowds. Fan Insights provide powerful value in assessing where best to allocate those resources and what is the optimal level to capture the most value from attending fans.

Sponsors Love Fan Insights

Professional sports teams are diversifying revenue streams – with some making over 50% of their revenues off the field. Sponsorships are now a major source of club income and the market for sponsors has become increasingly competitive.

Just like any other form of media, sports sponsorships are more valuable when the buyer knows exactly what they’re getting. Adopting principles from other industries, leading sports clubs are adopting insight-based selling methodologies to win more sponsorships and increase the value of existing ones. Check out how Louisville City FC used fan insights to increase the value of their sponsorship assets by over $1M.

Why Aren’t Teams Utilizing Fan Insights?

We’ve helped many clubs that hesitated to invest in a known need for fan insights to overcome these common hurdles:

  • Financial – Sport Insight has been controlled by a small number of expensive firms, so many sports marketers have a wrong perception that fan insights are out of their reach.
  • Priority – Even when traditional resource allocations are providing diminishing returns, some sports marketers are hesitant to invest their staff’s time in understanding fans’ needs.
  • Business Cards – There are a small number of fan insight companies out there (as we mentioned above), and the need for fan insights is often stymied by not knowing where or how to turn.
  • Fear of Knowing – Listening to fans takes courage and opens the door to unpleasant feedback that might upset senior management or ownership.

It’s extremely important to get over these obstacles in an age where expansion teams are shaking up leagues and fans have more ways to engage and interact with teams now than ever before.

Through improved ticket sales, merchandising, gameday revenues, and sponsorship values – an investment in fan experience insights could end up being your most valuable player with the investment paying for itself.

Fan insights are within your reach – Nepa’s Fan Experience Platform, Sports Optimizer, uses proven technology and expert staff to provide actionable and holistic intelligence at a much more reasonable cost. We assist you through every step of the process and help pinpoint areas for FX improvement.

Our veteran consultants can help you deepen understanding of your fanbase and improve renewal rates, optimize gameday revenues and bring in extra sponsorship value. Read a full case study here.