Reversing season ticket decline with data-driven customer insight

Challenge

All sports teams face a similar challenge: how to get fans to come to their stadia as more entertainment options vie for their attention, and new technologies increasingly enhance the ‘at-home’ experience.

Insight

Top-tier Dutch football club FC Utrecht had suffered a decrease in season-ticket sales three seasons out of four between 2011/12 and 2014/15. Outside of on-field performances, the club had no definitive understanding into why this was, or how it could reverse the trend.

Solution

By gaining a deep, data-driven insight into who Utrecht’s fans are, why they come to games and what ticket products they want to buy, the club would be able to create a new season-ticket product and marketing strategy that would drive growth in both sales and attendances.

Action

Two Circles introduced data management and visualisation technology that included a data warehouse that pulled in demographical data and purchase information from different touchpoints, and built a business intelligence dashboard to allow Utrecht to better understand and segment its customers. This was supplemented with surveys of Utrecht ticket-holders to understand more about the products they would buy, and what they wanted from their matchday experience.

Two Circles used this insight to create a new ticket-pricing and product structure that would be marketed to the Utrecht fanbase in a personalised and targeted manner. This was taken to senior management, signed off, and then rolled out to.