Speaker Preview: Personalising the fan experience – StubHub
The live event landscape is vast and in constant flux with no good single source of information for fans. Meeting this need requires curating massive amounts of information gathered from millions of individuals and cross referencing this against a myriad of possibilities based on both implicit and explicit data.
Brian Streich, International Marketing Director, StubHub International, will explain how through the use of innovation and technology, sports and entertainment businesses can create a more engaging fan experience.
We caught up with Brian to discuss what he plans to bring to Ticketing Technology Forum 2014.
Why is the fan experience more important than ever?
We need to remember that the fan’s experience starts from the point they decide that they are going to an event. For many people, it’s their passion so we need to ensure they get off on the right foot by providing them with the right information (seat maps, transparent pricing, recommendations) so that they can find the tickets that fit their needs.
What has caused the fans’ expectation of their overall experience to change?
Competition; there are plenty of options when it comes to buying tickets and if you’re not upping your game, you may not be part of the consideration set. As we are all getting better at creating customer experiences, things that used to be a “nice to have” are now seen as a “must have”.
Loyal customers
What would you say are the biggest mistake live entertainment and sports businesses make when using technology to engage with fans?
Not recognising the different customer segments and putting everyone into the same bucket with similar experiences. Some fans know exactly what they want, whilst others are looking to find something new and the approach to each segment needs to be unique; it’s much more than “others have liked this so you might too”. Fans are passionate and when you get it wrong, they won’t forget and it’s much harder to get them back.
What will you be sharing at Ticketing Technology Forum 2014?
Among other things, I will be providing answers to questions including: How through the use of innovation and technology, businesses can create a more engaging experience for fans; How creating relevancy, engagement and community with fans is critical to discovery; How to tie together offline and online encounters for the best customer experience and Talking to different customers on multiple platforms.
What is the biggest lesson you have learnt within your role?
Make sure you understand your customer segments; different fans act in different ways and if you don’t understand those differences, you may be leaving a lot on the table and/or marketing very inefficiently. For example, we have customers who go to dozens of events a year, but don’t always purchase on StubHub where as others may only attend one event a year, and understanding those differences is critical.
For those attending multiple times, we need to increase our share of wallet, while for those only going once, there’s opportunity to help them discover more and become more frequent event goers; the approach and message to each is much different.
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