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How CRM can improve the customer experience at mega events

First written November 2022 · 4 minute read

From index cards at the first Hopman Cup to the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup: the customer experience has always been the point. Here's how the right CRM makes it possible today.

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Sports and entertainment organisations are great tribes to belong to. They offer emotional engagement, meaningful goals, a team environment and the glory of achieving or experiencing something great.

Mega events, such as sold-out games and concerts, World Cups and events with a global following like golf and Formula 1, are the perfect cauldron for these tribes to come together and watch their heroes, and villains, compete. It's when people get into the zone and embrace the experience, alongside their fellow tribe members and those from other tribes.

To make the most of this, an organisation has to understand and communicate with each person, gathering hundreds of touchpoints about what they like and don't like, how they act and who they're connected to. That allows tailored experiences and offers that lead to real engagement and good business results.

What the Hopman Cup taught me

When I worked on the Hopman Cup, the world's first mixed teams event in tennis, which started in Perth at the end of the 1980s, the tools for this were basic. We communicated through television, radio, print and outdoor advertising. We learned about our customers by talking to them and keeping spreadsheets, or, dare I say it, index cards we flicked through by hand.

The tools were limited, but the results were incredible: sold-out sessions, significant coverage and a profit from year one. Underneath it all was something I'd argue is even more critical now than it was then: a total focus on an outstanding customer experience.

The 2022 Women's Basketball World Cup

Fast forward to 2022 and the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup at Sydney Olympic Park, the home of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Our winning pitch to FIBA made a brave promise: the best attended and most successful Women's World Cup ever.

Many things went into achieving it, but a total focus on the customer experience was central. Attendance doubled the previous event, the athletes loved it and the fans were out in force, loud and strong.

So in a world of data overload, endless choice and fans with many ways to follow mega events, how do we make sure the customer experience is the best it can be? Smart, industry-specific CRM is the platform for it.

Where CRM comes in

EngageRM's experience began with one of the world's great mega events, the Australian Open in Melbourne, in 2008. The tournament needed a way to promote and manage its Kids Tennis Day, and CRM was the answer.

Web portals linked directly to the platform let families register, with parents and guardians connected to their children's records. Automated workflows followed up every registrant with information sent straight from the CRM, and live dashboards let management watch it all. That made personal invitations to the main event possible, built on each family's past experiences. Families could create or renew memberships against their own records, giving a single customer view before it was fashionable.

Good data and processes also let you act fast. When the Queensland floods struck in 2011, we built a donation portal with a payment gateway in 36 hours, and it collected record donations for the victims. It was only possible because the processes and customer data were already central in the CRM.

The fan's journey, from first click to the venue

Today, a well-designed, integrated CRM supports the whole customer journey. When someone shows interest, a tailored journey begins, and their purchase decision can be guided by what they do along the way.

Linked to the ticketing platform, the CRM keeps ticket and membership data against each contact, tracking transfers, upgrades and attendance. At the event itself, the right CRM knows when a person walks into the venue, and can trigger offers based on what they've done before. If Simone bought a T-shirt and a glass of wine last time, we can offer her a voucher for the same drink and a scarf.

We can send tailored content at the right moments, allow paperless entry to exclusive areas and learn more for future communication. That last point matters, because for more than 98% of the time the fan isn't at the event at all, and the CRM can keep the relationship going every day of the year.

Feedback, partnerships and the rest

Want feedback or need to manage an issue? The logical place is the CRM, which already holds the customer's history. A fan can scan a QR code in the venue and fill in a short form on their phone, and the case is sorted and routed across the business automatically.

Calls can come through Microsoft Teams linked to the CRM, with recording and real-time analysis. The same capability supports outbound selling, and one of our clients used it to improve the efficiency and output of their business by more than 30%.

Because the fan data is already there, it makes sense to manage corporate partnerships from the CRM too: every email and call in one place, proposals built from an asset register, fulfilment tracked, invoicing automated and sales and commissions visible on live dashboards across the business.

A tool, not the Holy Grail

CRM isn't the Holy Grail. It needs careful management, thought and execution, and like any tool it isn't designed to do everything. But to engage fans fully and deliver an outstanding customer experience at a mega event, or any event, there's no better platform than an industry-specific, integrated CRM.