Mobile ticketing continues to challenge sports and entertainment venues and the corporate buyers of their premium seats and suites. And while no two venues are exactly the same, many organizations are deploying successful tactics that can be applied across the marketplace.
At the Xcel Energy Center, the Minnesota Wild opted to rip the band-aid off and migrate all ticket holders, general and premium, at the same time.
“We have a lot of clients that have seats elsewhere as well,” says Keri Johnson, Director of Premium Service & Operations for the Minnesota Wild. “And if they have to do it one way and then a different way, we figured well, let’s just jump in all at once.”
Johnson and her premium services team partnered with the Wild’s marketing department to ensure the best communication was delivered to all buyer personas. Season ticket members and premium clients are two distinct segments, so the organization crafted unique messages for each one.
“Our premium clients are different,” Johnson says. “We needed something that's premium-specific, including all printed collateral, and then our link online, all the little notes, cheat sheets, the booklet we're giving, all of that.”
At the end of the day, much of the burden of mobile ticket troubleshooting falls to the admins. While they may be familiar with using digital ticketing, transferring tickets, or using team-sponsored mobile applications, they likely do not have experience educating the actual user of the ticket how to perform the basic required tasks, such as accepting, downloading, and accessing the ticket to gain entry into the arena.
In response, the Wild created email templates to pass along to the admins who can customize the template for each recipient to best inform him or her of exactly what to do.
“That poor admin fielding all of [the calls when something goes wrong] amongst all of her other responsibilities,” says Johnson. “We don't want that, so we're trying to make it as easy for them as we can.”
Are you new to the sports and entertainment industry? Are you a veteran looking to brush up on the fundamentals?
Watch more Member Tips and become an ALSD member to receive even more sales and service advice from industry leaders.