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The Fan Funnel

Segmenting your fans to improve conversion rate.

Aug 5, 2021 | John McCauley

You are only as good as the analogy used to describe how you create and acquire fans in the #sportsbiz … so you better come up with a good one!

Of course, I kid, but the reality is that it’s hard to try to describe the impact of digital on sports marketing when there are so many moving parts, and the industry as a whole is only 20 years old. That’s not a lot of time for organizations to adjust and adapt, especially when looking at the impact that the web, streaming video, social media and mobile have had on our lives since their inception.

Creating fans is one thing; keeping them is another, and that is the topic that we embark upon today. So how do you move casual fans to be your biggest supporters? It all starts at the top of the fan funnel. Social media plays such an important role these days that it’s paramount that a brand drive audiences on all the appropriate networks and platforms. In addition, some of the content and experiences you create on those platforms “should” begin to generate more traffic on your owned platforms, like your website, mobile web and mobile app.

Creating those tactics to drive audiences to your owned platforms is all about creating a deep relationship with them and moving them down that proverbial fan funnel. Chances are the fans that are the most engaged are the ones that are going to purchase your tickets, buy your merchandise and watch your broadcasts.

Moving folks down the fan funnel increases your chance of conversion to a sale of any kind. Many studies in the #sportsbiz world have pegged an engaged fan at 25% more likely to make a purchase, and that doesn’t take into account retention metrics, which is a topic for another day.

Infographic shows a recent client evaluation of the importance of engaging casual fans in gamification with the goal of increasing ticket sales.

You have to look no further than how a typical sample from a team is able to use their Fannex platform analytics this past season to create a targeted list of fans who played a game on the Fannex platform and were either a season-seat-holder, mini-pack buyer or single-game ticket purchaser. Armed with segmented knowledge, the opportunities to customize and personalize are endless.