CRM & MARKETING CASE STUDY: LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB
OVERVIEW In 2013, Leicestershire CCC acted on a piece of business analysis and started on a journey to develop CRM as a strategy to underpin the club s fan engagement and marketing activity. The club were to set about improving the quality and quantity of data that was collected from fans. They implemented a joined-up CRM and ticketing system from Green 4 Solutions, and calling upon the expertise of CRM marketing agency, 4Sight Sport & Leisure to assist with design and activation of their new strategy. Within the first 8 months, the results have been somewhat of a slogging match, exceeding initial targets and allowing them to enter a new level of sophistication for the next season and beyond! Behind the scenes at Grace Road, Leicestershire CCC has been able to focus on utilising new technology to gain insight from their data and use the intelligence learned to improve their communication with fans and drive match attendance. The first stage has inevitably been concentrated on the quality of data they hold and increasing the collection of data (quantity). KEY STATISTICS Database increase of 21% Email address increase 69% Phone number increase 121% 61% of fans engage via email on a regular basis Average open rate of 31%, compared to industry av. Of 22% Average CTO (click to open) rate of 33% compared to industry av. of 15% In these very early stages, the club has seen their overall database increase by 21%, with email addresses up a whopping 69%! Email has become an important communication channel, and having implemented some nifty designed campaigns, targeted to the right audiences, the club now has 61% of fans engage with their emails on a regular basis and open rates consistently average in excess of 30%.
We are absolutely thrilled with the progress we have made so far and the direct results seen from this new approach. We re confident that we ve selected the right technology partner in Green 4, and the guys at 4Sight have been the perfect extension to our marketing team! - JASMINE CHAUHAN, MARKETING MANAGER
PLANNING & STRATEGY After a piece of independent business analysis, it was clear that CRM and use of fan data was to be the future of the clubs commercial and marketing activity. Leicestershire set about selecting a joined-up technology platform in order to create a single customer view and ensure data from all customer touch points, such as ticket office and retail store (online and offline) and match day fan engagement activity could be captured. With limited resources at Grace Road, the club also invested in an expert CRM Agency, 4Sight Sport & Leisure, to help get them off the mark and delivering insight led campaigns from day one. The marketing team at Leicestershire Cricket and 4Sight got to work on analysing fan data and developing a strategy for data collection and marketing communications. The overall goal was To develop a data driven approach to delivering improved fan & customer relationships which in turn deliver mutually beneficial results.
RESULTS The key objectives set for season one have been exceeded, with data collection volume and quality on the rise. This focus on data has also led to further improvements in digital engagement with fans and enabled measurement of marketing activities. The overall database size has increased 21% with improvements across the board for key pieces of data including; email addresses (69%), telephone (121%), mobile phone (18%) and date of birth (16%). An improvement in data collection, as well as a sophisticated strategy for targeted and personalised communication has resulted in open rates consistently exceeding 30%. Marketing Manager, Jasmine Chauhan said We are absolutely thrilled with the progress we have made so far and the direct results we ve seen from this new approach. We re confident that we ve selected the right technology partner in Green 4, and the guys at 4Sight have been the perfect extension to our marketing team! For 2015 the club has worked with 4Sight to develop the strategy further, which will include a comprehensive communications plan, including targeted pre and post match emails.