Grow Your Top Line With a Digital Loyalty Program
Reward your loyal fans and create premium experiences
- The sports organization is having difficulties creating a loyalty program, as many leaders within the industry have identified that their previous loyalty programs have not been successful, having followed the same loyalty scheme as hotels and industries.
- Increasing fan loyalty to the team has been difficult over the years; a traditional loyalty program will not satisfy the needs of a digital-first world and fans.
- Engaging fans pre, post, and beyond the game and venue is a challenge for the business, when 360-degree fan experiences are not completely present.
- You may lose your competitive position if you lack a loyalty program going forward.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
When emotional connections are developed through loyalty programs, physical or digital fan engagement is enabled. When 360-degree fan profiles are established, they empower premium experiences through hyper-personalized interactions, resulting in loyalty regardless of team performance.
Impact and Result
- Leverage the sports entertainment digital loyalty program framework, architecture and analysis as a basis to work from to create a strategic and holistic digital loyalty program.
- Determine the value a digital loyalty program will have on your business through the business reference architecture and value chain analysis.
- Conduct a comparative analysis between existing sports and adjacent hospitality loyalty programs today.
Grow Your Top Line With a Digital Loyalty Program
Reward loyal fans and create premium experiences.
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Analyst Perspective
Leverage a digital loyalty program to enhance experience-led businesses |
Sports entertainment companies are uncertain how to meet the ever-evolving needs and expectations of the digital and experiential economy that fans live in, where loyalty programs are often overlooked due to their unsuccessful and complicated track record within the industry. The business of sports is not only about selling tickets, but it is an experience-led business. Therefore, to grow and maintain their fan base, sports organizations need to focus on the 360-degree experience for fans throughout the year, even during the off-season. Rewarding fan loyalty through engagement, money-can't-buy rewards, and creative non-purchase related ways to get points are only some of the different ways sports entertainment organizations can emotionally reward their fans and turn them into loyal lifelong fans. However, it is important that sports entertainment organizations have mastered their traditional and transactional loyalty program before advancing into an emotional and digital loyalty program. A loyalty program does not completely lie in the hands of the IT department, but is a cross-collaborative project between IT and the marketing department. The marketing department should have a marketing strategy that is flexible and scalable, and which requires technical resources, data, and marketing technologies to activate an emotional and digital loyalty program. Establishing an emotional connection with fans through loyalty will allow brands to prepare themselves for the ever-changing needs and expectations of the digital and experiential economy the business competes in. Elizabeth Silva |
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Executive Summary
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Info-Tech Insight
When emotional connections are developed through loyalty programs, physical or digital fan engagement is enabled. When 360-degree fan profiles are established through loyalty, they empower premium experiences through hyper-personalized interactions, resulting in loyalty regardless of team performance.
Loyalty programs have accelerated
Traditional loyalty programs have come a long way, and more advanced technology is coming to enhance and improve fan journeys and loyalty.
The evolution of loyalty programs
Movable Ink, n.d.
A digital loyalty program is an essential means in today’s digital & experiential economy
The typical loyalty program is focused solely on increasing market share and revenues through repeat purchase and usage.
Sports entertainment organizations must structure people, processes and technology to be more focused on the individual fan, prioritizing behavioral and attitudinal loyalty, cultivating engagement and profitability as a result. The creation of new fan behaviors and expectations due to the pandemic coupled with a siloed approach between marketing, operations, and IT makes it difficult to accomplish this fan-centric loyalty program.
Consequently, stakeholders are lacking the design-thinking mindset needed to recognize a clear and unified vision for the digital fan journey, and the loyalty program is lacking the level of sophistication needed to adapt to new technologies and opportunities for response.
Issue |
Digital loyalty strategy |
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Increasing market competition and ubiquity of programs |
> | Understand who your incumbents and disruptors are and define opportunities to either compete or differentiate. |
Increasing sophistication of guest expectations and demands |
> | Understand your fans and their journeys better to meet and exceed expectations. |
Lack of customer-facing technological progress |
> | Determine opportunities to enter the digital economy and improve customer-facing technology progress. |
Siloed marketing, operations, and IT department strategies |
> | Merge two levels of maturity by aligning strategic goals and building digital fluency. |
Start with the core of your business to effectively transform your organization
Core
Identify the overlooked room for growth in your core business. Whether it is loyalty, events, or rights distribution, look for powerful ways to further deploy your existing capabilities and grow the core of the business.
Expansion
Expand the boundaries of your organization. Gain a robust view on the capabilities that differentiate your organization. Expand into adjacent capabilities where strengths can be built on, rather than diversifying into new capabilities.
Disruption
Disrupt and respond to change with new business models. As the traditional model for the sports industry is being disrupted, consider market insights to identify new opportunities. Look for ways to disrupt your own revenue model that utilizes some of your existing capabilities, and be clear about the new capabilities required.
Innovating physical sport through gamification and connected technology is a leading opportunity
As new entertainment products disrupt the market and battle for the same attention and share of wallet as sports entertainment organizations, it is time for the industry to rethink its strategies and how it will innovate to compete in the digital and experiential economy.
Over time, the sports industry has added to its business by providing more events, competitions, and increasing the media experience that is available but remain largely unchanged.
Sports entertainment organizations need to start thinking about how they will change to remain competitive, retain engagement, and capture a larger share of wallet compared to competitors.
71% Believe that the greatest opportunity in the sports space is to innovate physical sport through gamification/connected technology
PwC, 2021.
74% Believe that gamification/connected technology will attract younger participants in physical sports
PwC, 2021.
Opportunities:
- Blend the physical and digital worlds together through gamification, attracting a younger fan base, allowing them to connect with each other on an interactive and multi-layered experience, where they can chat, meet, play, compare, learn, etc.
- Collect valuable data from fans, by deepening fan engagement and loyalty from fans (with consent) in return for valuable rewards, and recognition from the brand.
- Develop an interactive and engaging digital loyalty program by combining both opportunities together will transform not only the business and how it competes in the larger entertainment industry, but also the relationship with the most loyal fans.
Info-Tech Insight
Loyalty is the future driver of brand and revenue growth, where it should be engaging, predictable, and data is the currency.
A digital loyalty program can transform your relationship with fans
- A loyalty program focuses on driving ongoing conversations and interactions to drive a deeper sense of loyalty; this is enabled by digital. Traditionally it has been viewed as only earning and burning through loyalty schemes.
- Growth for loyalty programs in sport teams should be strictly based on relationship building rather than incentives traditional retail stores would create. Read more about this within the Digital Fan Engagement Report.
- Reinforcing a range of fan engagement behaviors through a loyalty program, rather than simply providing points for transactional behaviors, will be more attractive for fans. It will also encourage positive and enduring fan engagement that supports in- and extra-role behaviors.
- A loyalty program must incorporate community support and impression management behaviors, to encourage positive and strong fan engagement with all eight experience components. Loyalty programs are more than transactional behaviors.
The Experience Components that Drive Engagement
- Recognition & Support
- Personal Relevance
- Ease & Enjoyment
- Brand Alignment
- Data Usage & Trust
- Communications
- Digital
- Meets Needs
Experiential rewards provide long-term benefits
- Research shows that monetary rewards are not the leading driver of loyalty programs and over time they drive a sense of entitlement. Rather, experiential rewards provide greater long-term benefits (MIT Sloan Review, 2018).
- An outstanding fan experience is critical to the sustained growth of any business. It's important to consider what promotes better fan experiences to enable loyalty, retain fans, and encourage brand advocacy.
- When partnered with the right tools and timing, building emotional relationships in a highly engaging manner builds stronger relationships, allowing businesses to deliver the most profitable types of relationships for the long term.
- In the end, it is the fan journey that matters the most – not the destination. If the fan journey is a seamless and positive interaction with the brand, the better the fan experience will be allowing the loyalty program to be superior to competitors who do not focus on the fan journey.
Transform your traditional loyalty program into digital
In essence, a digital loyalty program takes all the traditional aspects of making customers feel valued by a brand and uses innovative techniques and schemes to ensure every fan enjoys a truly personal experience with a brand.
Digital transformation of a loyalty program provides the organization opportunities to advance growth, enhance fan experiences, secure sustainability, drive operational efficiencies, and unearth potential future business ventures. It is important to determine if the organization's current loyalty program is largely traditional or digital.
Digital Definitions
- Digitization
- Digitalization
- Digital Transformation
Changing from analog or physical to digital form.
Using digital technologies and information to transform Individual organizational operations.
A series of deep and coordinated culture, workforce, and technology shifts that enable new operating models and transform an organization’s operations, strategic directions, and value proposition.
Transform your traditional loyalty program into digital
TRADITIONAL |
DIGITAL |
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Design |
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Transaction method |
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Delivery method |
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Type of rewards |
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Technology and analytics usage |
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To enable the digital economy, IT must have business alignment
Being able to properly enable the digital economy through a digital loyalty program is important, as this will require major technology investments.
This can only be done when there is business alignment, meaning high satisfaction between the IT department and the business.
Today, our CIO Business Vision benchmarking report shows that most sports, entertainment, arts, and culture organizations are in the 70-80% satisfaction mark, making them a trusted operator. However, being in this ranking area makes it more difficult to enable the digital economy and move up the loyalty ladder.
Info-Tech Insight
By leveraging the digital business strategy to enable new digital capabilities, such as a digital loyalty program, your organization will have the opportunity to demonstrate the value of IT and the satisfaction that can be provided.
Business alignment will enable progression up the loyalty ladder
To move up the loyalty ladder, sports entertainment organizations must increase their business satisfaction to align their business in order to receive capital for investments.
Relationships are the number one driver for business satisfaction for any IT department. To improve your relationships with others in the business, collaborate with other departments to develop holistic strategies, and deliver meaningful results for the internal and external stakeholders.
Most organizations are either “fan fixers” or “cross-channel enablers” in terms of loyalty program enablement. This was discovered through Info-Tech surveys and discussions with sports entertainment leaders.
Become a ‘fan-centric champion’ or ‘fan wow’ organization by improving relationships and business alignment. This will move your organization up the loyalty ladder.
77% of loyalty programs with a solely transactional model fail within the first two years.
71% of companies with an existing loyalty program plan to revamp the scheme in the next three years.
Movable Ink, n.d.
THE LOYALTY LADDER
FAN WOW
Aim to delight through mind blowing, unexpectedly satisfying experiences that serve as the ultimate brand expressions.
FAN-CENTRIC CHAMPIONS
Focus on fan personalization, using data to individualize experiences.
CROSS-CHANNEL ENABLERS
Focus on unifying CX across channels with an omni-channel approach to better manage end-to-end fan communications and experiences. This is especially true for retailers whose fans cross channels to shop.
FAN FIXERS
Companies intent on removing friction, thereby focusing on fixing operations processes and pain points.
Evaluate the loyalty program across transactional and emotional characteristics
In today's experiential economy, it is important for a loyalty program to focus on emotional drivers and tactics rather than transactional and influential tactics. However, to have an effective emotional loyalty program, you need to have a good transactional loyalty program as a basis to work from.
Emotional influence tactics
- Special recognition status and exclusivity surprise and delight community
Transactional influence tactics
- Product enhancements
- Experience design
- Value-added services
- Offers and discounts
Transactional attributes
- Perceived value
- Ease of value exchange
- Perceived opportunity cost
- Pain avoidance
Emotional attributes
- Personal values alignment
- Self-image building
- Social connectivity
- Aspiration and life goals
Info-Tech Insight
Having an emotional rather than transactional digital loyalty program will allow you to view this initiative as a revenue driver rather than a cost center.
Movable Ink, n.d.
Consider the loyalty scheme possibilities
There are many different loyalty program schemes that any sports entertainment organization can take on to improve fan relationships.
Earn and burn loyalty programs Traditional approach to loyalty; fans earn points for the money they spend. |
Tiered loyalty programs Fans gain access to additional benefits by advancing through ranks. |
Perks loyalty programs Based on perks, awards, and benefits for all members unconditionally. |
Gamified loyalty programs Challenges or badges engage fans in a fun and interactive way. |
Loyalty community programs Dividing the fan base into smaller segments based on specific topics, interests, or values. |
Lifestyle loyalty programs Encourage valuable behavior and brand love by rewarding fans for being active or green. |
Influencer / referral loyalty programs Attract new fans through identified brand advocates. |
Paid loyalty programs Fans pay a recurring fee to receive great benefits they can use instantly. |
Hybrid loyalty programs Merge two or more types of loyalty schemes together to fit your digital business strategy. |
Coalition loyalty programs Unite multiple brands within the same venue to increase foot traffic and revenues. |
Antavo, 2022
Loyalty programs for sports leagues should correspond to the existing fan relationships
Sports leagues may want to consider paid loyalty programs, where members pay a recurring fee to receive great benefits they can use right away. This is an attractive way to acquire both new fans and establish a stronger relationship with current fans by giving them access to exclusive content and VIP benefits. Sports leagues should focus on providing exclusive content and benefits that fans cannot find anywhere else in return for a fee; this is solely a transactional relationship.
The exception is leagues who do govern individual players rather than teams (e.g. NASCAR), where a tiered loyalty program may be more suitable than a paid loyalty program.
Note that sports teams may already have a paid loyalty scheme within their organization, providing exclusive benefits and experiences to season ticket holders. Thus, it is important that sports teams do not focus on paid and transactional loyalty programs, but rather emotional loyalty programs to further enhance existing experiences.
Antavo, 2022
Info-Tech Insight
Sports leagues and teams should structure their loyalty programs differently, despite marketing to the same audience, as the relationship between the fans, leagues, and teams are different. Having a loyalty scheme that correctly corresponds to the relationship is key to loyalty program success.
Loyalty programs for sports teams should strengthen emotional relationships
Sports teams may want to consider loyalty community programs with tiered and gamified components. Loyalty community programs are smaller segments within the loyalty program to created targeted and further engaged fans based on specific topics, interests, values, and fan tiers to strengthen emotional relationships with fans.
Loyalty community program with tiers and gamification scheme (hybrid)
Antavo, 2022
Loyalty program expectations are rising
| 86% of consumers with high emotional engagement say they always think of the brands they are loyal to when they need something. | 70% of emotionally engaged consumers spend up to two times more on brands they are loyal to. |
Gamification and badging Loyalty programs are designed to drive high value actions, which are badged when completed, in exchange for points multipliers. |
Multi-brand loyalty programs An ecosystem of brands under one loyalty program, creating fan rewards and incentives across banners and verticals. Drives share of wallet for the parent company and captures a wealth of fan data. This is a high-value opportunity for sports entertainment organizations that also own the venue. |
Exclusive services and access Providing value-add services and special access to sales and products make the fan experience more valuable and convenient, ultimately driving loyalty with the brand. |
Values and community building Embedding mission and peer-to-peer connections will increase in importance and relevance as consumers become more socially and environmentally motivated. |
Movable Ink, n.d.
Overarching business risks and considerations
Service culture and delivery
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Know your business
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Loyalty liability
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Download the Digital Fan Engagement Report to read more about fan personas
Overarching IT risks and considerations
The viability for a digital loyalty strategy is highly dependent on the maturity of the IT department. Rule of thumb is to measure and assess your IT maturity because what may seem like a simple project could be more complex. Your organization must understand the possible uncertainties and have substantial processes in place to stand resilient from potential risks.
IT security and network |
Data and analytics |
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Info-Tech Insight A digital loyalty strategy will require superior IT security and network services and will therefore increase the importance of IT Security and Network. Depending on IT’s maturity, this could positively or negatively affect the business stakeholder and fan satisfaction. |
Info-Tech Insight Business stakeholders must understand the value of data and analytics in making the right decisions. Satisfaction must be improved as personalization and fan identification will require the need of automation and real-time data and analytics to maximize the fan experience. |
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Unlock Sample ResearchContributors
- Hubert Swiatkowski, Global Partnerships Manager, Open Loyalty
- Rohit Singh, Consultant, NextBee
- Sergio Nikonorc, Director of Sales & Partnerships, Kangaroo Rewards
- Ty Fowler, Director of Loyalty, Kansas City Chiefs