FULL HOUSE Turning Data into Audiences - ARTS Australia

FRIENDS AND MEMBERSHIPSIn terms of building relationships, computerised ticketingand marketing systems offer increasingly integratedfunctionality to manage Friends and membership schemesand to track activity and administer the benefits. Websitescan now handle separate prices for people accordingto their status, and some allow the use of points andcredits much like ’frequent flyer’ schemes. All are designedto increase attendance and also to develop taste andappreciation by widening the range of events peoplechoose to attend. These are classic steps in buildingrelationships with customers.Friends and membership schemes do require detailedattention in their initial design and continuously in theirmanagement, especially now that websites can managecustomer recognition from log-ins and increase theopportunities for dialogue, feedback and interactivity.See Chapter 6: Beyond TicketingSUBSCRIPTIONSThe most implemented scheme to achieve both loyaltyand frequent attendance, and create a close relationship,are ‘subscriptions’. These are often regarded in the arts asthe pinnacle of customer relationships, because people arerelatively locked in to a high frequency of attendance. Forsome organisations, this delivers them a substantial reliablesource of income received in advance.The original implementation was straightforward: ifcustomers chose to commit to purchase all the events in aseason, they received a discount, reflecting the cumulativevalue of their multiple purchase. Subscriptions had valueto the customer in introducing (or committing) them tothings they might not have otherwise chosen to see, andso expanding their understanding and appreciation. Theyadded value for the organisation in persuading morepeople to attend more often, and creating a core audienceof broadening taste, while bringing in guaranteed incomein advance. In order to incentivise the purchase further,discounts were increased, especially if packages of differentsizes were offered, say, 15% off six events, 25% off nineevents, and 33% off 12 events. This certainly increasedsubscriber numbers, championed by Danny Newman’s‘Subscribe Now’ techniques from the US. 12However, in recent years, some organisations have offeredever more complex packages and schemes. The dangeris that, in doing so, they may give more away to thecustomers than is necessary in terms of both discountand flexibility.Perhaps the subscriber does have the ultimate relationshipwith an arts organisation, but this Manual is aboutunderstanding that perhaps only 15% of an organisation’saudience might reach that category, while the remaining85% also represent an opportunity of huge value.However, the latter group will need different treatment ifthey are to reattend. One obvious challenge is how arts andentertainment organisations communicate effectively withpeople attending at different frequencies, not only in printand email communications but also in dialogue.1. Danny Newman, Subscribe Now: Building Arts Audiencesthrough Dynamic Subscription Promotion, 1981, Consortium BookSales and Distribution.2. PEOPLE NOT ‘BUMS ON SEATS’, CUSTOMERS NOT ‘PUNTERS’25