The Dutch tennis association KNLTB wants to sell out all its tennis events in the future. We spoke to Guus van Berkel, event manager at the KNLTB: "In order to promote the ticket sales of our events, we want to respond better to the wishes of our target group. To do this, we use the technology from CM.com."
In the past, the KNLTB already collected a bunch of data from their visitors but little was done with the data. Until September 2018, when the KNLTB started to actively use past and newly collected data to optimise the customer journey for ticket sales. Guus: "In the end we want a sold out stadium for every tennis event. If you have insight into your visitors, then you can respond to that in a smart way during ticket sales."
The KNLTB uses data from visitors of the NK Tennis and the sold out Fed Cup to make it easier and quicker to sell tickets for subsequent tennis events. For example, a visitor who visits the NK Tennis annually and always buys the same number of tickets will receive a pre-filled order form. All he or she has to do is click on order and pay for the tickets. This is just one example of how the KNLTB uses data to make the purchase process easier and more fun.
The visitor data collected by the Fed Cup ticket sales may be used in the future. It's known who the visitor are, their age, as well as whether they visit KNLTB events often. Information about future events and ticket sales can be shared directly with this group.
Guus: "By optimising the customer journey, we want to make visitors aware of the event in the run-up to the event, provide information during the event and take good aftercare after the event. CM.com can help us with their digital tools in the field of marketing and communication. Our marketing department ensures that the best actions are taken and the right target group is reached."
Next to public tickets, the KNLTB also controls business tickets for their tennis events. Many partners, sponsors and other relations are invited by the tennis association to a KNLTB event. This sometimes constitutes to up to 50 percent of all the tickets. Guus: "It was still a hassle to get the right tickets to the right sponsor or partner." In turn, they had to distribute those PDF tickets to their relations. Many error-prone actions with a high no-show. With the use of the GuestManager from CM.com this is a thing of the past.
Guus: "With the help of the GuestManager our sponsors and partners can send the tickets themselves easily and digitally to their relations. A sponsor has more control over the issuance of the tickets, because they ask via e-mail first if someone is available before sending the digital ticket. If an attendee is unable to come, the ticket can be sent digitally to someone else. This will hopefully lead to fewer empty seats. A sold out stadium is sometimes quite empty, because business relations do not always come. Supporters really wonder how that's possible."
The Royal Dutch Lawn Tennis Federation (KNLTB) is the umbrella organisation for tennis sports in the Netherlands. After the KNVB, it's the largest sports association in the Netherlands.
It is up to the KNLTB to make tennis in the Netherlands bigger and to introduce more people to tennis. To achieve this, various events are organised by the KNLTB, including the NK Tennis, the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup.
Second sports association in the Netherlands with 570,000 members
Organizes top events such as the Davis Cup, FedCup and all NKs
Use a database for improved customer journey at top events
Using CM.com to exploit the possibilities for mobile marketing
The Guest Manager is used for both assigned and free seat tickets. For the Fed Cup in the Maaspoort in Hertogenbosch (February 2019) the Guest Manager and seat plan was used. Guus: "This allows us to easily determine which customer sits next to which customer. That helps us a lot."
For the KNLTB, the efficiency of the Guest Manager is the most important reason to use it. Human errors are minimised. In addition, it looks very professional and has been completely designed in the KNLTB house style. Another reason for using the GuestManager is the possibility to give the visitor extra information. Besides practical information such as route and parking, we also provide information about the event. Guus: "You want the visitor to get a better feeling for the event, so you want to tell us what stage we are in with the team, what happens if we win or if we lose. You can also attach a commercial campaign to that."
In April 2018, CM.com took over Events IT, the former ticketing provider of the KNLTB. The cooperation between the KNLTB and CM.com will be further expanded in the future. Guus: "The switch to CM.com brings extra expertise and possibilities compared to a ticketing party only." The KNLTB sees additional opportunities for marketing. The ticket sales have already made it easier to respond to visitors. The collected data are now being used during the ticket sales of tennis events. Guus: "As an organisation, we have recently become better equipped for the marketing part of the events. Then it's great that we have a partner like CM.com that can do a lot for us."
Foto's credit: Henk Koster
Select a region to show relevant information. This may change the language.
+27 (21) 180 2560
