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Volume Two
Issue Six
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Welcome to our June issue featuring Dan McMahon, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Goodspeed and our Arts Marketer of the Month. Read on to find out how Dan has been orchestrating a significant shift in the way Goodspeed coordinates its renewal campaigns. He's been getting some really great results...
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Featured Arts Marketer: Dan McMahon
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Dan McMahon is in his third season with Goodspeed Musicals as Director of Marketing and Public Relations. With an MBA in Marketing, experience in consumer product brand management, and as the previous director of marketing for the Auditorium Theatre and The New World Music Theatre in Chicago, Dan is highly qualified in his role with the "home of American musical theater."
In the Q & A that follows, Dan describes Goodspeed's Connecticut theaters, its audience and how e-mail has been helping both.
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Q & A with Dan McMahon
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TELL US A BIT ABOUT GOODSPEED MUSICALS
Goodspeed Musicals is dedicated to revisiting and restoring older musicals for current audiences as well as developing new musicals. Known nationally as the home of American musical theater and as the only regional theater to receive two Tony Awards, we produce three shows per year at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT and three new musicals each year at The Norma Terris Theatre in neighboring Chester, CT. Both are located in small towns in a very scenic part of the Connecticut countryside that is a popular destination within Connecticut and throughout the Northeast.
WHO MAKES UP THE AUDIENCE YOU MARKET TO? WHAT CHALLENGES PRESENT THEMSELVES AS A RESULT?
We have an extremely loyal subscription audience of over 16,000 subscribers at the Opera House and 3,000 at The Norma Terris. Subscription represents approximately 45% of our audience with groups and single tickets filling in the rest. Our core audience is older, well educated and affluent. The single most important challenge is to bring in a new, younger audience. Another is to draw single ticket audiences during the "shoulder seasons" of Spring and late Fall when there are less tourists in the area. One additional challenge is that we exist in a competitive market with several, large presenting houses and strong regional theaters nearby as well as multiple large scale casinos in the area. Internet marketing is a major component in addressing each of these challenges.
TWO YEARS AGO YOU INTRODUCED YOUR SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL CAMPAIGN. HOW DID YOU MAKE USE OF THE NEW TOOL AND WHAT RESULTS DID YOU SEE?
In 2002 a new approach was taken in an effort to streamline the process of renewing our combined member/subscribers. A key ingredient of the new process was to test the Internet for renewal. Benefits of doing so are obvious: lower printing and mailing cost in addition to faster response. At risk was potentially losing members/subscribers and the fact that our audience skews older and we were not sure of their Internet habits.
First, we created our list and a stand-alone, secure website for renewal. The site was interactive and personalized. Patron information as well as subscription details were included on the site.
Patrons logged in with their password, reviewed their information, chose their new donor level (pop-up boxes encouraged them to increase their gift from the previous year), renewed their subscription (with space for requesting seat changes, etc.), reviewed their renewal information, and payment method. Payment by credit card was encouraged. Once renewed, an automatic e-mail was sent to confirm receipt of their renewal order.
The marketing process included customized e-mails with a link to the renewal site and copy on all written materials encouraging online renewal. Patrons without an e-mail address were renewed through the mail. We viewed daily reports through our PatronMail account to track usage which allowed us to time reminder e-mails and "final notice" e-mails. After the final reminder, our telemarketing department called those whom had not responded. We also surveyed each patron about their awareness of the online renewal program, why they did not use it, and their communication preferences for the future.
Our analysis of the results rates this test as an unqualified success. 47% of our member/subscribers in the test group renewed online. Using standard renewal methods our final renewal rate will exceed 85%, however, we were able to renew almost half of the test group with relatively little effort and very little cost.
In addition, the positive comments greatly outweighed the negative comments. Most patrons applauded our using the Internet for renewal and for combining our renewal of membership and subscription at the same time. One final benefit was to wrap up the renewal process for the test group in eight weeks as opposed to 16 weeks for our traditional campaign.
WHAT CHANGES DID YOU APPLY TO THIS YEAR'S CAMPAIGN? WERE THE RESULTS SIGNIFICANT?
Learning from our efforts last year, we made some adjustments to our online renewal program this year. First, we mailed an advance postcard to our member/subscribers to watch their e-mail boxes for their online renewal kit. We also highlighted the benefits, convenience and security of renewing online. In all direct mail pieces we strengthened copy about online renewal and printed the member/subscriber's password when possible. We revised the renewal site based on last year's comments to make it easier to use and we simplified the password structure.
The results were better than expected. Last year, with our test group, we renewed 800 subscriber/members with a revenue of $141,000. This year, we renewed over 1600 member/subscribers with a revenue of $331,000.
The number of member/subscribers who renewed online more than doubled (+231% vs. 2003) and there were very few phone calls to the box office with patron problems. The response to our initial e-mail was immediate -- it seems that sending an advance postcard was helpful in building anticipation. The largest problem from the previous year was that people did not complete the renewal process online yet thought they were renewed. You can imagine the box office problems when they called to say they had renewed but did not receive tickets. This year, we clarified each step of the process and had virtually no problems with patrons thinking they had renewed without completing the process. Overall, we had a record renewal year 90+% of our member/subscribers renewed this year.
HOW ELSE ARE YOU USING E-MAIL? HAVE YOU HAD SUCCESSES IN OTHER AREAS?
We use e-mail to notify our members and ticket buyers of each show's opening, special events and theater news. Links are included in e-mails to promote new content on our website such as video interviews with a show's director. We also send an automatic reminder e-mail on Mondays to subscribers who have tickets for that week. The reminder e-mails enable us to build goodwill as well as provide any last minute traffic or event information.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR USING E-MAIL IN THE FUTURE? DO YOU SEE THE INTERACTION BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR AUDIENCE (VIA THE NET!) CHANGING SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS?
I see the interaction between us and our audience growing dramatically over the next few years. As we gain e-mail addresses and information about our patrons we will continue to try to segment our audience and provide personalized information. We continually try to build our website as a resource and useful tool for our audience and connect them with it through e-mails we send. Future plans call for a personalized website where we can deliver specific information to different audience segments as well as provide "exclusive" information to members using password protected pages on our site. Digital ticketing and its many uses and benefits is a driving force in searching for new ticketing software. The internet is now and will grow as a key tool in developing and retaining audiences.
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Visit Goodspeed's Web Site
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The National Arts Marketing Conference is right around the corner! -- have you reserved your hotel room yet?
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Chicago will be really hopping October 2nd - 5th and our host hotel, the magnificent Hilton Chicago, is filling up! Don't miss the opportunity to take advantage of the low conference discount rate of $155 single/double occupancy NOW! We've just learned that when our room block fills, those same rooms will cost $375 and they will be scarce even at that price. With several other conventions in town, alternate housing will also be in short supply and may be expensive. So call 1-800 HILTONS to secure the low conference rate. You must mention either the Arts & Business Council or the National Arts Marketing Conference to get our rate. If you're sharing a room, be sure to ask for one with two bathrooms - a rare luxury in any city!
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Click here to register online for the conference
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Learn more about PatronMail -- Try Our 15 Minute Demonstration
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If you're thinking about joining the over 200 arts clients that use PatronMail -- give us 15 minutes and we'll allow you to "test-drive" a PatonMail account. During the demonstration, we'll talk about how the regulations of the anti-spam law are built into PatronMail.
The demonstration can be scheduled at your convenience.
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Click here to request a demonstration
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If you have interesting and creative initiatives that you would like to have featured or know of an arts marketer that you would like to recommend for one of our upcoming editions, please contact info@patrontechnology.com.
Please watch for the next edition of our Arts Marketer of the Month, coming July 14, 2004.
Note: The CAN-SPAM act mandates that all commercial e-mail contains a physical mailing address, and ours is: 850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 704, New York, NY 10019
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