Birmingham City Football Club, who will soon rejoin the Premier
League, has expanded its e-marketing and enhanced relationship
marketing strategies by integrating email management technology
with their existing CRM system.
Performed with the help of IT the help of
IT supplier Communicator
Corp who already manages its email communication, the football
club believes that it now has an online platform that represents
the voice of the club which delivers greater online accessibility
and engagement with their fans.
The combined systems communicate targeted messages and
newsletters to fans and then guide them to the club’s online
portals for information, offers, merchandise and ticket sales.
Email communications use rich content such as videos and interviews
embedded into the emails enabling users to click through and visit
the BCFC website, the Birmingham
City FC site. This new approach has seen click through rates rise
by a factor of 4.
Amongst the wide range of email content are, updates from
managers and players, opinion pieces and exclusive video footage.
The club prides itself on fan interaction and so provides frequent
fan surveys such as goal or player of the month, polls to decide
the opening music to matches and a chance to input on club
direction. Fans are also thanked, by email, for attending
particular games; with the added benefit of exclusive post match
content. This two way communication allows the club to build strong
individual relationships with fans.
For the 2009/2100 season, new platform will provide the club
with considerable
behavioural data on different types of fans allowing emails to
be segmented, modelled and tailored to the differing needs of each
group. By this means, emails will be specifically targeted to
season ticket holders, away supporters or corporate sponsors for
example. Full preference management empowers fans to control and
define the online relationship they have with the club including
what kind of messages they wish to receive and how often they
receive them.
Karen Brady, Managing Director of Birmingham City Football Club
believes that the combined email strategy is a real result for the
fans noting, “Communicating with the fans is always at the
forefront of our minds and over the last season we are doing this
more effectively and efficiently.”