Fans’ Expectations Are Charging Ahead
I’ve worked in sport, and predominantly football, for almost ten years now.
When I started – and I distinctly remember a conversation I had in a Wembley lift – I was excited to bring some of the things I was doing in the customer service world, where I was a consultant, into my new role.
‘Careful’ I was cautioned, a little tongue-in-cheek but not enough that I didn’t see the truth in it, ‘they are maybe ten years behind.’
I didn’t believe it at the time. I do now. Things that I took for granted then; such as information, customer feedback, staff development and everything else that drove organisations to first understand, and then deliver, great experiences to their customers were not as evident in sport and definitely not in or at the stadiums.
This wasn’t exactly a surprise. I mean, despite football and clubs always talking about being a business these days, it’s not a business in exactly the same way that some of the organisations I’d been working with are. For one, if they delivered a poor – or even just a good – service, the customer wouldn’t tell them about their dissatisfaction (at the time about 1 in 20 did). They’d just go elsewhere.
Fans don’t do that, obviously. They might not come to as many – or any - games, but they won’t go elsewhere in the sense of taking their money – and allegiance – to a different club. That’s a no-no. Or at least it was – but we’ll come back to that.
Football clubs are lucky in that respect. There is a captive audience that will be far more loyal than Joe Public on the High Street. Fans will accept less, forgive quicker; even defend the indefensible at times. And they look at the club in a completely different way. As my friend and colleague, Mark Bradley, says to neatly sus it up, ‘no one ever asks for their Grandad’s ashes to be scattered at Sainsburys.’
But, as that ten years are almost up, clubs are catching up too - albeit slowly. Things that were missing in 2016 are there now. Ten years ago, few clubs had anything approaching a fan zone that would attract fans to the stadium much earlier. Barely any would have staff outside the stadium dedicated to helping fans. None, or very few, asked fans what they thought. But now most clubs have fan zones (they have become the norm), there are plenty of clubs with match day ambassadors or ‘here to help’ staff looking to support fans at the ground and quite a few even send out post-game surveys or have a QR code at the stadium that fans can use to leave some feedback.
Fans didn’t expect those things before. Now they do.
And in that sense, we’ve come a long way.
Why is this? A number of reasons. For a start, The Fan Experience Company has driven the message consistently over this period and before. It’s not a coincidence that the clubs that deliver the best experiences for fans are seeing much bigger attendance growth than those that don’t. And I mean best. Not just good; great. Good isn’t good enough. Wow, I sound just like I did fifteen years ago.
Also, those messages eventually sink in. That’s what happened in customer service circles too. It just doesn’t change overnight. It can take months and even years, but finally, people begin see the benefits and start to base strategies around them.
Fans have become more important too. Not just as a bigger income stream – although I think everyone sees that now – but also because after Covid’s imposed 18-month ban on fans, and the way the European Super League proposal was shredded, clubs have started to take them much more seriously. They will, after all, be there long after the owners, directors and players have long gone. Unless any of them take the club down with them, that is.
And there is also the growing influence from the United States. Many clubs have [much younger] US owners, or US investors, and there are predictions that all 92 English clubs in the top four tiers might have before the decade is over. It means that the levels of expectation and service are being driven up everywhere, and a rising tide lifts all ships.
But we’re still nowhere near the levels of fan engagement seen in American sports. That might take another ten years. But the landscape is changing quickly.
It’s not hard to see a very near future where the fan is the number one priority. At the moment, they are never more than second on the list. There is always something more important – usually the team, and that’s understandable – that stops clubs going all the way with fans but some research I did at the end of last season showed that league position has far less correlation with attendance growth than you’d expect it to have.
And the future generations of fans – as we’re already seeing in women’s football – might not follow clubs in the same way, preferring to support players more and follow their career path and choice of club. That’s a big issue if it does eventually go that way in the men’s game.
But one of the biggest challenges clubs face in the next year or three is, in my opinion, meeting the fans’ expectations. Because they don’t move slowly.
Fans are getting more. So they’ll want even more. That’s quite natural, but also scary for some. I actually heard about a club that were worried about giving fans something new, in case they liked it and wanted it to be a regular feature at their stadium. Seriously.
Which brings me nicely to Crable. I’ve been asked to join Crable as a fan experience consultant and it’s such an exciting step, not least because they see where this is all heading.
Crable provide wall-mounted charging shelves for inside stadiums, and charging totems for outside spaces like fan zones. In my role, I see a lot of ideas aimed at providing a better fan experience, but very few that are this good. Or this needed.
Think about it. What is the one thing that every fan at the stadium will have? Other than an impending sense of dread about their team’s chances?
It’s a phone. Even my Dad takes his to the match, and he can barely send a text. But other, more tech-savvy fans will use theirs all the time. Videos, photos, selfies, checking the half-time scores, taking the p**s out of their mates, pre-ordering food and drink at half-time, having a bet and so on. We can’t live without them. There’s even a word for it.
Nomophobia. Google it.
Fans, now and in future are only going to use them more. And the clubs will want to engage more using them too. I was recently looking at the massive increases in digital impressions, follower growth and video views in another sport. Put simply, our phones are going to be an ever-growing part of the match day experience going forward.
So why wouldn’t a club want to make sure this essential item can be charged at any time?
This is what I mean about understanding fans and what they need and want. In the rush to be innovative and create shiny new things, we sometimes forget that some of the best ideas are also the most practical, and obvious. Frankly, I’m just amazed we’ve got this far without fans demanding them.
And I’d bet, ten years from now, not a single club or stadium will be without them.
Click here to find out more about Crable
