Now, I’m not saying every lost fan can be won back, but by creating a fan engagement strategy, developing a strong identity and purpose, becoming obsessive about feedback and dialogue, continuously improving the match day experience and making everyone who works for the club feel so valued they see the match day as a business development opportunity, you can very quickly demonstrate your ROI if, that is, you need a ROI to justify doing any of this.

But we firmly believe that it isn’t.  Progressive customer-driven businesses outside of sport do not only invest in improving experiences when they know exactly how much money that will bring them. They do it (1) because it’s the right thing to do and (2) because they know it’s about emotional engagement and advocacy.  Their customers have such great stories to tell about them, that others quickly come on board or, in the case of Peloton, get on board and quickly fall off.  It’s all about recommendation.  That’s why the majority use Net Promoter. ‘Based on your most recent experiences with us, how strongly will you recommend us to friends and family?’

Using respondents’ data allows those businesses to predict future growth because it’s known that those giving the highest ratings will (1) not only be walking advertisements for them but that (2) this customer’s own loyalty will be strengthened and extended.

So how many clubs know which of their supporters are advocates and which are detractors? Very few.  Ask what percentage of non-elite clubs (i.e., those in most need of match day revenue) care about fans’ match day experiences.  Who reaches out to fans via web links, email surveys or – in the case of first-time fans – gets a short feedback questionnaire to them within a couple of hours of the game, when their memory is still fresh?

In our experience (and we’ve done over 3,000 individual fan experience assessment visits since 2006) it’s less than 5%.  Less than 5%: a damning indictment of an industry that somehow needs an unreliable concept to justify investment.

What about lifetime value? Wouldn’t that make more sense? Supermarkets base their calculations on the supposed fact that most people live for six years in one location before moving house.  If they regularly use your supermarket, they may spend up to £300 a month or more. That equates to a lifetime value over those six years of over £21,000 which, if they were to remain loyal to that brand, could be in excess of £100,000 or more.  Without their feedback, their service providers will never understand if this rich seam of revenue is at risk.

How would this work in football? Imagine a family getting a fantastic first-time experience. A leaflet drop draws their attention to a club with much more than a game going on just a short distance away. The website encourages them to register their first-time status. A club director reaches out to them and greets them on the day. They get a magic moment – perhaps a chance to sit together in the dugout during the pre-match warm up. They’re given a hat and a scarf each.  A couple of hours after getting home an email pops up asking them three short questions (rate us out of ten, say why and tell us what we can do to improve your experience further).  They buy tickets for another game. They may even become season ticket holders. They’re less reliant on the team’s performance.

If that family only attends 5 games, you could easily be looking at £500-600 plus in that season, once you factor in secondary spend, replica shirts, membership and perhaps a hospitality experience for that special occasion. Convert 100 new families into regulars and you’re looking at £50-60,000 in extra revenue in just one season (enough to employ someone to create and deliver a long-term fan engagement strategy, funnily enough).

This is an open goal of Ronnie Rosenthal proportions. When 95% of clubs don’t even ask fans what they think of their experiences, there’s really little point asking about ROI.