Author: Darren Young
The Fans Journey - Part 6: Outside The Venue
The phrase ‘hidden gem’ is usually associated with afternoon TV: the lovely villages by the seaside, those sepia tinged railway journeys, the secret Victorian kitchen garden or even a secluded spot where nature, in its full beauty, can be observed. By now, you’ve probably spotted that this is a flimsy preamble to our latest thoughts […]
Read moreThe Fans Journey - Part 5: Getting To The Game
October 1983. I walked to my first ever football game. Not, I should add, completely by choice. It was a Saturday; my Dad was at work, my Mom didn’t drive and no-one else I knew could take me. There was the bus, of course, but it meant catching two and I had neither the budget […]
Read moreThe Fans Journey - Part 4: Digital Communications
The tweet went viral. A professional football player had read about a long-term supporter of the club’s work injury and how that had prevented him from attending the game when the team won promotion. Having carefully planned the moment, he simply turned up and knocked on the door (accompanied by a club colleague so the […]
Read moreThe Fans Journey - Part 3: Buying a Ticket
So, we’ve seen the game we want to go to. We’ve checked online and there are still some seats available. Now all we need to do is purchase our tickets and we’re on our way, right? Well…kind of. In theory it should be that easy. After all, we live in a world where we can […]
Read moreThe Fans Journey - Part 2: Before Game Day
When we began our work nearly two decades ago, the vast majority of football club websites appeared to have been designed for existing fans, not new ones. The information required to engage, inform, reassure and compel new fans to attend was missing while long term supporters tended to prefer alternative or independent sources of information […]
Read moreThe Fan's Journey - Part 1: Introduction: A model for measuring and improving the fan experience
The Fan Experience is something many sports clubs have considered and have attempted to improve over the last decade. Yet, it is easier said than done. Where do you start? Our recommendation is to map out the fan’s journey on event / game days. The Fan Journey has a sequence of touch points where the service […]
Read moreOur World Cup Runneth Over
On a metro train in central Doha in the middle of the afternoon at any given date in late November 2022, there’s a wonderful sight. Two Argentinian fans are in animated debate with two Moroccan supporters. A family from Wales is posing for a selfie with some Brazilian fans. Just down the carriage some Mexican […]
Read moreTen Ways to Grow Your Club in 2023
Happy New Year to all of our followers. As John and Yoko said, ‘let’s hope it’s a good one’ so, with that reckless aim in mind, here are our Ten Ways to Grow Attendances in 2023. Those of you old enough to remember pre-pandemic times may recall that we used to put out regular missives […]
Read moreSpace: The Play-Off Final Frontier?
Darren Young @fanexperienceco Darren has been a part of The Fan Experience Company since 2017. He has a background in working on customer service excellence projects in the UK and Europe, and an MBA that included studying in the USA . A UEFA Mentor and Fan Experience Company consultant, Darren works with clubs across Europe […]
Read moreFOR SALE: Football Club. Several Careless Owners
You know the old(ish) joke about football club owners? That is the first of many questions I’m going to pose in this blog. It goes like this…what is the easiest and quickest way to become a millionaire? Answer: be a billionaire, and then purchase a football club. Let’s hope this Swiss guy, who’s reportedly been […]
Read moreIt’s a Shame about ROI
Mark Bradley @fanexperienceco Mark works all over Europe helping associations, leagues and clubs to understand and improve fan engagement and their match day experience. The Fan Experience Company was founded in 2005, and they have carried out over 3,000 assessments as well as other fan engagement and matchday experience improvement projects in 19 countries. This […]
Read more“Doing a Sunderland”: Let’s show the World what that really means
Mark Bradley @fanexperienceco Mark works all over Europe helping associations, leagues and clubs to understand and improve fan engagement and their match day experience. The Fan Experience Company was founded in 2005, and they have carried out over 3,000 assessments as well as other fan engagement and matchday experience improvement projects in 19 countries. ‘Doing […]
Read more