OK, I’m going to say it out loud – there is nothing less glamorous than the topic of ticket scanning. Of course, it is important – it impacts game day experience, security, health and safety and revenue protection. Without it, the event will simply not take place (at least on time). Ticket scanning is like the engine room of an ocean liner – it's hot, messy, noisy, and laborious, but without it, the good ship “sports” would not happen.
But assuming it works (which of course, is part of what Fortress ensures), why should the Team President, CRO, or even ownership care less about it? The answer is identity. Knowing who is coming into your venue, and when they are coming into the venue, is the gateway to rich customer data, interactions and ultimately increased brand valuation.
Your fans interact with your brand across a whole range of different systems – inside the stadium and beyond. But there is only one point where you can literally mandate identity – and that is at the ticket scan. For the last 10 years (or so) the rise of the digital ticket has tokenised this customer identity (into different form factors – RFID, Mobile QR, NFC, Facial, Palm). Today, we know who is buying a ticket, which device the ticket is on, whom they share and transfer tickets to and when that ticket is used (read - when that identity token is scanned).
The problem today (and this is where the President and CRO come in) is that this identity tends to reside in the ticketing system and is often reported historically (if at all). This is where ticketing scanning comes into play – at least as regards Fortress. Part of our mission is to surface the identity of the customer at the point of the scan. The “point of access” is thus the starting line for a set of personalised experiences and engagements driven by the identity of the fan.
Personalised notifications on entry
Reward-driven incentives, upgrades, offers – surprise and delight
Personalised services – entry into secondary locations – suites, lounges, 2nd screen content
Targeted offerings from concessions and retail – based on the identity and profile of the fan.
Joined up data marketing and communications
Profile-driven sponsor engagements
Upsell / cross-sell opportunities.
All of this is triggered by the fact that when we scan a ticket, we are not just verifying the validity of that ticket but surfacing in real time the identity of the person holding the ticket. This identity when combined with hundreds of other data points becomes your ticket (excuse the pun) to rich engagement and value creation.
So, the next time your operations team is talking about ticket scanning – join the meeting.