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Find out how changing from an outdated ticketing system to a modern and flexible back-office enabled the D! Club to implement a marketing strategy to build customer loyalty.
D! Club
The D! Club or simply D! in Lausanne opened its doors in 1996 and over the years has become a reference for clubbing in Switzerland and elsewhere. Located in a historical and cultural building, the D! Club offers DJ nights, comedy shows and concerts. The club welcomes about 150'000 visitors per year during 250 different events.
The D! Club faces the same challenges as any other nightclub or recurring event organiser: building customer loyalty to ensure that the club is at its full capacity every night.
To overcome this challenge, D! Club has chosen to opt for a more flexible ticketing system that allows it to
- Be more autonomous and independent in the management of its ticketing and operations
- Implement a targeted and ethical marketing strategy
The D! Club convinced by flexible ticketing
In 2019, the club was working with outdated online ticketing systems over which it had no control. It was the provider itself that set up the ticketing and access to sales and customer data was restricted. Their marketing strategy was therefore mainly word-of-mouth.
With Smeetz, they discovered a system that gave them more flexibility, autonomy and reactivity thanks to a back-office that was 100% accessible by the organiser. It allowed them to explore further ways of managing and promoting their business and to focus on what really matters.
"With Smeetz, we have autonomous access to the back office, which allows us to be more flexible and responsive when launching new offers. For example, we have an event or an artist confirmed and within 5 minutes it is online, available for sale." Thierry Collado, Artistic Director of the D! Club.
How did the D! Club integrate a targeted and ethical marketing strategy?
The D! Club's main goal is to maximise its number of visitors and build customer loyalty. We will follow the 4-steps of the D! Club customer buying journey to see how the change in ticketing helped them achieve this.
1. Attract more by amplifying word of mouth via social networks
The D!'s marketing strategy was based primarily on word of mouth to attract new customers. It attracted clubbers from all over Switzerland and beyond. The digital era and the integration with Smeetz allowed it to go even further and implement a multi-channel digital strategy including social networks, promoters or influencers as they are called nowadays, newsletters etc. and based on customer data collected in the CRM (Customer Relationship Manager).
"One of the great added values of Smeetz is its marketing aspect and the synergies with the different communication channels such as CRM, social networks and promoters." Thierry Collado, Artistic Director of the D! Club.
This strategy has enabled the D! Club to increase its turnover by around 3%.
2. Create excitement with the "early bird" pricing strategy
The power of pricing strategies is often underestimated by event organisers and nightclubs. However, simple strategies such as "early bird" can bring many benefits to these venues.
- Cash advance guaranteed
- Possibility to set up targeted communication
- Ensuring a high rate of participation
- Better forecast resources
What is the early bird strategy?
The "early bird" or pre-sales strategy consists of offering lower prices at the launch of an event. The closer to the event and the more sales there are, the higher the prices. This type of strategy creates a sense of urgency among consumers that pushes them to buy their tickets in advance. Indeed, visitors to the D! Club book their tickets about 2.5 days earlier when an "early bird" promotion is in place.
"This creates a buzz around the event, which accelerates sales. It creates a snowball effect that allows us to anticipate the staff, the consumption of drinks, etc. But it wouldn't work that well without a cross-selling strategy!" Thierry Collado, Artistic Director of the D! Club.
Interested in pricing strategy for event and leisure activities organisers? Feel free to have a look at our blog How to master your event strategy and avoid common mistakes to learn the basics of pricing.
3. Maximise conversions through targeted promotional offers
In order to convert in a digital strategy, the emphasis is on customer data and personalisation of the experience. By selling tickets via the Smeetz solution, the D! Club has become the owner of its data. The statistics available in its organiser account show what the current trends and preferences are at both the individual and group level.
"In addition, the data collected via the platform belongs to us and is directly available to you to implement ethical and targeted marketing strategies." Thierry Collado, Artistic Director of the D! Club.
Based on its data, the club then implemented targeted promotional offers and saw a 4.25% increase in its conversion rate.
"If we want to boost sales for an evening or launch a last minute offer, we can launch a campaign with a promotional code in just a few clicks." Thierry Collado, Art Director of the D! Club.
4. Strengthen member loyalty with digital subscriptions
The D! Club offers membership cards and welcomes more than 500 members each year, a relatively classic visitor loyalty strategy. Together with Smeetz, they took the opportunity to switch to digital membership cards which offer the following benefits
- A reduction in the administrative burden
- The ability to address changing visitor habits with mobile first
- Personalisation of the experience by collecting data even when purchasing memberships
- An increase in membership sales of up to 50%
Want to know more about the D! Club success story?
Contact us at sales@smeetz.com to find out how we help leisure and cultural attractions take their business to the next level by optimising their sales with a unified commerce solution.
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