According to our report, 69% of sports organisations are not measuring the cost-per-acquisition of each new data record and 81% have no way of knowing what the lifetime value is of each customer.
In summary, this means that the vast majority of sports organisations have no idea whether it is costing more to acquire customers than those customers are actually spending with them. This is according to the recent PTI Sports Leadership Benchmark report which you can download from www.ptidigitalgroup.com.
In recent years it has become a mantra that we all need to be “engaging” fans more but it appears to be unclear for many as to what end. In our view “engagement” should always have the acquisition of data (whether new customer data or learning more about existing customers) at its core.
However the data from our report suggests that sports organisations are not measuring key metrics that would determine whether or not all that “engaging” is driving value or even perhaps costing organisations money. There is a general lack of control over both marketing spend and revenue generation.
We often see organisations measuring the wrong things – very often social media metrics – that are interesting anecdotally and are easy to measure but which don’t genuinely move the dial as regards key business drivers. These metrics can often give a sense of comfort and create the illusion that everything is improving but at a time when the industry is awash with talk of D2C revenues, we tend to find there is a disconnect between these metrics and those that actually make a difference.
In keeping with our previous thoughts around technology driving operational efficiencies, so too should data be used to measure marketing efficiencies. Having clarity over who your customers are and what their propensity is to spend is critical.
Our experience – as outlined in the report – is that there are very few sports organisations focussed on – and with the freedom to deliver – capital growth i.e. investing in developing brand equity and customer relationships. For the vast majority “marketing” is just a proxy for helping to sell: short-term actions for short-term objectives. There so much potential to improve both metrics, but not without proper measurement.
