Houston Ballet
TRG Interactive Services
Then and Now
The Houston Ballet’s marketing program did not regularly approach first-time single ticket buyers (STBs) for additional purchases. In the 2004-2005 season Target Resource Group (TRG) was engaged to develop and test a strategy to target this group of patrons and help the Ballet realize incremental revenues.
TRG developed an STB retention program and evaluated its effect on Houston Ballet’s revenue stream, both short term to realize incremental revenue (i.e., revenue not already budgeted), and long term to convert multi-STBs into subscribers. Analysis of purchasing behavior at the Ballet showed that 83% of patrons who responded to 2005-06 season subscription offers had been multi-STBs in the previous season.
Because this STB retention program had a significant effect on the Houston Ballet’s bottom line, the organization now routinely sends Thank-You-plus-Ticket-Offers to first time STBs (i.e., new-to-file patrons who had no previous purchasing history) following their attendance of a performance.
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Objectives/TRG Counsel
Thank first-time Ballet customers for attending The Nutcracker and offer a “reward” for doing so.
TRG created a direct mail piece that led with a thank you to patrons for attending The Nutcracker. One week later, Houston Ballet sent a follow-up Thank-You-plus-Ticket-Offer to patrons whose email addresses were available.
Motivate Nutcracker STBs to purchase additional tickets to the next performance with a compelling ticket offer.
50% off tickets to one or both upcoming performances
a choice between a story ballet, Romeo and Juliet and an evening of mixed repertoire, Rock, Roll & Tutus
Create compelling communications to make the offer; provide an easy response mechanism; track responses.
TRG recommended direct mail and email versions of the offer, both of which included a striking visual from The Nutcracker.
TRG assisted with content for the postcard and email message, which included an uncomplicated response mechanism and a means of tracking the responses: patrons simply called the box office and identified themselves with a code word.
Test the effectiveness and related costs-of-sale of the two types of communication. If email addresses were available, customers received the offer through both the 4-color postcard and the follow-up email. Costs and responses were tracked.
The Numbers
11,372 postcards were mailed to first-time Nutcracker STBs at a total cost of $12,200 (creative, printing, postage). The 3% response rate yielded $18,678 in incremental revenues.
One week later, 3,775 email messages were sent to support the initial offer at a total cost of $675 (fee for providing a clean, accurate, new-to-file target list, launching of campaign, and per message-sent cost).
Though three times as many postcards as email messages were sent, the response rate rose from 3% to 4.5% for customers who received both types of communication; 50% of total incremental revenues were realized from the 3,775 purchasers who received both communications.
| Nutcracker 1st-time STBs | Communications sent | Response rate | Total cost ($) | Incremental revenue ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct mail postcard only |
11,372 | 3.0% | $12,177 | $18,678 |
| Direct mail postcard and email message |
3,775 | 4.5% | $675 | $19,000 |
| Total | $12,852 | $37,678 |
Additional Key Results
Multiple messages to patrons, ideally in different mediums, yielded greater revenues per communication.
50% of responders purchased both performances offered in the Thank-You communication.
Email analysis:
The fewer times customers opened the message offer, the stronger the purchase behavior. For example, the 75 responders who purchased after one opening of the message had a positive response rate of 7.31% vs. a rate of 5.56% for responders who viewed the message 4 times before buying.
A visually compelling email message will “grab the attention” of a customer and likely result in more immediate purchase behavior.
A box office and sales staff committed to routinely asking callers for email addresses is a key ingredient in a successful emailing strategy.
Next
All divisions of TRG (Consulting Services, Database Services, and Interactive Services) are continuing their relationship with Houston Ballet.
Learn More
For additional information, or to speak to a member of the TRG team, please call (719) 314-5830.
