RAC Arena discovers the ticket to customer engagement

Reaching more of their customers that attend numerous live events, RAC Arena leverages the benefits of SMS marketing. With a venue capacity of over 15,000 and frequent events, SMS is an important marketing communications channel with open rates of up to 98%.

Imagine a place buzzing with a great atmosphere where live music, theatre, sports and dining all coexist. RAC Arena is Perth’s home of entertainment, hosting various events since 2012. It has attracted the world’s greatest entertainers including: The Rolling Stones, Serena Williams, Oprah and Jerry Seinfeld. As one of Australia’s leading live entertainment venues, the RAC Arena team also prides themselves on their commitment to customer satisfaction and operational excellence. One step to achieving this involves communicating effectively with patrons before they arrive at the venue.

The Problem

The event ticketing challenge

Entertainment venues need to cooperate with promoters to sell tickets and they also need to manage the operational logistics of the event. RAC Arena’s marketing communications falls into two categories – event ticket promotions and pre-event information, including links to important entry conditions.

“Events require a high level of pre-event communication. We need to work with organisers to sell as many tickets as possible. As we host various events, we have to consider the number of times we contact our database with promotional emails. SMS is part of the multi-channel marketing communication strategy and it boosts customer reach. The 100% deliverability to carriers, high open rate, and easy-to-use SMS interface, makes SMS a high value and simple tool.” says Marika Bailey, Marketing Manager.

Venues with specific conditions of entry, can benefit from effective customer communication prior to the event day to inform ticket holders of the entry requirements. This can include restrictions on items permitted in the venue, bag inspections and ticket scanning — and importantly the show needs to start on time. It can be a high pressure environment and it makes it easier for operational teams and a smoother day for all, when the crowd knows what to expect beforehand with SMS alerts.

Communicating with all ticket holders via email for events can also be challenging, as there is only one email linked to each ticket transaction. Often one transaction consists of multiple tickets for friends and family. The ticket holder may not open the emails or forward the event information to their friends. So, RAC Arena on average may only reach approximately 50-70% of their attending audience via email. 

Why SMS?

RAC Arena partnered with Burst SMS, adding SMS to their event communication strategy. There are many benefits to SMS:

• SMS has a higher open rate of up to 98%.

• 100% SMS delivery to carrier and low opt-out rate.

• It can be used in conjunction with email campaigns to reach more customers and promote future events.

• The industry can be highly reactive behind the scenes, so delivering fast customer communications is imperative.

"SMS works well with email as it has a higher open rate. Anything can happen on an event day too, so it’s also a great broadcast tool to have on hand because it’s so much quicker to prepare and send."

Marika Bailey - Marketing Manager

The Result

A snapshot of some key results from SMS can be viewed in previous concerts at the venue. The KISS concert in September demonstrated SMS as an effective medium for pre-event information with 96.9% open rates, high click through rate for FAQ’s 29.8% and only 0.2% opt outs. When you need to reach your customers quickly and efficiently SMS can be the right channel for your business.