Airship Partnership: Product Enhancement of Push Notifications & Messaging

Contributed by Lindsay St. Lawrence 

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We are continuously investing in ways to enable clients to better engage with their fans, consumers, and users via our solution, moving to a “customer engagement platform.”

 

We’ve partnered with best-in-class market solution, Airship, for enterprise delivery of push notifications powered by the advanced Audience Segmentation from Venuetize. Audiences are synced between systems in real-time to deliver the right message, at the right time. What about users not opted-in for push notifications? We’ve implemented a message center and in-app messaging to continue to deliver messaging in a non-obtrusive way to ensure all users are delivered communications.

 

Valuable data, such as how users interact with the product, is orchestrated between Venuetize and Airship so we can better communicate, benefit and reward, and provide new experiences in a more personalized way.

 

Learn more about Airship.

Why a Destination-Themed App is the Future

Contributed by Myles Romm

Are you ready for some football? Believe it or not, the NFL season is kicking off tonight at the annual Hall of Fame Game in Canton, OH between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The start of the NFL season alone is reason to celebrate, but this year’s game is especially exciting for Venuetize and our partners at the Hall of Fame Village (HOFV). Last month, Venuetize in partnership with HOFV powered by Johnson Controls, deployed a destination-themed application to expand beyond traditional sports venues and provide guests a mobile-first experience to a year-round destination. Mobile technology that provides more convenient and safer options has become a requirement in a guest’s visit rather than a pleasant surprise; our work with the HOFV tracks along a similar path.  

The HOF Village experience is enhanced by the various concerts and other hospitality and entertainment opportunities available on site. As such, the HOF Village needed a mobile solution that could blanket the entirety of the campus and each individual experience that is offered. Venuetize’s mobile technology essentially functions as the concierge of the HOFV, aiding guests in where to go, how to get there, and what is available. This transformation of facility navigation puts compasses and maps to shame. More importantly, our partnership with HOFV reflects the beginning of a technological revolution that relies on an accessible mobile-first experience for any destination.  

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The bedrock of the Venuetize-HOFV partnership is the willingness to innovate and invest in technology that is leading edge. Phase one of the app launch offers relevant content and news, the ability to book at campus attractions, as well as make reservations for places to stay. In the second phase of the HOFV app, the addition of augmented reality (AR) allows for the HOFV to provide guests with immersive and creative experiences. Once again, the HOFV has tasked Venuetize to move away from a passive guest experience and into one that is interactive, accessible, and fun. This idea is also apparent in the upcoming “Hall of Fantasy League”, a community backed national fantasy league.  

Can’t make it to tonight’s game or upcoming HOF Induction Ceremonies? Well, there are plenty of other opportunities to visit the Village this summer. Later this month is the GEICO ESPN High School Kickoff game between the world-renowned IMG Academy, based in Bradenton, Florida, and Bishop Sycamore High School, a local high school in the northeast suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. And if you are a country music fan you won’t want to miss the Highway 77 Music Festival on Sept 12 featuring Dan + Shay, Dustin Lynch and others. 

Download the app today and don’t miss out on the excitement! 

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Keeping Fans Connected as Venues Reopen

Contributed by Venuetize in collaboration with Sports Innovation Lab

Now that fans are making their way back into venues, stadium operators need to ensure that fans feel safe and regain their sense of trust. Innovative technology partnerships are helping venues implement solutions that directly solve these most recent industry challenges that have surfaced as a result of the pandemic.

The graph below demonstrates average capacities from seven states across the U.S.

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Given the various capacity numbers, stadiums have been developing protocols for ingress, egress, mobile payments and ordering, and mobile ticketing. To ensure these protocols are appropriately deployed and made available to fans, venue operators need to have a strong connectivity infrastructure in place. With the proper infrastructure in place, venue operators can implement mobile-first experiences that will help fans navigate the venue safely - before, during, and after the game. In preparation for the return of fans, many venue operators have had to rush to fit years of technology innovation and planning into a single year’s time. Thankfully, most states have had a staggered approach as it relates to fan capacity allowed, granting teams a solid testing period for rolling out these new protocols and contactless-focused technology solutions. 

The graphs below show some of the requirements and specifications that stadiums in the U.S. are implementing.

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The pandemic has clearly accelerated the fan journey becoming a predominantly mobile-first experience. The data is showing that people want to go to live events again and that there is pent up demand, but they also want to feel safe. In order to instill consumer safety and confidence, sports franchises and venue operators have had to invest significant resources into technology and infrastructure upgrades. While these upgrades have been directly focused on safely bringing fans back to venues in the near term, there should be plenty of longer-term benefits that are a byproduct of these most recent investments.

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The data tells us that consumer expectations for visiting venues has shifted during the pandemic. By offering services that cater to these new self-service and frictionless expectations, venue operators can benefit significantly. The initial results from fans being back to venues are showing more transactions per fan, higher per caps, and more efficiency related to ingress and egress times. While it can be difficult to find silver linings from this past year, the new technology solutions being deployed in 2021 across sports and entertainment venues should pay dividends for many years to come.

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In-Vehicle Delivery

Contributed by Ryan McClellan, Mobile Ordering Product Owner

In-Vehicle Delivery

 

With the rise of concerts and events taking place with guests in their vehicles, Venuetize has launched a brand new solution to enhance the guest experience.

  • Benefits and features:
  • Easy ordering through your mobile app integrated to your POS
  • Can be added to existing mobile application, but is not required for deployment
  • Menu and ordering can be accessed via web URL or QR scan allowing you to promote food and beverage ordering
  • Order flow allows user to enter vehicle location and information
  • Venuetize Mobile Wallet allows users to store payment methods for easy order/re-order

This product has been designed for quick deployment. If you’d like to learn more, contact the team to learn how you can use this solution to drive more revenue for your upcoming events.


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Introducing the Touchless Fan Journey

Touchless Fan Journey

 

For many years, Venuetize has provided solutions that maintain ease and convenience for fans attending live events at a venue. In a post-COVID world, fans are going to demand a completely reinvented venue experience that reduces, if not eliminates, physical contact. That’s where the Touchless Fan Journey comes into play...

Dan is a huge fan and season ticket member (“STM”) of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He loads his Chase-issued VISA card to the mobile wallet in the AMALIE Arena app and automatically receives a digital $25 Arena Cash card to spend anywhere in his team’s home venue. Before a game, he can buy game tickets and pay for parking with the app’s mobile wallet. Once he arrives at the arena, he can buy concessions with a single scan of his mobile wallet at a point of sale terminal, which will also apply his 35% STM food and beverage discount. He can order a team jersey through the app, which will automatically apply his 25% STM merchandise discount and pick it up at his convenience from a locker in the concourse without having to wait in a long line at the team store. Even if he forgets his mobile phone at home, he can still buy things at the arena with “Pay with Face”, which leverages facial recognition censors at the concession stands.

In a series of seamless, convenient, and contactless transactions — without ever exchanging cash, presenting a card, or making physical contact with another person — Dan has interacted with a ticketing system, parking system, two point of sale systems, a membership system, the team, a concessionaire, a retail merchant, and a parking vendor, both in and out of the arena.

Our integrated eCommerce platform breaks down the silos between devices, interfaces, back-end operating systems, and merchants to create an easy, personalized, and seamless payments experience for both consumers and operators.

Let’s walk through the Touchless Fan Journey and look at each stage of a visitor’s experience and how venues must adapt and evolve their operations in order for fans to return.

  1. PLAN
    Current Fan Experience: Fans browse websites, social sites, or use team and venue mobile apps to see upcoming events and search for tickets.
    Opportunity:
    Digital communication channels offer a direct path to fans that allow fans to stay current on team-produced content, plan for their visit, and decide on transportation to the venue. Meanwhile, teams and venues can keep fans informed of COVID-related changes being made to venue operations, shifting event schedules, and updates on steps being taken to address health and safety concerns.
  2. COMMIT
    Current Fan Experience: Fans either purchase tickets through ticket sites, in the secondary market, or pay with cash at the box office.
    Opportunity:
    Push fans to purchase tickets and pre-pay for parking using the mobile wallet in the team or venue app. Eliminate cash payments and physical credit/debit card transactions for tickets and parking by requiring mobile or web payments in advance of an event.
  3. ENTER
    Current Fan Experience: Most venues employ gate attendants who use handheld scanners to scan physical tickets or mobile barcodes for access control. For fans who have not purchased their tickets or parking passes in advance, they interact with a gate attendant to pay with cash or physical credit/debit cards.
    Opportunity:
    Reduce fan-facing gate attendants and expedite entry by eliminating handheld scanners and installing freestanding turnstiles and biometrics sensors for facial recognition-based access control.
  4. ORDER (F&B)
    Current Fan Experience: Most fans walk up to a concessions stand and interact with concessions staff to place an order, often paying with cash or a physical credit/debit card. Lines are long, transaction times are inefficient, and there are multiple physical touch points throughout the process.
    Opportunity:
    Reduce fan-facing concessions staff by enabling self-service, touchless options for fans to order and pay. Push pre-paid mobile ordering of food and beverage items for express pickup, and increase counter space for pick-up only stations. Enable fans to favorite items and past orders. Prompt repeat orders, and enable one-swipe pay in-app to expedite transaction speeds and increase order frequency.
  5. BUY (MERCH)
    Current Fan Experience: Long lines in crowded team stores, involving physical exchange of merchandise items, and payments involving cash or a physical credit/debit card.
    Opportunity: Reduce fan-facing merchandise staff by enabling self-service, touchless options for fans to order and pay. Go 100% cashless by deploying cash-to-card kiosks. Install scanners at POS terminals and kiosks for mobile wallet payments. Enable NFC terminals for tap to pay. Introduce biometrics scanners for facial recognition-based payments at POS and kiosks. Push pre-paid mobile ordering of merchandise for express pickup or locker retrieval.
  6. PLAY
    Current Fan Experience: Limited options for interactive games.
    Opportunity: Offer interactive games through the mobile app to increase fan engagement. Incentive play through action-based rewards, offers, and promotions that can be redeemed through the mobile app while also grooming future behavior for sports betting.
  7. RE-ORDER
    We’re using re-order to show another way to pay for concessions.
    Current Fan Experience: No matter how many times fans order concessions, subsequent visits are not any faster or more personalized.
    Opportunity: Go 100% cashless by deploying cash-to-card kiosks. Install scanners at POS terminals and kiosks for mobile wallet payments. Enable NFC terminals for tap to pay. Introduce biometrics scanners for facial recognition-based payments at POS and kiosks. Fans’ STM discounts get applied and their default method of payment is charged automatically through the mobile wallet, without them ever having to use their phone.
  8. EARN
    Current Fan Experience: Some fans may participate in loyalty programs with restrictive point-based economies or confusing earn and redemption policies, resulting in limited results for teams and questionable value for fans.
    Opportunity: User action-based rewards promote desired fan behavior while personalizing relevant offers and benefits. Behavioral data can then be used for targeted marketing and upselling.

Teams and venues must take action now to adapt to the post-COVID world that will be demanded by fans, or risk empty venues. If you’d like to discuss your venue-specific options, contact the Venuetize team here to set up a time to learn more about how you can prepare to welcome back your fans with a touchless experience.

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