UX – user experience – is often talked about online but it should be considered offline too. I suppose it is, except they call it ‘customer experience’.
Sometimes when a company or experience I’ve tasted first hand isn’t perhaps as good as it could be, I offer a few suggestions about how they might make it better, and offline communication and online marketing are at the heart of it.
Like the time Mischa and I went to watch the newly launched London Pulse netball team recently.
It occurred to me that it’s not only young girls that London Pulse should be targeting, it’s families – parents, specifically, because we’re the ones who buy the tickets, take our kids to the Copper Box Arena in the Olympic Park and pay for food, drink and merchandise once inside.
Here are a few of my suggestions:*
– Install good signage from the station (we had to ask for directions inside Westfield then again at the Aquatics centre – and the man who helped us gave the impression that he’d helped many people before us)
– Even better than signage, how about placing two or three Pulse representatives outside Stratford station? When I travel, it’s always so nice to be welcomed at the other end by people I’m actually there for. Pulse reps, wearing Pulse kit, could offer directions and answer questions, such as what food and drink is available inside the Copper Box, which leads to…
– Better catering selection (especially hot food) inside the arena. I was really hungry by the time we got to the Copper Box, having travelled from Hertfordshire, but the only hot options were a pretty poor (but expensive) burger or a hot dog
– Either reduce the price of the programme or make it worth £2. I wondered why I might want to pay £2 for what appeared to be a throw-away leaflet
– Get the announcer out on court – either hire a personality to do the job or make the role more visible. Get people like me telling friends and family how good she/he is, and how they’re able to build the atmosphere
– Communication: we wondered why the first break in play was so long, and much longer than half-time
– Having decided to go and support Pulse before Christmas, I struggled to buy tickets online (the sales page on See Tickets was wrong and confusing for weeks. It would’ve been very easy for me to give up. I wonder how many potential fans were lost as a result)
– When people like me are in the venue, do whatever you can to collect our email addresses because by offering an incentive you’re opening a conversation and engaging. Nurture the relationship you have with new fans like me and my daughter, tell us about your players, educate us on the rules of the game, tell us what merchandise is available, etc
– Build the netball-watching culture, make it an attractive proposition
– Get people talking about it with their friends so that they want to join in the Pulse fun
– Maybe offer a discount on the second set of tickets (ie those people who’ve actually made the effort to go there in the first instance without a discount)
– Give free tickets to schools
*I haven’t heard back yet (I sent the email eight days ago). The longer I don’t hear anything, the less likely I am to return.
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