The Everyman Theatre


Broadband enables The Everyman Theatre to implement customer marketing systems which are integrated with its web site and booking system

Best practice in: 	Broadband
Sector:			Entertainment		
Size of firm:		30 employees
Location:		      Cheltenham
Website:		www.everymantheatre.org.uk

The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham attracts theatregoers from Gloucestershire, the Cotswolds and the surrounding area staging around 400 shows a year to which it sells 200,000 tickets.  


Objectives: 

Like all businesses the theatre needs to work hard in order to attract business and sell tickets.  The success of the theatre relies not only on choosing shows and other events which are attractive to its audiences, but also on the effective marketing of its shows and events combined with a high level of customer service.

The Theatre's directors therefore identified the need for a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) system that would enable it to identify and target specific customers and also to manage marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives.  They also wanted a system that would enable them to form individualised relationships with customers, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and maximising profits.  "We are very keen to develop long term relationships with our customers and increase their use of the Theatre", says Philip Bernays, Chief Executive of the Theatre.  " Marketing is about developing that partnership, particularly with groups." 

Prior to the introduction of the marketing system the Theatre was already using the ticketing system "Databox" from Ticket.com to provide it with information based on ticket booking.  It also maintained a separate list of people and groups interested in specific shows who could be sent information individually by email.  However the marketing potential of the information was not being maximised as it was not all stored in one place or stored in a convenient way.


Solution: 

Broadband was acquired to facilitate online web bookings and to run the web based CRM function.  The theatre initially had two 512kbps ADSL broadband connections of which one was dedicated to the Theatre's in-house internet café.  It now has one 2mb broadband line serving both the theatre and the café.  This costs less than having two 512kbps lines and provides a much faster internet service.  The café now also has wireless internet access.

The CRM system was developed in three stages, supported by funding from the South West Regional Development Agency sponsored project "the broadbandshow".  The first was to create a section on the website where management can build new pages of information as new shows are announced.  "We manage the web site ourselves.  Updates need to be made everyday.  We could not make these updates effectively without broadband."  Bookings made on the web site are stored in the Databox database.  The site was also extended to enable visitors to register their details and the type of shows they are interested in.  This information is stored on the marketing database.

The second stage was to build a web service programme that runs constantly, interrogating new bookings to retrieve specific information such as the person's email address, whether the tickets were bought as a result of a specific promotion etc.  This information is moved over to the marketing database which continues to grow as more relevant information is added. The programme also builds a list of everyone who visited a show the previous evening.  They are automatically emailed, thanked for their visit and invited to click on a link which takes them to the web site to fill in a survey on their experience at the Theatre.

The third stage is the development of the actual marketing programme.  This runs from the desks of the theatre management and uses data from the Databox and marketing databases.   This is only possible because of broadband's capacity to handle large amounts of data, which means that the user and the database do not have to be in the same place.  It manages information on individual users and groups and allows selection by criteria such as interest, age group, last time visited etc.


Results: 

Although broadband was acquired specifically for online bookings and CRM, Philip Bernays reports major additional benefits throughout the organisation.  These include the ability to send large documents as attachments to emails, particularly beneficial for the Theatre when working on promotional material with designers and printers, and considerably increased efficiency and effectiveness in other day-to-day internal and external communications.  "There have been countless unexpected benefits from the use of broadband.  Once you have got it you do not know how you lived without it."


Challenges: 

A challenge which the theatre will soon be addressing is to extend the functionality of the system to provide additional services to their customers including the ability to pre-book additional services online such as parking spaces, programmes and interval drinks at the same time as booking their tickets online.


The last word: 

"The business case for online bookings is irrefutable.  It is open 24 hours a day, the line is never engaged and our administration cost is greatly reduced", says Philip.  "Broadband has also enabled the Everyman to expand its marketing operation and refocus its marketing strategy at virtually no extra cost."