Visitors to the European Para Championships benefit from a collaboration between the organization and CM.com. The company not only takes care of the ticketing of the new, large parasports event in Rotterdam, but also takes care of the customer journey. Using data, visitors are provided with the latest audience information when they visit the event location. And that is appreciated!
If you buy a ticket for an artist you know, you often don’t need to know much more than the start time, what’s for dinner in the concert hall and whether there’s a support act. But a visit to the European Para Championships involves much more. Perhaps you are not completely familiar with the different sports that are played in Rotterdam, and the competition program is logically not completely in your head.
That is precisely why the organization, through the specially created app, sends notifications during the day out. Many of them are even personal, and also come via text message or WhatsApp if desired. In addition, then, there is the app. It knows which of the halls you are in and, if you are going to watch boccia or taekwondo for the first time, will hint you to review the rules of that sport. You will immediately be given a link to a helpful video or directed to ready-made information on the website. Especially if you have indicated in advance, when purchasing tickets, which sports you are specifically interested in, the organization can serve you even more emphatically.
Eveline Wouters, Lead Customer Success Manager at CM.com, explains at the entrance to Ahoy how much more relaxed a visit to an event can be if you are helped to find your way in and around the complex. “During pre-registration, people were already able to indicate whether they wanted to receive a newsletter and which sports they were specifically interested in. That was important information for us and the organization. When a tournament like this is organized for the first time, you can’t quite estimate in advance which sports you can expect full stands.”
For the organization, partnering with CM.com is a gift. Through CM.com’s Mobile Marketing Cloud, it is possible for the championship’s communications department to ask visitors about everything. It is nice to know a lot about your visitors, so that you can also serve them optimally.
Tournament Director Jeroen Straathof is very pleased with the cooperation between the European Para Championships and CM.com. “We can significantly increase the sports experience of our visitors with it. Thanks to the push notifications, for example, it is even more possible to reach our goal. With these European Championships for ten different Para Sports, we want to show that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. You do the same by introducing visitors to more than just their favorite sport.”
CM.com, in the context of sustainability, sends the tickets purely by email. The visitor does not have to print them out; at the entrance the ticket can be scanned on your phone. In the process, by the way, you are by no means a number. Because in addition to the notifications on the day itself, upon returning home you will always receive a thank you for coming. Eveline Wouters: “We want visitors to have a really nice day.”
CM.com and the organization of the European Para Championships obviously knew in advance that many visitors would come with a wheelchair. Whereas at other events it is often a hassle to obtain specific tickets, in Rotterdam they turned it around. “We asked right away at the ticket purchase if someone is coming with a wheelchair, yes or no.” That way it’s clear right at the time of ordering, doesn’t cause any trouble later. There are plenty of facilities in Ahoy for people with disabilities. For
these visitors, too, the customer journey – such as ticketing, website and app – must obviously be a pleasant one.