Rewards by Roundabout
Challenge
In the crowded field of New York City’s seemingly endless entertainment options, Roundabout Theatre wanted a way for loyal patrons to feel like VIPs. Roundabout approached Made to design and build a loyalty program integrated with Tessitura – a unique web solution not found at scale in the community of Tessitura member organizations and the first of its kind from any Broadway theater. The Rewards by Roundabout program would allow ticket buyers to earn points on qualifying ticket purchases, which could in turn be collected and redeemed for tickets to future Roundabout productions. The idea was that the program would create another path – outside of traditional subscription packages – to encourage audience loyalty in an appealing way for new categories of ticket buyers.
Solution
The Rewards by Roundabout program would allow ticket buyers to earn points on qualifying ticket purchases, which could in turn be collected and redeemed for tickets to future Roundabout productions. The idea was that the program would create another path – outside of traditional subscription packages – to encourage audience loyalty in an appealing way for new categories of ticket buyers. The program, which patrons can join free of cost, is live now. It allows ticket buyers to collect points when they attend qualifying performances. By logging in to the My Account section of the Roundabout website, customers can see the number of points they’ve accrued and also access their loyalty program number alongside a digital membership card that can be downloaded using Apple Wallet and used in venues to identify patrons and customer service issues, or collect points for purchases made in-person at the box office. The number of points accrued in a transaction depends on the type of ticket: 5 points are earned for every dollar spent on tickets, and sweetening the deal for subscribers, each package purchased earns 3,500 points plus 10 extra points for every dollar spent on additional performance tickets purchased outside of a package. In addition, the flexibility of back-end setup of the custom web solution allows Roundabout to easily create enhancement and exclusion scenarios on a per-performance basis, or for certain time periods: - Lightning deals Instead of discounting, the program offers the flexibility to offer additional points on purchases during limited windows of time, like Cyber Monday. - Exclusions Entire production runs or discounted tickets can be excluded from accruing points. Points can be redeemed to obtain tickets for eligible performances, and must be used for the entire cost of the ticket; however, the system also offers support for mixed carts (e.g. one ticket purchased with points plus a $20 contribution paid with a credit card).
Results
The Rewards by Roundabout program went live in late June 2019, and since then almost 25,000 customers have enrolled to collect and redeem loyalty points, and patrons are already redeeming their points for performance tickets. "We are thrilled to have launched Rewards by RoundaboutSM and to be working to solve the ubiquitous problem of the decline in subscriptions, which is so negatively impacting the not-for-profit performing arts industry. It is our hope to share this program and our findings with our peer organizations to keep incentivizing repeat business among our audience members, and to keep the arts thriving." Elizabeth Kandel, Director of Marketing
Made Media
We help cultural institutions use technology to connect with their audiences and do better business.Made Media designs and produces creative digital solutions for world-leading brands in the arts, culture, and entertainment space. We enable our clients to connect with the world; sharing their ideas, events, and passions with as many...
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