The Magic Behind Florida Panthers' Marketing
Case Study: Florida Panthers and Movable Ink Score on a Slapshot with 1:1 Personalization
Since the 1993 inception of the Florida Panthers, the NHL team has thrived off speed. Named after the endangered Florida Panthers from the pinelands of South Florida, the team follows suit with their title, bringing agility and strength to the rink the moment the puck hits the ice. This morale is consistent across all levels of the Florida Panthers brand, including in its communications to fans across the nation.
The Florida Panthers marketing team strives to keep fans up-to-date swiftly. From sharing recent score updates to promoting limited time ticket presales, the fan experience is always top priority. Marketers need to send the most accurate information as soon as it’s captured, so enthusiasts stay informed and engaged throughout the extent of the game or the offseason.
While the Florida Panthers have built a successful digital marketing strategy around quickness and accuracy, the team wanted to take an even more fan-centric approach while remaining efficient. This is when Movable Ink entered the arena.
The Challenge: Increase fan engagement while creating 1:1, data-driven email communications.
The Solution: Integrate the NHL API data source, gamify the inbox, and prioritize personalized messages to each individual fan without the extra lift.
The Florida Panthers marketing team created an email strategy for the 2021-2022 season that won big in the eyes of fans. This case study gives a glimpse into how Movable Ink played as an assist to the Florida Panthers to help meet their end goal.
Gamify the Inbox: Scratch Off
To celebrate Pi Day, the Florida Panthers brought the game off the ice and into fans’ inboxes with an interactive scratch off. Because email recipients were required to click and engage to reveal their offer, the strategy resulted in a 24.71% CTOR rate and attributed to an overall increase in revenue.
Additionally, the marketing team decided to use this as an opportunity to A/B test different offers to see what would produce the most prolonged engagement after first interaction. They sent half of the testing group an offer on tickets, and the other half received an offer on merchandise.
Result
24.71 Lift in CTOR
Celebrate the Fans: Data Activated Season-in-Review
Fans feel closest to their favorite sports teams when they win. That’s why season-in-review campaigns are a great way to make fans feel included in the team’s victories.
The Florida Panthers marketing team activated fan data from the 2021-2022 season to create a complete recap including how many games they attended, wins they watched, assists they saw by a certain player, and more. Including personalized stats makes fans feel like their loyalty to the team made an impact. If the Florida Panthers won each time the fan attended, they were encouraged to buy tickets for the next season.
For fans who didn’t attend games or only attended losses, a separate creative was sent that included overall team highlights so they wouldn’t receive negative stats.
Result
9.4% Lift in CTOR
Create Urgency: Countdown Timer
Sport fans react to urgency. Whether it’s a clock counting down to the end of the period or the final moments to buy presale tickets, they’ll be eager to make their next move.
Including a countdown timer in the email prompts fans to take action sooner rather than later. In this example, the countdown displays how much time is left for fans to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public. The time restraint encourages fans to immediately make a purchase during the team’s exclusive presale to get the best tickets before anyone else can. Once the countdown is over, the message changes to let the fan know the date has passed.
Because of Apple’s privacy protection, the marketing team needed to brainstorm a fallback experience for fans opening the email using iOS devices.
Result
24.68% Lift in CTOR
Conclusion
Movable Ink and the Florida Panthers have created a partnership worthy of champions. And by including data-driven personalization into the mix, this team’s marketing personalization strategy has become undefeatable.
We’re eager to see how the Florida Panthers marketing team will score in the upcoming season!
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