Top tips for Sports brands

The world of subscriptions is changing at lightning speed so how can Sports OTT brands navigate such volatile times? Only sports brands that understand their subscribers and act fact, will survive. 

It can be incredibly tough to grow a sports subscription service – but this begins by taking a fresh look at the way brands engage with their subscribers and learn how to build an experience that goes beyond just the sport. Building and maintaining all relationships start by developing a two-way communication between brand and subscriber. This requires effort and patience, of course, but if Sports brands don’t lay the foundations of a transparent and open relationship with their subscribers, it can cause bigger problems and more work further down the line.

 

ACQUISITION, GROWTH AND CHURN

Our new research into the Psychology of a Sports subscriber revealed that many sports brands are failing to understand the ‘subscriber mindset’ and are struggling to connect emotionally with their customers. Therefore, Sports OTT brands need to work much harder to building relationships with their customers in order to grow revenue, services and subscription longevity. 

However, all is not lost. Don’t give up on the relationship yet! The key is to begin focusing on the different psychological factors at play throughout the customer journey – if you want to have a significant impact on acquisition, growth and churn. 

During the acquisition phase of the customer journey, dissatisfaction and suspicion can begin from the moment a subscriber joins a sports subscription service. Subscribers can feel that their boundaries have been violated, especially if asked to hand over financial information or commit to the brand too soon.

At the growth stage, subscribers feel that brands quickly disappear and stop communicating with them once they have signed up, and typically only get in touch regarding financial matters, such as a price hike or upgrade option. Therefore, brands often create ambivalent or avoidant attachments to subscribers by failing to truly understand what they want and need.

In the later stages of the relationship, subscribers are often left feeling rejected and ignored by OTT brands that prioritise new customers over building valuable relationships with existing ones. Which often leads to churn.

 

TOP TIPS FOR SPORTS OTT BRANDS

 

1. Build relationships early

The first key strategy involves adapting the sign-up process to make it as easy as possible to register. Brands should avoid pushing prospective customers to share financial details too soon, and are encouraged to engage with them at the start of the relationship when they’re most receptive. 

 

2. Be transparent and flexible

During the growth phase, Sports OTT brands must be transparent over billing, get to know their customers better so they can tailor content to suit interests and moods, and provide quick and easy options to upgrade and downgrade. Being flexible and understanding at this stage is essential, as well as having a friendly customer support team that is easily accessible for queries.

 

3. Make it easy to leave

Finally, instead of making it difficult for a consumer to leave through phone interrogations and auto-renewal billing, Sports brands can provide easy cancellation and rejoin options, with the ability to ‘dip in and dip out’ or ‘freeze’ accounts. This helps foster a positive interaction, with subscribers more likely to return as valued customers. Of course, this stage wouldn’t be as necessary if sports brands listened, understood and engaged with subscribers from the start!

 

Best practice

Download a copy of the Psychology of a Subscriber report for 45 best practice tips and advice you can use to react quickly and build a brand your subscriber cares about. Click here.

Privacy Policy

Updated 28th April 2020

This Privacy Policy sets out how Singula Decisions Limited (“Singula Decisions”) uses and protects any information that you may provide to us when you use our website, products and services.

We respect your rights and privacy; we are committed to ensuring that any information gathered on our website, and/or via our products and services, is kept confidential and is only used in the ways which you have consented to.

Should we ask you to provide certain information, by which you can be identified when using our website, products and services, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy and in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”).

We will not store data for longer than necessary and use it only for the purpose that it was gathered.

You should check the Privacy Policy to ensure that you are happy with the terms. If you are not happy with the terms, please do not enter any personal data.

Singula Decisions will regularly review this Privacy Policy and make changes when necessary. If we make any significant changes to this Privacy Policy, we will communicate these to you, as applicable.

WHAT DATA WE COLLECT

Information is captured via our website contact form or marketing campaign landing pages, as well as via our relevant products and services. This data is provided by you voluntarily.

We may collect and store the following information, as applicable:

Name (e.g. first name and surname);
Contact information (e.g. e-mail address and telephone number(s));
Demographic information (e.g. country, preferences and interests);
Business metrics (e.g. subscriber numbers, churn rate, average revenue per user, etc.); and
IP address and web activity (e.g. web pages visited, time spent on the website, etc.).

WHAT WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER

Singula Decisions requires the information to understand your needs and to provide you with the relevant service. We use the information for the following reasons:

Internal record keeping;
To improve relevant products and services;
To periodically send promotional communications (electronic and telephone) about new products and services, thought leadership or other information which we think you may find interesting based on the information that you have provided;
To contact you for market research purposes; and
To customise our website based on the interests you have indicated.

We may share relevant information with trusted third parties. We do not share data outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) unless a specific arrangement is in place to do so between the relevant parties.

WHERE IS DATA STORED?

We use a third-party provider, HubSpot, to capture and store data. This is done securely and in line with the requirements of the GDPR.

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Singula Decisions is committed to ensuring that the information you provide is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have implemented suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect and store.

PURPOSE OF PROCESSING YOUR DATA

Personal information provided by you is used to promote our products and services. We also promote items that may be of interest (e.g. company announcements, thought leadership, case studies, new partnerships, and events we are attending).

We can segment our promotional communications based on a range of factors (e.g. your consented preferences and the information you have provided).

In general, marketing campaigns are promoted by e-mail and from time-to-time by telephone.

CONSENT

With effect from the 25th May 2018, we provide a mechanism to facilitate consent to receiving relevant communications from us.

When you complete any website form or marketing campaign landing page on our website you will be asked to check two boxes to provide your consent:

To receiving marketing communications from us; and

That you have read and accept this Privacy Policy.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by sending an email to info@singuladecisions.com or by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any e-mail received from Singula Decisions.

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You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on our website; identify the marketing consent statement allowing you to select the box to indicate that you accept or reject your information to be used for direct marketing purposes; and

If you have previously agreed to us using your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by withdrawing your consent as detailed above.

Singula Decisions will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your express permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal data to send you promotional information about selected third parties if you have selected that you are happy to receive marketing communications.

You may request details of personal information that we hold about you by contacting us in writing (FAO Data Protection Officer, Singula Decisions Limited, Cluny Court, John Smith Business Park, Kirkcaldy, Fife KY2 6QJ) or by emailing dpo@singuladecisions.com.

If you believe that any information that we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us in writing or by email as soon as possible. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Data Subject Rights

Singula Decisions has a nominated Data Protection Officer (“DPO”), with responsibility for managing Singula Decisions’ policies, procedures and practices in relation to data protection. Contact, for any purposes (e.g. to complain, to request details of information held, etc.) can be made to the DPO in writing using the Singula Decisions address above or by emailing dpo@singuladecisions.com.

In compliance with the GDPR, you can contact us to:

Right to Subject Access Request (Article 15) – to request a report of the data that we hold on you;
Right to Rectification (Article 16) – to request us to update inaccurate/incomplete data that we hold on you;
Right to Erasure (Article 17) – to request us to remove your data from our systems (NB: in this instance, we will likely anonymise your data);
Right to Restriction of Processes (Article 18) – to request that we do not process incorrect data or where you have withdrawn consent for use;
Right to Receive Personal Data (Article 201) – to request that your data is provided to you to allow you to pass it to another company (this will be in a commonly used, machine-readable, format); and
Right to Object (Article 21) – to allow you to object to us holding your data where you believe we have no reason to hold it.

You may also contact our DPO if you wish to make a complaint. Contact can be made in writing, to the address set out above, or by email to dpo@singuladecisions.com.

LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES

The Singula Decisions website may contain links to other websites of interest. Please note that if you use these links to leave our site that we have no control over the other website, therefore cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and we recommend that you review their separate privacy notices, as applicable.

HOW WE USE COOKIES

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Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual based on your interactions. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

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This Privacy Policy is effective from 28th April 2020.