Arsenal Football Club is relaunching its membership programme and is taking tips on strategy from retail loyalty schemes such Tesco Club Card and Amazon, rather than from those of fellow football clubs.

The club's basic membership currently focuses on priority access to match tickets, alongside a welcome pack and access to Arsenal's online video player.

Charles Allen, Arsenal’s head of marketing, told Marketing Week that the scheme will now move its emphasis away from ticket sales towards 'fan-based' experiences.

"We are investing in a CRM system to register interests and passions so we can then send those people on appropriate journeys of affinity and provide access at an appropriate level."

The club will look to its entire customer base in its new membership scheme. These include customers from its shop as well as its 10.5 million Facebook and 1.5 million Twitter fans.
Wanda Goldwag, former managing director of AirMiles, the first UK loyalty scheme, believes it's a savvy move by Arsenal.

"Football clubs have a particular challenge in that very few of their fans live close enough to the club grounds to ever visit or see a match. Even if they do, you're limiting what you consider to be your loyal fans to the ground's maximum capacity of 60-70,000 people. Arsenal has learn an important lesson from other loyalty schemes - this is about engaging everybody who's interested in Arsenal, not just fans that visit the grounds.

"And they're right to look at the supermarkets because they have gone beyond differences in price points, promotions and vouchers to look instead at personal triggers that will keep a customer brand loyal. It could be promotions, but it could also be because of their charitable activities or the ease and choices of ways to buy.

"One clever example is John Lewis, they know I don't live near to a store, but I do live near a Waitrose. By offering me the chance to purchase goods from John Lewis online and collect it from my local store, they're making it easier for me to buy and perhaps buy more from them," Goldwag adds.

Posted by Alison McClintock