According to a recent study, the concert and event promotion industry is experiencing exceptional growth despite labor shortages, rising costs, and inflation. Results from this study show that over the past five years, industry revenue has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2 percent, topping $56 billion in 2024.
This growth is great news for sports and entertainment venues’ bottom lines, but it also increases the challenges operations managers have to juggle, including crowd management, incident response, and guest experience.
Customer communication management software can relieve some pressure on operations teams by making it easier to share real-time information with staff and guests, track incident responses and outcomes, and keep communication flowing before, during, and after an event.
Let’s explore a few ways communication technology helps keep guests happy and venue operations running smoothly during even the most demanding events.
Chaos and great customer experiences rarely occur at the same time. Utilizing a reliable communications platform that integrates with other operations and analytics solutions in your tech stack will provide your staff and guests with the tools they need to minimize disruptions, maximize security, and make amazing memories.
Here are five ways your communications tools can calm the chaos.
High volumes of guest requests can overwhelm traditional manual communication channels. Implementing a centralized communication platform that includes automated responses and live chat capabilities helps guests find the answers they need to common questions—such as event start times or parking options—while keeping staff free for other tasks.
Informing guests quickly about schedule delays, emergencies, and other time-sensitive issues is almost impossible to do manually. (Think about the logistics of informing more than 70,000 Super Bowl attendees about a power outage or other significant delay.)
Communication tools that support SMS alerts and push notifications can deliver instant, up-to-the-minute event information, schedule changes, and other critical updates that improve guest experiences and maintain venue security.
It’s critical to keep operations and response teams aligned during an emergency or rapidly changing situation, such as a severe weather event at an outdoor festival.
Internal communication tools that provide group messaging, on-the-fly task assignments, and real-time incident response tracking keep teams connected and informed, reducing delays, preventing miscommunication, and ensuring rapid resolution of incidents.
Demand for personalization has spilled over into sports and entertainment venue management, providing another opportunity to improve customer experiences and satisfaction.
Using customer communication management software to segment messaging and target individual groups—for example, automating push notifications to VIP ticket holders reminding them of exclusive lounge access or similar perks—increases engagement and builds a positive reputation for your venue.
Gathering actionable insights before, during, and after an event helps venue managers improve operations for future events. Deploying automated surveys, feedback forms, and other experience-tracking tools will help you identify and remediate operational bottlenecks that negatively impact guest satisfaction.
As demand for live sports and entertainment experiences continues to grow, venue operations teams are turning to reliable, scalable, and user-friendly customer communication management software to meet the needs of large crowds with high expectations.
24/7 Software’s real-time communications tool is designed to empower your customers, guests, staff, and vendors to provide feedback and updates to your operations team. This allows them to deploy the right resources, answer questions, resolve incidents, and handle requests as they are reported.
Looking for more ways to consistently deliver a safe and positive experience for your guests and your staff? Check out our on-demand webinar, “How to Future-Proof Your Facility's Incident Management Strategy.”