Onboarding Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Embarking on a new project is always exciting for us, especially when it involves bringing on board a client very close to home like the Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC). As the newest member of The Data Refinery, this was my first time supporting a full Refinery onboarding process, and there were a lot of great wins in how we set up YCCC up and started delivering impactful insights from day one.

Immediate Impact: Connecting the Ticketing Platform

It was a key objective from the outset for YCCC to have all of their data in one place, so they could get a whole-of-organisation view. This needed to encompass memberships and ticket performance data, campaign data and key business metrics.  

A quick win for YCCC was just being able to understand and verify who is opted-in to marketing campaigns and who isn’t from across the entire data estate. Getting the most recent data and a single view of the customer was “a game-changer” for the client.

One of the key parts during the initial phase of onboarding was connecting YCCC’s ticketing platform Secutix, which was a bespoke connection build. This was a new connector for the team and posed a new challenge to get stuck into – we worked alongside the client to identify what data we needed from Secutix, and how we would map this to our Common Data Model to get the best analytical value. This was hooked up alongside a selection of our standard connectors, including the likes of Google Analytics and Meta, to provide the single customer view within The Data Refinery.

We were then able to populate our pre-built dashboards to provide YCCC with immediate insights into their performance across the matches during the season:

• Daily and weekly sales trends: Identifying and understanding how different matches and events impact ticket purchases.

• Customer purchasing patterns: Analysing the frequency and timing of ticket purchases to better understand customer behaviour.

• Revenue analysis: Breaking down revenue by ticket type, event, and sales channel to provide a clear picture of financial performance.

These insights will enable YCCC to make data-driven decisions, such as optimising marketing strategies  for upcoming matches and targeting specific customer segments with personalised offers. Reflecting on our work together so far, the client shared:

"It's been a pleasure working with the team at The Data Refinery over the last few months, and we are very excited to start fully utilising the platform in the coming months.  Having a fully connected view of our members and supporters, with all of our systems linked into a central database, is crucial to the way we operate and will ensure we can make data-driven decisions at both a marketing and business level. The option to build out audience segments and send them through to our e-marketing system will enable us to deliver a truly personalised experience for our supporters, whilst the dashboarding functionality will allow all of our internal departments to have a real-time view of the data that matters to them. The process of working with The Data Refinery has been brilliant from the first conversations we've had with them, and we'd recommend them to any business looking to transform the way they work with data."

- Sam Gascoyne, Head of Marketing, Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Future Support: Understanding Loyalty Markers, Leveraging Open Data and Empowering the Team

While the immediate impact of our work was evident, the long-term projects are all the stuff we really love getting stuck into and are gearing up to now. Our ongoing support will focus on three key areas: understanding loyalty markers, leveraging open data sources available in the Refinery, and empowering the wider team and stakeholders.  

Understanding Loyalty Markers

One of our goals is to help YCCC identify and understand loyalty markers among their supporters. By analysing historic ticket and merchandise sales data, membership renewals, and engagement metrics, we can uncover patterns that indicate a loyal customer base. For example, we can identify:

• Repeat buyers: Fans who consistently purchase tickets for multiple events.

• Merchandise purchasers: Fans who cross over to purchase merchandise through the connected Shopify data. Merchandise purchases by ticket purchasers are a strong indicator of deeper engagement and support with the club and potential future members.

• Membership renewal patterns: Trends in how and when members renew their subscriptions.

Understanding these loyalty markers will enable YCCC to design targeted retention strategies.

Leveraging Open Data

In addition to analysing YCCC's internal data, we will be supporting them in utilising our available open datasets to gain a deeper understanding of their customer base. By mapping ticket purchasers to demographic information such as age, we can create comprehensive customer profiles. This information will help YCCC:

• Tailor marketing campaigns: Develop targeted marketing strategies that resonate with different demographic groups.

• Enhance fan engagement: Create personalised experiences and offers that cater to the preferences of various segments.

• Increase sales: Identify untapped market segments and develop strategies to attract new customers.  

Empowering the Wider Team and Stakeholders

An essential aspect of our ongoing support will be to understand the data requirements of YCCC’s wider team and stakeholders and ensuring can access the data that matters to them. We will be aiming to support YCCC in setting up customised dashboards for different departments, such as finance and the Senior Management Team, so each team can quickly access the metrics and insights relevant to their roles.

By empowering the wider team and stakeholders, we aim to create a data-driven culture within YCCC where everyone can leverage insights to drive success.

Why Data-Driven Decisions Matter

Through this process, I’ve seen that making data-driven decisions is crucial for YCCC given the current market and desire for increasing personalisation from a consumer perspective. With the Refinery, YCCC’s marketing team is now in a position where they can support the business in accessing key benefits, including:

• Enhanced efficiency: Data-driven strategies can streamline operations, allowing YCCC to focus resources on what works best. For example, identifying peak sales periods can help in allocating marketing efforts more effectively.

• Better customer understanding: Insights into customer behaviour and preferences enable more effective targeting and personalisation. By understanding their supporters' needs and preferences, YCCC can create more engaging and rewarding experiences, fostering loyalty and long-term relationships.

• Increased innovation: Analysing data can uncover new opportunities and areas for growth that might not be evident otherwise. For instance, understanding demographic trends can help YCCC tailor their offerings and explore new market segments.

By leveraging these insights, YCCC can enhance fan engagement, optimise their operations, and ultimately drive greater success outside of the pitch.

Onboarding Yorkshire County Cricket Club onto The Data Refinery platform has been a rewarding experience for me to be able to see first-hand just how quickly the service can provide an immediate impact for our customers. I’m excited to see the value we can add over the coming months, stay tuned for more updates on the success stories that emerge from our partnership!  

If you’d like to see what impact The Refinery could have on your organisation, let’s have a chat – we could have you up and running and unlocking the value in your data in a matter of days.  

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