Get fans to the ballpark twice a year. That’s the goal for the Mets, and the main reason why the team created Mets Connect, a loyalty platform that has yielded early success.
Mets Connect, a nominee for Best in Fan Experience at the SBJ Tech awards, saw 114,000 registrations in its first full year, more than doubling its initial goal.
The program, which is integrated in the MLB Ballpark app, rewards fans with in-venue perks and engages outside of Citi Field with digital games. That has led to a 23x increase in tracking fan transactions, driving targeted fan offices and improved ROI measurements for sponsors.
Speaking at SBJ Tech Week, Mets President of Business Operations Lew Sherr explained:
“What we’re trying to do is build a platform that really rewards and incentivizes our fan base to come to more games; engage more deeply in the experience; give us feedback on the experience that we’re delivering; and, to me, our season-ticket member benefits are things we should also offer and make available to a first-time attendee.
“What we’re learning is that the likelihood of moving someone from a single-game ticket buyer to a season-ticket holder or full-season package buyer of any size increases exponentially if you get them to that second game in a year.
“(They’re) more familiar with the stadium, parking, transportation. The barriers start to come down. I like that food. I tried that. And that’s hugely important as I think about our transformation.”
Sherr also delved into more detail about how his relationship evolved with Mets owner Steve Cohen, which led to a job offer. It began with a 45-minute tour of the US Open grounds three tournaments ago, which included Cohen asking very detailed questions. That resulted in Cohen asking to meet periodically with Sherr to pick his brain.
“I would say once a month, maybe once every other month, we might get together if I was in New York or when he was down in Florida,” Sherr said. “And then it turned into a different conversation which was, ‘Hey, I think I might want to do something different here (with the president role), and I appreciate that you have a great position at the USTA, but would you ever think about making a change?”
