Sportsologist - Christopher Lee | Sports Marketing & Business

In my last post, I talked about the effect of simplicity on sales conversions.  There are many simple changes, such as altering site design, to yield significant improvements.  With that in mind, I’d like to propose another simple idea, that is supported by one of my favorite books, in addition to many social websites:

PEOPLE are influenced by other PEOPLE.

It sounds simple. Think about it.  People are influenced by other people.  Yet that idea is often not utilized to its potential.  With than in mind, I want to look at how sports organizations can use this theory to further influence fans.

How often do fans know the actual number of tickets sold (or even available) at an event prior to considering a purchase?  Rarely.

How often do fans know the actual number of people signed up for the teams’ email newsletter?  Almost never.

Would it make a difference if fans did know?

According to years of research the answer is simple.  YES.  In addition, lessons can be learned from social sites today that are not only setting the tone for the new age of the Internet, but marketing and sales as well.  For example, WeFollow.com (a popular Twitter tool) greets visitors with a simple pop up encouraging them to sign up.  They also show a message that says (when I last view the site) “Now listing over 684,078 Twitter users.”

While that little bit of information might seem insignificant…its not.  Why does it work?  A non-customer goes to the site, is greeted by a simple welcome screen, and sees that over 650,000 people use the service.  Well if 650,000 people use the site it must be good, right?  That user likely became a customer, as Kevin Rose (the founder of Digg and WeFollow.com) can attest to as well.

If fans knew that 1,500 people had purchases tickets through the teams website that day, or that 87% of tickets had already been sold for a particular game, wouldn’t that influence them to act?  Yes, because fans are influenced by other fans.

Now there are a few caveats to this method.  First and foremost, the method should only be used when the relayed information is true.  If WeFollow.com doesn’t have 600,000+ users it would be inappropriate to market that.  Secondly, the strategy should only be used when it would help the organization.  For example, if WeFollow.com only had 7 users, it’s probably not a good idea to showcase that on their sign up page.   If the information works in your favor, as it could with attendance or email newsletters, it can certainly make a difference.

Based on hours of research I’ve done from books (Yes!, Made To Stick, etc) to videos (Kevin Rose, etc) to websites (abtests.com, etc), a simple conclusion can be drawn: simple sells.  What is simple?  How does that translate to sports?

Let’s look at ticket sales and website design to further examine this idea.  One of the primary drivers of revenue for a sports team is ticket sales.  Therefore when looking at an organization’s website, one of the goals is to convert a website visitor into a customer (someone who purchased tickets).  That suggests the following idea:

Simple leads to ticket sales.

I randomly selected a team website from each of the four sports as a visual example to see how “simple” factors into the design.  Take a look at the sites (click to enlarge):

What is your first impression? Simple?  I don’t have any information on these sites conversion rates, but my guess is the sales conversions (assuming that is a goal of the site) are not as high as they could be.  What if a team site used a simple approach that is increasingly popular in the current web era (Google, Twitter, etc.)?

For example, Gyminee.com (creator of popular iPhone and website applications) started with this site that looks similar to those above, and ultimately ran an AB Test to settle on their current design.  The final results?  The simpler design yielded a 20%+ increase in conversions.  Granted, its only one company, but feel free to look at several others who have had success altering their websites to make them simpler and clearer.

What would a 20% increase mean to an organization?  Or even a 5% increase?  Organizations don’t necessarily have to hire new people or increase the number of cold calls to sell more tickets.  There are certainly other goals to a website (sponsors to please, stories to post) but simplifying the website design may yield some surprising results.