Tag: Fan Engagement Working Group

CFU Directors’ Portfolio Update – Fan Engagement & Membership

Posted by Jeff Banks on

Today we continue the update from CFU directors, the latest provided Jeff Banks, whose portfolio includes Membership & Fan Engagement.

 

It’s been a manic few months following the efforts of bringing realistic and attractive season ticket and matchday prices to the table, but the Fan Engagement Working Group have ploughed on looking at various aspects of the matchday experience as well as putting our thoughts in to making the CFU membership more attractive to members.

 

Below, is a list of part of what we’ve been focussing on during the last couple of months:

 

CFU membership new joins / renewals

  • We recently hit the 2018 target and have since passed this too, which is great news. Effectively the number from 12 months ago has doubled.
  • Draw for winner of £20.18 club shop voucher will take place this weekend!
  • We are also going to be looking at further benefits of being a CFU member and also discussing the CFU membership joining fee based on comments and feedback made by members in the Big City Census 2018 and in general.
  • Due to launch in January, a large retailer have offered a generous discount to CFU members, details to follow on this.
  • Buy Clever Stuff have offered CFU members 5% off some ranges and also advised that they will make a further 5% donation to the Squadbuilder fund from purchases made direct from their website.

 

Lifetime Membership

  • We have 10 confirmed paid members. Packs for these have been this week. Our target for this scheme was an initial 10 members, which will hopefully increase to 20 in time. This has raised £10,000 (an obvious calculation there!)
  • CFU membership had a forecasted budget of £20,000 to hit and we are on course to hit this figure.
  • Extra benefits are being looked at on a continuing basis for life members.

 

Matchday Experience – Themes

  • 10th November – Altrincham – Remembrance Weekend. Together with the Community Trust, the pre match routine included attendance from the Veterans and Mercian Regiment, and a impeccably observed period of silence to pay tribute.
  • 1st December – Darlington – Retro Day. whilst we didn’t get a crowd of over 2000, which was disappointing, we still managed an increased attendance based on CFC fixtures played on this week in previous seasons. We also believe that there was definitely a feel good factor around the ground with the theme, along with some great sights of fans in their old Chester tops. Whilst financially it didn’t net the club any profit the fact that season ticket holders were able to take advantage of a £5 discount on purchases in the club shop helped produce great figures for the shop on Retro Day. We will keep the thought of having Retro Day 2 in our minds for next season’s planning. Half Time entertainment went down well too, and thanks to Buy Clever Stuff for their help and prizes donations.
  • 22nd December – Telford – Christmas Theme, with Santa making an appearance of course!
  • We are looking at themes for the rest of the season, and will release those in due course, but we are hoping to have involvement from former players, Junior Blues, as well as the Community Trust.

 

Half Time Entertainment

  • This was introduced for the Altrincham match and as mentioned above the Darlington match, and believe that it went down well and will continue to try and provide an enjoyable experience to all watching.

 

Cestrian 10 (part) Season Ticket

  • Launched Saturday 20th October together with social media marketing and promotional advertising via local press and also a radio advert dedicated to the Cestrian 10 on Dee 106.3 – thanks to Dee for this.
  • We have had more uptake than last season. The initiative now includes Legends Lounge as well as around the ground tickets, and currently offers fans a choice of 10 games from a possible 12. The scheme will end after the Telford match.
  • We are also putting plans together with the Community Trust for remaining unsold Cestrian 10 books.

 

Chester FC fans App

  • Launched in pre-season, this is in full operation and continuing to work well – we are monitoring the output match by match at present, and all feedback is positive.
  • We also have an additional person helping to respond to questions / promote the App.

 

Online Ticketing

  • This was trialled in 2018 for an initial period, however take up was low and would not have been cost effective to continue given the running costs of the platform. FEWG are continuing to look at alternative options for future use.

 

Gazebo

  • Continuing with the Community Trust. We will look to resume CFU membership applications in March at the Gazebo, although other initiatives may well be progressed via the Gazebo in between times.

 

Blues Bar

  • We have kept in dialogue with Dougherty & Allen to ensure that fans are getting the best experience possible in the Blues Bar and kiosks, following the negative feedback received after the first match of the season.

 

Fan Zone (for drinks)

  • This is to be discussed further in January as we want to progress this to enable a Fan Zone to be set up to allow fans to enjoy the matchday experience further. Dialogue continues with the Safety team. An initial conversation has taken place around the possibility of this being introduced.

 

One2One Challenge

  • We are continuing to promote the challenge for members to introduce one new member to CFU.

 

Various Fan Groups

  • Chester Exiles – FEWG have worked with Bern & Jonno to get a personal message out to the Chester Exiles who potentially feel less involved with our fixtures this season given the geographical nature of this season’s fixture list. FEWG want to ensure that the Chester Exiles are made to feel as inclusive as the rest of the supporters.
  • FEWG to liaise more with the Senior Blues in 2019, to ensure that their group is also getting the best matchday experience too.

 

Match Posters

  • We are continuing to look at match posters – there are various online posters produced, which are shared across social media. Non online posters are a different kettle of fish, given the costs involved of advertising, although we have tried asking fans to help distribute but this received a low response rate. We are also looking in to the possibility of having an external sign outside the stadium advertising future matches (this in early stages at present).

 

 

Other Items being looked at/discussed:

  • Bus service for matchdays
  • Increasing the number of children at matches
  • 2019 Fans Survey
  • Season Tickets 2019/20 – for discussion later this season

 

 

 

 

So, as you can see lots going on with the Fan Engagement and Membership section headed up by Guy Lister, and we’re always looking for more members, so if you would like to join our working group then please email fewg@chesterfc.com to become involved.

Membership Target for 2018 hit!

Posted by Jeff Banks on

City Fans United are delighted to announce that the membership target of 2018 members by the end of the year 2018 has been hit and surpassed with 2 weeks to spare!

 

The Fan Engagement Working Group (FEWG) have confirmed that together with the CFU Junior Blues, we now have over 2018 members!

 

In celebration of this, one City Fans United member will be drawn at random to win a voucher to the value of £20.18 to spend in the club shop, with the draw taking place later this week.

 

The FEWG have also announced that 10 life members have been signed up to the new Life Membership package which was announced earlier this season, and we would like to thank each and every one of the new Life Members who have joined up and confirm that membership packs are being sent out this week.

 

Jeff Banks, director of Fan Engagement was delighted the target number had been hit, “Following the January fans meeting at Chester FC, the FEWG was set up and we set out to achieve a goal of 2018 members by the end of 2018, and that is exactly what has been achieved. Just under 12 months ago we had barely 1000 members so to double that number is brilliant. Naturally we want to increase that number further and would encourage anyone who hasn’t joined yet to do so. We’ll shortly be looking to make being a CFU member even more attractive and are working together with local businesses to provide our members with discounts.”

 

Banks also confirmed that the FEWG were working on a number of themed match days for the New Year following on from the Remembrance and Retro Day themes that took place in November and December respectively, “Our aim is to improve the matchday experience for supporters and we have a Christmas theme for this coming Saturday and have already got a number of planned themes for 2019 that we are also working together with the Community Trust on too, and we hope everyone will take part and enjoy those theme days.”

 

Draw made for Season Ticket winners!

Posted by Jeff Banks on

 

Chester FC’s Season Ticket target of 1000 is getting closer and closer!

 

A few weeks ago, you may recall that two of our Legend Lounge members came forward and wanted to help boost the number of sales by offering to reward one lucky fan who purchased a Season Ticket before the Earlybird deadline, and both Ian Swettenham of Swettenham Chemists and Alan Case have not just honoured that offer, but have actually tripled their offer and offered to cover the cost of 3 season tickets purchased!

 

The Draw, sponsored by Swettenham Chemists and Alan Case, was made independently on Wednesday 18th July, and saw the following names drawn out of the hat:

 

Margaret Bithel
Ray Shaw
Felix Wright

 

All three lucky winners have been notified and will be offered the refund of their season ticket!

 

Ian Swettenham said, “Swettenham Chemists were pleased to support the Season Ticket prize draw. We hope it encouraged fans to purchase their tickets in the Early Bird window and contributed to all the efforts from volunteers to push the season ticket number towards the 1,000 target.”

 

Jeff Banks, Director of Fan Engagement, thanked both Ian & Alan for their contribution and generous offer, “When the Fan Engagement Working Group (FEWG) were initially approached by both Ian and Alan, we were blown away by their generosity, but the fact that they have tripled that offer and rewarded three fans is just brilliant. I’m sure I speak on behalf of everyone connected with the club that we thank both Ian and Alan for their very kind offer, and I’m sure the winners were absolutely delighted when they heard the news!”

 

Remember, you can still help us reach that target of 1000 season tickets sold, by contacting the club on 01244 371376 during office hours and also prior to our pre season friendlies too at the club’s ticket office.

 

Season Tickets can also be collected on Thursday 26th July, at a special event taking place in the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium. The event will also see Bern & Jono appear after their training session to give an update on pre season training and latest signings.

 

FREE Chester FC Season Ticket up for grabs!

Posted by Jeff Banks on

Two of Chester FC’s Legends Lounge members and long time Blues fans have offered one lucky season ticket holder that buys or renews their season ticket before the Early Bird deadline expires, the chance to win the cost of their season ticket back!

The club are aiming to sell 1000 season tickets before the end of June, and supporters Alan Case and Ian Swettenham have decided to offer an incentive to help encourage more fans to get their season ticket with nearly 400 having been purchased already since sales began in May.

Alan, a well known and popular figure amongst supporters who has followed the Blues for 63 years said, “Ian and myself will be delighted to personally present the lucky winner with free football for the coming season”.

Ian, a fan since 1969, who sponsors the Swettenham Chemists Stand at the Swansway Chester Stadium and also provides fantastic financial support to the Chester FC Youth Academy was also keen to help cover the cost of one lucky fans season ticket. Ian said “There was a great suggestion on DevaChat to support the Early Bird offer and Alan & I are very happy to make it happen. I hope every fan can support the club with a Season Ticket purchase, it’s vital to the future of the club and appreciated by all involved.

Jeff Banks, Director of Fan Engagement said, “On behalf of the Fan Engagement Working Group (FEWG) and of course Chester FC, I’d like to thank both Alan and Ian for their fantastic gesture. It certainly demonstrates great unity amongst the fans when two come forward to offer to cover the cost of someone else’s season ticket, and anyone who has purchased one so far, or yet to get their ticket will no doubt be looking forward to hearing if their name has been pulled out of the hat!”

The Draw sponsored by Childrens Bed Centres & Swettenham Chemists will take place shortly after the Early Bird on sales ends, so fans are urged to get their season tickets before this deadline to be in with a chance of winning.