As one season ends, a new renewal season begins! Below are nine ways you can maximize Eloqua to enhance your marketing and sales efforts during your renewal campaign. Reach out to your Marketing Automation rep to learn more about how these options can fit into your renewal strategy this year.
1. Thank You/Upsell Campaigns - Trigger an email or series or emails once someone has renewed their tickets
Send a thank you email to your season ticket holders once they renew. You can have one email for everyone or different versions for renewals vs new season ticket holders. In your email, provide information on donations, merchandise, NIL, parking, or anything else you want your season ticket holders to know. Examples here.
You don’t have to stop at one! Add multiple email touchpoints within your campaign to stay engaged with your season ticket holders for days or weeks after they have renewed to ensure your renewal accounts get all relevant information, regardless of when they renew. Use filters in your campaigns to make sure contacts only receive information relevant to them – for example, contacts without parking get sent a parking upsell email, while those who already have parking skip that email and move on to the next touchpoint in the campaign.
2. Renewal Landing Pages – A hub for renewal information for your season ticket holders
Use Eloqua’s landing page builder to create an engaging microsite with information on renewal deadlines, bill plan options, parking maps, season ticket holder benefits, and anything else your fans need to know. Examples here.
Want to step it up a notch? Work with your marketing automation rep to set up customization! Dynamic content can be used to display whether a contact is paid in full, on a payment plan, or has a balance due. Or, create a dynamic content block so each contact sees their personal ticket rep’s contact information.
*Turnaround time for dynamic content is approximately two weeks to provide adequate time for creation and testing
3. Invoices – A snapshot of items on a contact’s account and their balance due
Your marketing automation rep can help create renewal invoices for your season ticket holders. In addition to distributing via email, these can be hosted on eVenue My Account and in Salesforce for your reps to share individually with their accounts. Examples here.
*Turnaround time for invoices is approximately 3 weeks from when the asset checklist is returned; advanced customization may take longer
4. Automated Renewal Touchpoint Campaigns – one campaign with all your renewal touchpoints for renewal season
Instead of sending each email reminder manually, create one campaign that includes all your renewal touchpoints and use shared filters to filter contacts out of the campaign as they renew. Turn the campaign on when you launch renewals and let it run through your renewal deadline!
5. Payment Plan/Credit Card Expiration Reminders – automate all your reminder notifications related to your bill plan
Automate a campaign to send an email reminder to contacts on a bill plan the day before their payment date reminding them their card will be charged. Another campaign can run on the first of each month alerting any contact on a bill plan whose card expires at the end of the month that they should contact you to update their card on file. Examples here.
6. Renewal Lead Scores – create a lead score model to strategize which leads to call first
Eloqua’s lead score model allows you to use contact information, ticket and donation data, plus marketing engagement information like email clicks and form submits to score your contacts on an A1 to D4 scale. Use this information to prioritize which accounts the sales team should reach out to first and bucket your other renewal accounts to send targeted messaging to different groups instead of the same email to all renewals.
7. Rep Signature emails – email send through Eloqua that look like they are coming directly from the sales rep
Eloqua’s signature rules allow you to send personalized emails in bulk to all non-renewed accounts that look like they are coming from the recipient’s specific ticket rep. If the season ticket holder replies, that response will go directly to their ticket rep. These signature emails are often used just before early bird and final renewal deadlines to efficiently communicate with all relevant accounts while maintaining a personalized touch.
*Turnaround time for signature rules is approximately 1-2 weeks
8. Donations/Memberships – don’t forget about fundraising!
Every single example listed above can be applied to fundraising-related campaigns! If you are on PACfund and are emphasizing annual giving, memberships, or sport-specific donations alongside your ticket renewal campaign, talk to your Marketing Automation contact about getting these campaigns set up for donations as well!
9. Post Renewal Deadline Planning – when the deadline has passed, find out how to get your non-renewed accounts back on board for the season
Use Eloqua’s form builder to learn more about why non-renewed accounts have not committed for next season and how to use that information. Details here.
BONUS! Other Considerations this Renewal Season:
Need some inspiration as you put together your renewal emails? Check out these examples from around the Pac community here.
Work with your Salesforce contact to get Pre-Loaded Opportunities (PLOs) ready in time for renewal launch and to set up an auto-close flow for those PLOs.
