With Momentive, the Golden State Warriors innovate on the fan experience
The Warriors know that to be a CX champion, you have to listen to feedback. Find out how they rely on Momentive to build incredible experiences.
For the Golden State Warriors, the customer experience goes way beyond a simple transaction—and encompasses more than basketball games. The formidable NBA team is also a live entertainment company that owns and operates Chase Center, its 18,000 seat arena. With offerings that range from eSports championships to concerts and comedians, the Warriors are committed to creating incredible experiences for each and every fan.
“We're in the business of entertaining people,” explained Senior Manager of Business Strategy and Analytics Charles Gao. “We like to think of ourselves as a company that sells an experience, that offers joy to people, that creates lifelong memories.”
To show up as CX champions, the Warriors know that keeping up with customer expectations is critical. They turned to Momentive to not only understand the fan experience but also discover innovative ways to continually improve it.
Optimizing experiences with fan feedback
“My first experience using Momentive was when we were in the midst of a championship run, while also juggling this huge project of opening Chase Center,” said Gao. “I think a lot of things were on our minds that we wished we knew about our customers, and we had to figure out a way to get that information from them and bake it into our strategizing.”
As the Warriors evolved from a basketball business to a venue management business, having consistent customer feedback was the key to growing with confidence—and seeing results.
With Momentive customer experience solutions, the organization can ensure a great fan experience from the jump. When the Warriors used GetFeedback by Momentive to optimize both warriors.com and chasecenter.com, they were able to streamline the online ticketing experience by removing unnecessary web content and getting a better understanding of what resonated with fans. These improvements sparked an outstanding 19% boost to the Warriors’ Net Promoter Score® (NPS).
“It's no longer just anecdotal feedback of, 'we think changing this layout leads to a better experience,’” said Gao. “We can actually look at the numbers and say NPS or our rating scores went up or down after this change. And that's really powerful because that directional guidance helps you make decisions and affirm those decisions as you go.”
With Momentive, our NPS increased 19%. And that's incredible. In this industry, it's very, very hard to move the needle that much.
For the in-game experience, the Warriors embed surveys into specific customer touchpoints, from the commute experience to purchasing food or beverages. This fuels the organization with immediate feedback and allows the Warriors to act proactively to improve experiences. It also uncovers unexpected ways to fulfill customer expectations. When the Warriors saw that fans were asking for more diverse halftime performances, the organization introduced new junior, senior, and co-ed dance teams. These acts fit perfectly with the Warriors’ diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives—and they were exactly what fans wanted.
“There's so much tied to generating an incredible experience,” said John Beaven, executive vice president of ticket sales and services. “Having the opportunity to understand whether we are showing up has been incredibly informative. Momentive has helped reinforce some of the things that we have been doing and identify new opportunities where we can continue to improve.”
Making the right moves—and making fans feel heard
For years, the Warriors had thought that their customers didn’t want to be surveyed, that it put a burden on them. Gao and his team were delighted to discover that asking for feedback using Momentive solutions was not only easy, it was something that customers welcomed.
“Our fans actually jump on every opportunity to provide feedback and will give us everything we're asking for and more,” said Gao. “In fact, we noticed that fans who weren't offered surveys actually started to complain because they weren't given the chance to voice their feedback.”
Being able to tap into that enthusiastic fan base has revitalized the Warriors’ business strategies, helping them chart a clear path for brand development, customer experience, and overall growth.
“We really try to not make any sort of substantive decision without understanding the data behind the decision and the impact it'll have on the fan experience,” said Beaven. “And it gives us confidence as we move forward with our decisions, knowing that they’ve got the support of the people that are most important to us.”
Leveraging Momentive to truly understand from the fans what's most important to them has guided almost all of our strategy over the course of the last several years.
With their fans in mind, the Warriors are embracing digital evolution, including new eCommerce and streaming options that will cement their place in the market. They’re also expanding their use of Momentive to track more of the fan experience in real time. This will help the organization pivot quickly and personalize collective experiences to fit individual preferences.
“I'm very optimistic about the future of the Golden State Warriors, and the future of live entertainment in general,” said Gao. “I think the pandemic made it abundantly clear what happens when there's a lack of this. There's this longing for community. There's a longing to have something to root for, for people to come together, gather around, and have collective experiences.” With an assist from Momentive, the Warriors are innovating on the fan experience and leading with insights.
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Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.
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