AI! Every dialogue these days it seems must have an AI reference so I’ve now completed that mandatory requirement and we can get on to the more substantive and actionable topic of why Customer Franchise Analysis (CFA, pioneered by colleague Stuart Lindsay working with FORE! Reservations and their client base and refined in the Pellucid-Edgehill marriage era) is critical to getting the marketing benefits that AI universally promises. In last month’s OtR, I talked about why industry analysis in the AI world was going to be challenging, and not imminent, due to our data dearth and AI’s voracious need for facts, history, terminology and trends specific to golf operations to be of any credible use. This month we’ll zoom in closer to home for a number of our readers and subscribers to the much tinier universe of individual courses and their customer databases.
As is usually the case for the topics we cover in OtR, we have relevant, applied experience in the area of CFA. What’s interesting and counterintuitive is that the industry has actually taken a step backwards from that experience as FORE! got ingested into GolfNow and elements of the ability to export and analyze customer records and groups were disabled. New, non-GolfNow technology providers and tools are re-animating this capability and not a moment too soon in our opinion (as we’ll outline in the closing paragraph). In this issue we’ll cover:
- What does the average owner/operator currently know about their customer franchise? (unique golfers, demographics, proximity, frequency/spend levels, loyalty etc.) Spoiler alert…not much
- What should we know about our customer franchise? Answer: All of the above
- What would we do if we knew all that stuff, would it make a business impact difference or would we just be wiser? No hint, gotta’ read further or subscribe
As is usually the case, we’re working with a small number of willing tech providers and owner/operators to map out CFA 2.0 and how it will feed AI-enabled marketing which will a) make it easier and faster for course staff to schedule and publish timely and relevant messages to target customer groups and b) to be able to track the results of those “easier” campaigns to see which ones work (rinse & repeat) and which miss the mark (good idea but…refine or ditch). The reason we believe it has heightened urgency is that we’re seeing early indications that the COVID surge which ushered in “peak golf interest” is fading and we’re heading back to the battle for share-of-customer days among courses (which, by the way, we didn’t excel at the first time around). For our subscribers, read on to get all the details; for everyone else, you can get the rest of the story one of three ways:
- Subscribe to the Pellucid Publications Membership for $495/yr – Annual subscribers get access to the following:
- Outside the Ropes monthly digital newsletter (including this issue for starters!)
- Annual State of the Industry report portfolio (PowerPoint presentation, PDF commentary report, access to Jim/Stuart video of presentation)
- Geographic Weather Impact Tracking (US, 45 regions, 61 markets) or Cognilogic for Golf Playable Hours/Capacity Rounds for individual facilities
- National Consumer Franchise Health Scorecard (expanded data and tables underlying the annual update on the US golfer base)
- Subscribe to OtR, 12 monthly issues for $250/yr with a money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied at any time during your subscription. Subscribers also get access to the historical archive of past issues (last two years) via the members-only section of the Pellucid website
- Subscribe to Golf Market Research Center (for operators wanting a combination of insights and action tools) – In addition to an OtR subscription (hence, this issue), you’ll get the State of the Industry presentation along with the full suite of Performance Tracking reports and weather impact services (Cognilogic for historical Golf Playable Hours/Capacity Rds, Foresight for the 60-day forecast for your facility location for Capacity Rds and daily key weather forecast variables)
As always, samples of all our publications, reports and services are available on the Reports and Services pages of the Pellucid website. Thanks for your continued support as an OtR subscriber!
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