Charlton fans feel the most valued in the Football League according to its latest Supporters' Survey. The club got a rating of 8.2 on a ten point scale with 1,750 fans responding to the survey, only one of eight clubs with more than 1,000 responses. The Addicks were one of only five Championship clubs where complaint figures were down into low single figures.
Charlton got the highest rating in the Championship for ticket prices, ease of purchasing tickets in advance, ease of obtaining tocket information, ease of purchasing tickets on the day and discounted child tickets. The club got the highest ranking in the Championship for its community schemes and for the price of replica kit.
The report includes a special case study of Charlton as an example of good customer service. The Rickshaw service is singled out for special praise, as are communications with fans.
You can read a summary of the report or download the full version here:
Survey
5 comments:
This is good news. All we need now is a team that lives up to the high standards of the clubs business and community activities.
It's also reassuring as in the past the 'operational' aspects of the club have been poor.
I guess I'd still rather have a badly run business and top flight football, but then we football fans are never happy are we?
First, can I just say that you do an incredible job with this Blog!! Second, whilst in many ways this survey is obviously very positive for Charlton, do we think the Club may be selling it's season and match day tickets too cheaply? I guess the issues are (a) price elasticity of demand in the short-run and (b) the potential long-term benefits of having a large and loyal supporter base. Any views?
As useful as econmic models are they fail to take account of fan's perspectives of what will be served up the following season so you can never get even close to a supply and demand graph. Also you can only set prices of season tickets once a year so you have to be cautious or else you can lose loyal fans (customers) for ever.
Economic models also fail to account for the value of a large crowd and it's effect on the atmosphere and therefore the performance of the team.
I agree. It is nevertheless true though that football at Charlton is "cheap" compared to other Clubs in London for example. The question is then whether that is the right strategy. As far as season tickets are concerned, I'm sure it is. Right now it is imperative to "keep bums on seats" to ensure a good atmosphere, as you rightly point out, and to retain as much long-term support as possible. I suppose what the Club might do is to more aggressively price match day tickets for very popular matches, but when the objective must still be to increase the core, long-term support even that should be done with care. My own conclusion is that whilst I'd be prepared to pay more for my own season tickets (which I view as being incredible value for money), the Club's pricing policy is probably about right, at least for now.
The club would consider that keeping prices as low as they can is consistent with their family club ethos. They would also hope that once someone comes to the ground they would spend money on food and drink, a programme (although only about 40 per cent do buy one) and possibly merchandise.
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