No matter how we look at it, golf club operation/business is a service.
As such, our interest is in measuring the performance and satisfaction of attracting new golfers and golf club members, while also retaining existing ones.
It can be conducted in various ways; however, I would suggest starting with a simple tool called Net Promoter Score (NPS).
This tool identifies who and how many of our customers are either promoting or detracting from our service (e.g., golf clubs or golf courses).
Despite the simplicity of NPS, it is not simple to find golf clubs that are using this tool (e.g., Troon Golf, Fairfield Glade Community Club).
To my surprise, there is no mention of NPS in England Golf’s Recruitment & Retention Toolkit for golf clubs and on the USGA’s website.
In markets like the golf course industry, where potential buyers tend to seek advice from friends or acquaintances before making a purchase decision, the Net Promoter Score can be a valuable tool.
NPS can be a good starting point/springboard from which the evaluator can engage in a deeper conversation with the respondent and gather data as to why the customer responded the way they did, either positively or negatively.
Of course, NPS alone is not enough, but when placed in the proper framework and accompanied by some additional motivational questioning, it can be a helpful metric.
We must understand what motivates people to join our golf club or to leave it.
In Syngenta’s latest Download Syngenta_growing_golf_in_the_uk_summary_report survey among the TOP5 off-course stimulus (I don’t want to list on-course expectations because there is no new there), we can find such issues as:
- comfortable with the golf course and surroundings;
- friendliness of staff;
- club is welcoming regardless of gender.
Therefore, it was shocking to read England Golf‘s most recent Golf Club Membership Questionnaire, which found that fewer than 50% of golf clubs conduct an exit survey of departing golf club members. Why????
What a lost opportunity to understand your customers and to better serve your golf club members!!
However, I must say that golfers are not leaving a golf club just because of a single problematic event. Churn results from a series of events.
This is why we should focus on the entire customer journey.
So, suppose we can meet their expectations (understand their needs) and provide them with a series of positive experiences (e.g., showing them that we care about the members and other golfers on our golf course).
In that case, we are more likely to retain our golf club members.
At the very same time, we should understand that not every loyal customer is profitable. When profitability and loyalty are considered simultaneously, it becomes clear that different customers require distinct treatment.
Personalized experience is indispensable.
To retain golf club members with significant customer lifetime value (CLV) in the era of social customers, we should complement the old CLV model with the customer referral value.
The importance of Customer Referral Value (CRV) measurement lies in anticipating future customer behavior and quantifying the social value associated with it.
By measuring customer referral value, we would like to get answers to the following questions:
- Did he/she actually make the referral? (percent that refer)
- Size of their networks.
- Did they actually become a customer? + what is the value of new customers from referrals? + How profitable are they?
To be able to leverage the inherent power of social media, golf clubs should be more open and prepared for conversations in their own and other social media channels.
Customers these days want a reciprocal relationship (vs “broadcasting” communication style) and feel they need to be heard.
I think openness can affect golf clubs’ NPS. Openness can directly improve NPS in 2 areas:
- converting Passives to Promoters;
- mitigate the number of Defectors.