Deliv­er­ing a stand­out cus­tomer expe­ri­ence is even more crit­i­cal when your fans can just as eas­i­ly inter­act with you away from your venue as with­in it. The San Jose Sharks know this all too well, which is why the team is re-imag­in­ing what they want the cus­tomer expe­ri­ence to look like for the crowds who attend their games. And the team’s Pres­i­dent, Jonathan Bech­er, is bring­ing in tech­nol­o­gy to play a vital role in help­ing per­son­al­ize these expe­ri­ences for fans. 

The Chang­ing For­mu­la for Fan Happiness

“The for­mu­la for hap­pi­ness used to be if the home team won, the fans left hap­py. It was that sim­ple,” said Bech­er. ​“Now they want to be enter­tained. They demand bet­ter food, and a high­er vari­ety of food. It’s become a culi­nary expe­ri­ence. They want music with­in the games, as well. And so, just like soft­ware com­pa­nies are learn­ing, sports are learn­ing it’s not just the game, it’s about the expe­ri­ence around the game.”

The Sharks also rec­og­nize that hock­ey pos­es a unique chal­lenge when it comes to get­ting its cus­tomers to spend at an event. ​“There are no breaks in my sport,” Bech­er described. ​“There’s no time for peo­ple to get food or beer. There are only two inter­mis­sions. So, I do 80 per­cent of my in-game sales in 20 min­utes.” That’s a tiny win­dow just to deliv­er the basics, let alone a mem­o­rable experience.