Communications provider Relay Station has revealed that Coca Cola League 1 football team Southend United FC becomes the latest club to adopt its voice broadcasting technology and services to improve its communications with the teams supporters.
The first voice broadcast from the club went out last week, with a personalised message from manager Steve Tilson sent to the mobiles and landlines of supporters offering them an 18% discount on the price of a 12-game, half-season ticket if they sign up before Christmas. Alternatively, fans can opt for a 15% discount for five league match tickets during the second half of the season.
Voice broadcasting is fast becoming a must-have tool for clubs to send personalised messages to supporters, the company says. All that clubs need do to is record a message from the manager or player as an MP3 file, and send it to Relay Station, complete with the phone number database, with instructions on when to broadcast.
The personalised message is sent to the mobiles or landlines of all fans simultaneously (or spread out over a number of hours to avoid overloading ticket office staff). Relay Station says the technology is widely-used by many Premiership and Championship clubs, including Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Coventry and Stoke City.
Sustained fans support in the second half of the season will be vital to Southend United if we are to win promotion to the Championship next season, says Garry Adamson, Director of Commercial Services at Southend United FC. Relay Stations technology will be instrumental to us in obtaining that support and maximising home attendances.