157 - What Your Group Renewal Rate SHOULD Be — And Why They Don’t Come Back

Most teams sit at a 75–85% group renewal rate… but that’s not the goal — it’s the starting point. In this episode, Jeremy breaks down what elite renewal actually looks like, why groups really don’t come back, and how small breakdowns quietly kill retention. If you want to stop rebuilding your book of business every year and start compounding revenue, this is a must-listen.

Key Topics Covered

• Why 75–85% renewal is average — and why 90%+ should be your target
• The hidden cost of low renewal rates (and how it kills efficiency)
• The real reason groups don’t come back: “death by a thousand cuts”
• Why lack of follow-up is the #1 renewal killer (and how to fix it)
• How experience vs. expectation gaps destroy retention
• Turning one-time group outings into long-term relationships
• Simple post-event follow-up systems that drive repeat bookings
• How to segment groups by renewal potential and prioritize the right ones
• Why you’re not selling tickets — you’re selling someone else’s reputation
• The KPIs that actually matter: tracking renewal revenue, not just volume

Timestamps

00:00 – Why renewal rates matter more than you think
 00:30 – Industry benchmarks vs. real goals (75–85% vs. 90%+)
 01:35 – Renewal rate = reflection of your entire system
 02:28 – The compounding impact of lost groups each year
 03:53 – Excluding one-time groups from your true renewal rate
 04:51 – Why higher renewal = massive efficiency gains
 05:20 – “Death by a thousand cuts” — why groups actually leave
 05:49 – The #1 mistake: not asking for the renewal
 06:45 – No follow-up = no renewal system
 07:16 – Experience vs. expectation gaps
 08:12 – Group leader pressure: you’re selling their reputation
 09:10 – Why transactional thinking kills long-term revenue
 09:39 – Creating next steps and ongoing engagement
 10:08 – One-time vs. repeatable groups (and how to handle both)
 11:04 – Turning situational buyers into repeat customers
 12:23 – Game day execution + post-event engagement
 12:52 – Using photos and recaps to reinforce the experience
 14:35 – Pricing vs. perceived value
 15:04 – Positioning your offer as a time-saver
 16:55 – Building a simple follow-up sequence (24–72 hours + beyond)
 17:21 – Creating urgency for next year’s booking
 18:10 – Giving group leaders a “win”
 18:39 – Segmenting groups by renewal potential
 19:31 – Tracking renewal KPIs that actually matter
 21:18 – Why renewal is always improve-able
 21:47 – The real takeaway: small issues drive churn
 22:17 – Shift from transactional → relationship-based selling
 23:13 – Using surveys and feedback to continuously improve

Episodes mentioned: 

134: Season Tickets vs Single Game - And How to Convert One Into the Other

139: What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Call to Action

Pull your group sales data from last season and answer two questions:

1. What percentage actually renewed?
2. Why didn’t the others come back?

Then build a simple post-event follow-up system — because without it, you don’t have a renewal strategy… you have a guessing game.

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Transcript

Jeremy Neisser (00:00.524)
Welcome to episode 157 of the Sports Marketing Machine podcast powered by Revilocity Sports. I'm your host, Jeremy Nizer. This is the podcast designed to help you sell more tickets and grow your fan base. Today we're going to talk about group sales and specifically renewal rates and really unpack where they should be, what are some benchmarks and why don't companies

Renew or businesses or outings renew one year to the next so we're gonna unpack a lot of that So that gives you a really good idea of where do I stand versus other teams and get a better understanding of what we may mean to Kind of take a look at to get better. So renewal rates most teams sit somewhere between that 75 % to 85 % year after year on paper sounds great

But if the real question is, if someone had a marvelous experience, why wouldn't they come back? Because every group that doesn't renew is just a lost sale and it's a leak in your system. So we're going to break down good renewal rates, why groups don't come back and how to fix it so you're not rebuilding your book of business every single year. Let's get going.

Jeremy Neisser (01:35.926)
So what is a good group renewal rate? 75-85%. If you're in that range that is industry average, if you're a team that is below that year after year, you've got a problem. If you are looking at it today, let's just use minor league baseball, you're a few weeks away from opening day.

and you're looking at it and you're like, I'm not, where I think I feel I should be. Well, I'm going to unpack some things here in the next few moments that really should help you. The first thing that I would do is know that 75 % to 85 % renewal range is the industry average. It isn't the benchmark. It is the starting point. So think about it this way. If you do a hundred groups, group outings a year and 20 to 25 each year, don't come back.

That's 20 to 25 new sales that you have to replace just to get where you were last year and anything above that will get you to the number that you're looking for. Right. So one of the things that I talked about in the episode one 34 was season tickets or stability groups should have similarly the same mechanisms to them. If you treat them right season tickets, just renew their season tickets in many cases, right? You have to build a relationship with them, but they renew them.

and you're doing it earlier and what have you. can tell you really, really good teams have a great renewal rate percentage earlier in the year. I can tell you a team, Birmingham, Alabama, the Barons at one point, they had every single picnic area of their sold out on weekends way before the season started. In fact, they had weekends sold out in December because they created urgency and treated people right when they came out.

The real goal that you should be thinking about for the entire season, 85 % is acceptable, 90 % is a strong system. You do 95 % like renewal rate, that's elite, that is fantastic. You are doing a really great job. Now you and I both know you're not gonna get to 100 % because some years you're doing a family reunion and well, that doesn't happen every year.

Jeremy Neisser (03:53.206)
And other groups are going to be birthday parties and well, that kid with the birthday party might not want to come back this year. So take what I'm saying with some sort of consideration and maybe you take birthday parties out of your numbers to see your renewal rate and, and family reunions, because you know that they're like one time type things and that you sure can create a great experience, but it's a one time type thing, but you have to constantly go out and find new people for those.

So like just thinking about it a little bit more holistically about the makeup of your groups, but really it's a compounding problem. If you take out your birthdays, family reunions, those one-off situations, and you're still at 80 % or 70 % or even lower, right? You have to rebuild annually 20%, 30%. If you're at 90%, you only have to rebuild 10%.

That's double the efficiency. So renewals aren't just a sales metric. They're a reflection of your entire group experience system. Which leads me to my next point. Why do groups not come back? Why do groups not come back? That is something that you're probably going to have to ask your team each year and sit down with them and really have some really in-depth conversations because in reality, it's probably not one thing.

It's death by a thousand cuts. Groups rarely leave because of one big issue. Because oftentimes if it's a big issue, you're fixing it right there on the spot. Simple as that, right? They leave because there's multiple small little breakdowns. They had an issue trying to get tickets and distributing tickets. They had issues doing this. It was a lot of work on the shoulders of the staff members. Like there are many problems that are small little breakdowns that lead to

to groups not renewing. No one asked them to come back is the first one. And this is a hilarious one because if you think about it, you're just like, well, duh, we should be trying to renew groups from the last year. But oftentimes teams forget to do that. And it's so silly to think about and so silly to talk about. But some teams just simply are focused on trying to get new and trying to get new that they just forget to call the renewals. Teams assume assume

Jeremy Neisser (06:18.072)
that if they had a good time, they'll just call me up and rebook. But no, it's the same principle that I talked about in episode 125, and I'll put a link in the show notes. I saw your ad, but didn't buy. It's the same principle. Like, there's no follow-up. There's no conversion there without the follow-up. So you do have to call your renewals. And it's so fascinating to talk to teams and say, yeah, we're just waiting for the renewals to call us. No, no, no, no, no. You call that?

You call them to renew, right? Right? So it's silly to think about, silly to even say out loud, but there are still teams that just don't do that. You need to do that. Most groups will leave your game and never hear from you again because you get busy and they get busy and everyone forgets. So without a follow-up system for your renewals, there is no renewal system. Number two, the experience didn't match the expectation.

This is reality for a lot of teams and the conversion rate optimization topic that I talked about in episode 139. It's the promise of what's going to happen versus the delivery gap, that gap between the promise and the delivery that kills renewals. Here are some examples. The group leader expected to be treated like a VAP and got kind of the chaos of general admission.

The concession lines were long. wasn't exactly how you painted the picture as the sales rep or the marketing team about what the promotion and the group outing was supposed to look like. didn't match. Confusing entry, the seating were weird. Like these are all small little problems that compile into one big reason why they don't come back. No clear

group recognition or that special moment that maybe you advertise in your group brochure or on your website about groups will be recognized during the game. Well, maybe they do get recognized, but it is such a subtle way that no one pays attention and it's not something that the company is like, yeah, that's us, right? Like there's none of that. Remember group leaders are hosting an event. If they look bad, they won't risk it again.

Jeremy Neisser (08:42.06)
because their reputation is on the line. You're not selling tickets, you're selling someone else's reputation. I'm gonna say that again. You're not in the business of selling tickets. You're selling an outing, you're selling an event, you're selling someone else's reputation on the line when you're putting this all together. Number three reason why groups do not renew. Most teams treat

Group sales as a one transaction, simple as that, and we're done moving on. But to think like the funnel from episode 125, there's top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, and bottom of the funnel. What should happen is you engage the group, you get the group to want to come out, they come out, they have a great time, they get re-offers, they get opportunities. You are constantly keeping them in the loop of what's happening.

and they move to the next step, right? And it creates urgency to lock in next year's date or do something additional for your team or do some fun giveaways or send the mascot on over. Like you are presenting opportunities that you can build a better relationship with a one-time one shop group outing. But oftentimes teams aren't taking that next step because they're like, I gotta hit a goal.

I gotta hit this group sales number. I get it. I've been there. I'm there. Like I'm with you. But there are other opportunities after the sale of things that you can do to create some urgency and create a better relationship. If there is no next step after the group outing, the relationship just kind of stops, right? It's kind of like you were asking someone out on a date and they had a great time and you had a great time.

And the person's thinking to themselves, man, I really want to go back out on the second date, but you don't ask for the second date. What are, whatever it looks like, like that's what I'm trying to explain here, right? If there is no clear next step that you think about in your mind, the relationship doesn't die. just stops. Right? Reason number four, why groups do not renew the buyer was situational, not repeatable. This is a big one and it's.

Jeremy Neisser (11:04.882)
Often overlooked so a one-time company event company picnics summer party staff appreciation It was a sweet night a school trip tied to a specific day for education days or whatever it is These aren't bad groups. They're just not built to renew automatically So not all groups are created equal, but most teams treat them all the same

They're not going back to the schools after education day and say, Hey, here are some of the cool things that we're doing in education space and for kids that we think might be fun for your kids. Or, Hey, can we send the mascot out or some players to high five kids after school one day or before school, like building a relationship that fits what they're trying to accomplish.

When you're doing that, you're going to get schools to raise their hand and say, heck yes, I'm coming out for education day and I want to do X, Y, and Z with you. That my friends is how you build on these one time transactional opportunities and turn them into something more. Same thing with the company picnic, right? You're sending a thank you note afterwards. It says, Hey, we really appreciate you. This was really awesome. Here's some cool things that are coming on up just to keep you in the loop of what's happening out here. Right?

The other thing that I see and this happens a lot with some of the teams is that there is a lack of game day, game day coordination with that and post game kind of engagement. So during the game, if you're doing a company picnic, you need someone welcoming people, showing them where they need to go. Cause a lot of these people have never been to your ballpark or your arena or your facility. You got to show them, Hey, your party is this way. Like sweets are this way. Like.

You're over communicating where people are going. So they feel welcomed. They feel like, Hey, I'm going this way. I'm with this group. We're doing X, right? Like that needs to happen. And then they've got a group coordinator the day of that checks in on them, see if they need anything, see if they have any questions, like legitimately being a great customer service person for them on the day of the game. And then after the game matters, I don't want to say more than during.

Jeremy Neisser (13:21.698)
but it definitely matters afterwards. Most teams do nothing or they send some sort of generic thanks for coming. Like, could you have during the game pop on over and take a picture of the staff or a staff photo at the game and get that printed and send that to them so they can have in their office?

I bet that human resources person would absolutely love that you took a picture with the mascot with their staff when everyone got there about to eat. I think everyone would really appreciate that, right? So sending photos or a recap from the event, give them a reason to relive that opportunity. That my friends, you're taking it to the next level because no one does this. Think about like I take my kids to Chuck E. Cheese. They don't do that for a birthday party.

You go to Skyzone, the trampoline places. They don't do that for a company, for a birthday party. Other places like the park where they would rent out from the city, the park and the grills or bring in a taco truck and all these things. They're not doing a lot of things that you're talking about that we're talking about right now, taking it to the next level, right? If you don't reinforce the memory, people will forget about it. So number six of why they do not renew.

is pricing or value perception change. If they got a crazy deal last time or the expectations were set too high and they look at it go, gosh, it feels more expensive even if it's not, or they don't clearly see the value that you're communicating, they won't justify it doing it again. Remember, companies that are doing their company picnics and their outings, your competition isn't things that you would think of.

It is the community park. It is them setting up tables and chairs outside of their office and having a taco truck come in. is, you are actually helping them organize, set up everything, and you're taking a lot of the work off of the human resources person or the office manager or the VP of sales or even like the sales director who are bringing people to the suite. Like you are taking a lot off of their plate.

Jeremy Neisser (15:33.678)
because you are organizing the food. You are planning and coordinating all of the details for them. So you are the time saver. But in all reality, like the perception of what you are presenting should be really from their perspective, not, hey, it's $25. It's all you can eat, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? That's the features. But the benefits are we're taking time off of your plate. It's really super simple to set up. You just tell us what date you want to come.

and we'll have everything set up. You just tell us how many people we're feeding. We're going to get everything set up for you. Your president gets to throw out ceremonial first pitch. We'll coordinate all the details. The less details that the office manager has to coordinate, the easier it is for them to renew and put it together. But if they feel like they have to do more work, then the value...

is not clearly articulated and they won't justify doing it again because their expectations were up here and then they have to do all this work like they don't want to do all the work they just simply want to call you tell you how many and you take care of everything and they show up and have a blast that's what they want in all reality. All right so how do you fix it? How do you fix the group renewal problem? So number one

Build a post-game follow-up sequence. within 24 to 72 hours, send out a thank you, highlight their group. If you took some photos, do that or a recap. Send that on over to them within 24 hours or 72 hours after their group outing. Boy, they are going to love and appreciate that you sent the mascot on over there and take a picture of their company picnic. They're going to love that you took a picture.

with their sales reps and some of their clients inside of the suite. They're going to love that you did that, right? Within a weeks after that, you don't necessarily have to ask for the renewals because you may not have your schedule yet. But check-ins and keeping them updated, hey, we've got the schedule coming out this day here. I know you like coming out on Fridays. Here are some Fridays and here are some promotions that we have that we're working on for this.

Jeremy Neisser (17:50.488)
creates urgency a little bit faster when you get the schedule and you're working on promotions and you created such an exceptional experience during and then immediately after by sending them a photo and sharing kind of like a quick recap of what they had, The second thing is

Give those group leaders, the human resources person, the office manager, give them a win. Make them look like the hero, right? So that scoreboard recognition or that ceremonial first pitch if you're in baseball for the team president or something like that, or really feel like you're giving them exceptional customer service, right? Make them feel at the end of it, gosh, that was easy. Everybody loved it. I didn't have to do anything. My reputation is great. They come back.

Number three, segment your groups. Not all groups should be treated the same. Your high renewal potentials. These are your big corporate outings. Maybe your youth sports teams, your churches that are coming out for specific days, start with them first and then work your way down, right? Your low renewal potentials, one-time events, any like fundraisers that like we're doing okay, like...

Some of those are your second ones, but your high renewal potentials, which are oftentimes your highest revenue ones, start with those first. They should be treated a little bit differently than your low renewal potential ones. So focus your retention efforts where they matter most. But I'm not saying treat everybody differently. What I'm saying is you prioritize the high renewal potential ones the most.

Because if they suspend five grand to do their company picnic, you, my friend, are going to want to do everything you can to get them to come back next year for their five grand company picnic, right? So don't just say, hey, do you want to come back at renewal time? Like, hey, let's lock in a similar date. Here are some opportunities. Here's what this looks like.

Jeremy Neisser (19:55.988)
Is there other things that you're doing that we can help you celebrate? You're doing community things. You got a ribbon cutting, like thinking about it from that perspective would be super helpful. The customer service thing is really big and you have to show them you genuinely care about them. Fifth way to keep them coming back is track it like real KPI. I don't just track total group sales. Don't just track renewal rates, which is exactly what

teams do track renewal percentage revenue from renewals from one year to the next and now it's gonna be off because apples to apples where you are today versus where you were last year like that's apples to apples but if you're looking at renewal rate from last season the group that comes in says hey I'm gonna reserve 250 but ultimately brings 330 out and they want to start off with 250 again

You can always go up. can't always go down. And that's what I'm thinking through with you right now is oftentimes we think, well, they brought out three, three, three, three, 30 last year and they're coming in with two 50 this year. Like that's not their final number. They can always go up. They just can't go down. Right. Retention is often cheaper than acquisition. Always, always specifically for single game ticket sales. But when it comes to group sales, treating these folks right.

Getting them to want to come back but knowing they can always go up on their numbers and not go down is a whole lot easier Whoo doggy I gave you a lot of good stuff today Feel free to go back and listen to this episode because there's a lot of great nuggets around renewal rates for groups But the big takeaways 75 to 85 percent renewal is average but not the goal The real target is like 90 percent and that's for you setting up better systems

Groups don't leave because of one major issue. It's a bunch of small little things. The biggest killers are no follow-ups, poor experience, more work placed on the group leader's shoulders than they were expecting. So the expectations didn't match the promise. So they're putting their reputation on the line and maybe someone didn't get this or get that or what have you, right? So that poor experience is really a big thing here. The fix is simple.

Jeremy Neisser (22:17.132)
treat your group sales like a funnel, not necessarily a transaction, and be thinking about it like a relationship. And so you're going to be building a repeatable, renewable system, trying to create urgency earlier, and you would be able to get them to renew, and you can create some momentum to try to go out and get new groups and what have you, right? So I want you to pull in last, your...

Last season's group data and ask yourself how many actually came back from one year to the next? Are you tracking that information? You should absolutely and more importantly Why didn't the others come back maybe do a postgame survey and have a postgame call? With the group leader to get their quick opinion Even if it's a 10-minute call that is so valuable because it tells you what you did really well and where you might have some opportunities for some improvements so

There you go. Lots of great information here. Lots of details around group outings and how you are treating people and what you can do to increase your group sales outreach or group sales renewal rates rather. If you found value in this episode, please take a moment, pop one over to Spotify or Apple and leave a rating or a review. It would mean the world to me, but more importantly, it would get this podcast in front of people who are just like you trying to sell more tickets.

and get more people to their games. Until next time.