Send us Fan Mail

In the finale of the three-part Fan Journeys series, Jeremy Neisser shows sports teams how to stop losing fans by finding their single biggest leak and fixing it before touching anything else. He hands you a three-number diagnostic that pinpoints exactly where fans drop off, then walks through the specific email automations that close the capture gap, the relevance gap, and the re-engagement gap. If you've ever felt like everything in your marketing needs fixing at once, this episode gives you the order of operations to actually make progress.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- The three-number test that shows you exactly where fans are leaking out of your journey — using data you already have
- Why trying to fix every leak at once guarantees you fix none of them
- How to calculate your capture gap, relevance gap, and re-engagement gap and rank them by impact
- Building an automated three-email post-game sequence that turns first-time attendees into repeat buyers
- Why first-time fans should never land in your general email blast list
- Simple three-bucket segmentation by attendance frequency — no expensive CRM required
- How to test different offers, subject lines, and tones by fan group and learn what actually converts
- Building a win-back sequence that reactivates lapsed fans and identifies who still has real interest
- When to let non-responders go and focus your energy on the fans who re-engage
- Why clarity and discipline beat a bigger tech budget every time
- The mindset shift from exporting-and-importing lists to running an intentional system
- Why systems compound while campaigns end — and what that means for your attendance

Episodes Mentioned:
Episode 176 - Where Fans Are Leaking Out(And Why It Happens in the Same Places Every Time) (Part 2 of 3)

Episode 175 - The Fan Journey: The 5-Stage Map That Turns Single-Game Buyers Into Season Ticket Holders (Part 1 of 3)

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Kicking off Episode 177, the finale of the three-part Fan Journeys series
[00:28] – Quick recap of the framework: capture, know, respond, return, grow
[00:56] – The whiteboard test — can you actually draw your own fan marketing process?
[01:41] – Why the "fix everything" instinct stalls teams for six months with nothing to show
[02:09] – The move that works: find your biggest leak and plug it first
[02:33] – The simple three-number framework for spotting where fans drop off
[03:27] – How to calculate your capture gap (1,000 attendees to 100 repeat buyers)
[03:57] – Reading the relevance gap and re-engagement gap in the numbers
[04:25] – Why your widest gap is always your starting point
[04:48] – Building a post-game email sequence for first-time attendees
[05:18] – The second email: making a low-barrier, first-timer offer that's a no-brainer
[05:46] – The third email and why a simple automated sequence outperforms a blast
[06:14] – Don't dump first-timers into your 20,000-person list — build an intentional journey
[06:40] – Plugging the relevance gap with segmentation that isn't complicated
[07:08] – The three attendance buckets: one game, two-to-five, six-plus
[07:34] – Testing different offers, tones, and subject lines by group
[07:59] – Why you're learning valuable data even when most fans don't come back
[08:24] – Same email to everyone means you're relevant to no one
[08:51] – You don't need a $50K CRM — a spreadsheet and basic automations will do
[09:20] – Building a win-back sequence for quiet and lapsed fans
[09:50] – Triggering the sequence when a fan hits your inactivity threshold
[10:17] – What a win-back offer should actually do (and better subject lines to use)
[10:45] – Focus on the fans who re-engage — let the rest go
[11:15] – The real issue isn't tools, it's clarity and discipline
[11:44] – Why growth comes from building one system, then the next
[12:14] – Get really good at one or two things before adding more
[12:40] – Most teams already have the tools — what's missing is the connection
[13:07] – An open invitation to schedule a call and walk through implementation
[13:37] – How a mapped fan journey helps you sell more tickets
[14:03] – The final takeaway: find your biggest leak and start there
[14:32] – Systems compound, campaigns end
[15:02] – Share the series with your GM, director, or ownership group
[15:29] – Final thanks and sign-off

CALL TO ACTION
Want to walk through this for your own team? Jeremy is offering a 20–30 minute call to help you map your fan journey, find your biggest leak, and figure out how to build the fix inside the email software you already have. Grab a time at sportsmarketingmachine.com or use the link in the show notes.

QUOTE PULLS
"When you try to fix everything, you actually fix nothing." — Jeremy Neisser
"The tools are secondary. The system is primary." — Jeremy Neisser
"Systems compound. Campaigns end." — Jeremy Neisser
"You don't need a $50,000 CRM. You need a spreadsheet and a willingness to write down three versions of an email." — Jeremy Neisser
"Most sports teams already have everything they need to start. What's missing isn't technology — it's someone who sees how everything connects." — Jeremy Neisser

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