Comédie-Française

Supporting Every Visitor Before and After Their Visit with Automated Communications

Discover how the Comédie-Française structured its audience communication strategy to prepare visitors for their performance, extend the cultural experience, and strengthen audience engagement through CRM marketing automation.

© B. Enguérand, coll. Comédie-Française

Founded in 1680, the Comédie-Française is the oldest active theatre institution in France. With several venues across Paris and a season that combines classical repertoire with contemporary productions, it welcomes audiences with diverse backgrounds and expectations.

For a cultural institution of this scale, selling a ticket is only the beginning. The real objective is to build lasting relationships with every spectator by making each theatre visit as seamless, memorable, and consistent as possible. To achieve this, the Comédie-Française partnered with Arenametrix to implement a cultural CRM and marketing automation strategy designed to support audiences at every key stage of the customer journey.

The goal was clear: automate high-value communications throughout the spectator journey while reducing the operational workload for internal teams.

How Do You Turn Every Performance into a Lasting Relationship?

For cultural organisations, the spectator journey extends well beyond the time spent in the auditorium. The moments before and after a performance have a significant impact on audience satisfaction, loyalty, and the likelihood of returning.

The Comédie-Française wanted to build a structured communication strategy that ensured every spectator received the right information at the right time throughout their journey.

The challenge was to scale this approach across an entire season while delivering a personalised and consistent experience for every performance.

Automating the Moments That Matter Most

To address this challenge, the teams leveraged Arenametrix's marketing automation capabilities to automate the key communications throughout the spectator journey.

→ Prepare Every Show with an Automated Day-Before Journey
The day before each performance, ticket buyers automatically receive an email containing all the practical information they need to prepare for their show, including performance times, venue access, ticket download links, and available on-site services.

By bringing all essential information together in a single, contextualised communication, the Comédie-Française reduces day-of-event friction and gives spectators greater peace of mind before they arrive.

→ Extend the Experience After the Performance
The day after the performance, a second automated email is sent. This communication serves two purposes: thanking spectators for attending and inviting them to share their feedback through a satisfaction survey.

It also extends the cultural experience by recommending content related to the performance, such as the original play, music associated with the production, or upcoming performances they may enjoy.

What Automation Changes for the Team

The entire programme is built around two fully automated workflows that are triggered for every performance throughout the season.

This enables the Comédie-Française to:

  • Deliver a consistent communication experience for every production,
  • Share essential information at the right moment,
  • Continuously collect audience feedback,
  • Maintain a high level of personalisation without manual intervention.

Building Long-Term Audience Relationships

Through this automation strategy, the Comédie-Française has established meaningful touchpoints across the entire visitor journey.

Beyond the performance metrics, the project helps spectators prepare for their show, extends the cultural experience after the performance, and continuously gathers valuable audience insights to strengthen customer knowledge.

This project demonstrates how cultural CRM can support long-term audience engagement and loyalty. It also marks an important step in the organisation's CRM maturity, laying the foundation for increasingly personalised, data-driven experiences built around genuine audience needs and expectations.

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Citation ou témoignage du client
With Arenametrix, we now support every spectator before and after their theatre experience. These automated journeys allow us to deliver a personalised and consistent experience for every production throughout the season without increasing our teams' workload. The feedback we collect from our audiences has also helped us refine our offering and reduce friction across the spectator journey.
Mia FOREST, Audience Engagement Manager - Comédie-Française
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