La Maison de la Poésie

(Re)qualifying a database to develop an SMS strategy

Discover how the Maison de la Poésie (Home of Poetry) qualified its existing contacts with Arenametrix in order to strengthen its communication strategy.

The Maison de la Poésie is a unique, officially recognized performance venue whose ambition is to breathe new life into literature and offer it a space for multiple forms of expression. Noting that no permanent institution had yet addressed recent transformations in literature, the organization set out to bring it to life differently, offering the public a new way to access texts and authors, with the warmth and hospitality of a “home”.

Why communicate with your audience via SMS?

The main advantage of SMS campaigns lies in their exceptional open rates. With open rates typically ranging from 95% to 100%, SMS is an undeniably powerful communication channel for reaching audiences and delivering important information. Often opened within three minutes of receipt, SMS is an “urgency” channel that ensures messages are delivered more quickly and reliably than email.

A preferred channel for last-minute communication, SMS is also less energy-intensive than email, and its carbon footprint can be up to 300 times lower than that of a newsletter.

From practical information to last-minute promotional offers, and even mediation tools, SMS offers numerous use cases for communication with cultural audiences. (See our dedicated article for a detailed overview.)

The team at the Maison de la Poésie wanted to start using SMS for service communications, particularly for last-minute updates before a performance.

Since they had never implemented a process to collect visitors’ mobile phone numbers, the organization only had a minimally qualified database in this regard. The goal was therefore to support them in deploying an effective and relevant SMS strategy.

What Was Implemented

→ Collecting phone numbers during the ticketing journey: The moment a visitor books their first ticket is the most natural opportunity to request their contact details. While the phone number field must remain optional, users can be reassured by specifying how it will be used (sending practical information or last-minute promotional offers).

→ Qualifying the database of recent buyers: Since the historical database contained very few mobile numbers, a qualification campaign was launched. Recipients were invited to provide their contact details in order to be kept informed in case of updates regarding future events.

→ Automating a post-booking qualification email: To maximize the completion rate of mobile numbers among contacts who made their first purchase without providing this information, an automated post-purchase email was set up. It invites them to complete their profile so they don’t miss any important information related to their booked events.

47%

Open rate of the email asking contacts to provide their phone number after their purchase

20%

Engagement rate of this email (calculated based on the number of clicks within the email relative to the number of opens)

5%

Conversion rate — the percentage of people who provided their phone number

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Citation ou témoignage du client

After developing our CRM project through the email channel, we wanted to be able to reach our audiences by SMS, especially for last-minute communications. Since we had collected very few mobile phone numbers, we organized a qualification operation with Arenametrix.

Now that we have requalified our database on this channel, we are ready to launch our first SMS communication campaigns, particularly to communicate as closely as possible with our audience when last-minute changes occur.

Sarah Le Lay (Public Relations Officer), and Marc Hernoux (Box Office Manager), Maison de la Poésie