When a supporter buys their fifth ticket, they are no longer just curious: they are a regular. Yet at most clubs, they receive the same message as someone coming for the first time, because ticketing and shop data are scattered.
At Stade Brestois 29, that fifth ticket now triggers a thank-you. An automated email recognises the supporter as one of the club's most loyal fans and gives them a discount at the official shop: enough to wear the colours they already cheer for in the stands.
This marketing automation scenario was designed by the Arenametrix team, then set up by the club with its own shop promo code. A piece of ticketing data becomes a gesture of recognition, and that gesture becomes a sale in the shop.
Why reward fan loyalty?
A club can't choose its results on the pitch, but it can choose how it treats its supporters. And the most loyal ones carry the most weight in its revenue:
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They come back: a supporter who has already bought five tickets is far easier to bring back than a stranger is to convince. Recognising them secures the next matches.
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They buy beyond the ticket: shirts, scarves, food and drink, hospitality, season tickets… Ticketing loyalty is the best way into cross-selling.
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They become ambassadors: a supporter who feels thanked talks about it, at the stadium and on social media. There is no more credible advertising.
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They are the foundation of the season ticket base: at Stade Brestois, supporters who have bought 5 to 6 single-match tickets are already identified automatically so they can be offered a suitable season ticket.
Stade Brestois: a supporter database built since the Champions League
The 2024-25 Champions League campaign brought the club tens of thousands of new supporters. To turn that momentum into a lasting asset, the club structured its fan data with Arenametrix. Ticketing and the shop are connected in real time. The database was cleared of duplicates, inaccurate data and contacts without consent. New collection points were also created: competitions, prediction games and forms.
A year later, complete and usable records had risen from under 20% to 70%. The database grew by 14% in qualified contacts, and the number of engaged fans by 19%. This foundation is what makes the 5th-purchase scenario possible, along with the automated reactivation of lapsed ticket buyers.
The loyalty scenario: "Thanks for your 5th purchase, let's kit you out"
The idea fits in one sentence: when a supporter reaches their 5th ticket purchase, the club thanks them and invites them to wear its colours.
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The trigger: the 5th ticket purchase recorded in the supporter's profile.
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The message: a personal thank-you that recognises the supporter as one of the club's most loyal fans.
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The offer: [X]% off at the shop, with a dedicated promo code.
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The spirit of the message: "Thank you! This is your 5th purchase this season: you're one of our most loyal supporters. We want our biggest fans in our colours. So here's [X]% off at the official shop."
Choosing merchandise is no accident. A supporter who comes to the stadium regularly doesn't need a discount on their next ticket: they'll come anyway. But they may not have this season's shirt yet. The reward opens up a new source of revenue instead of eating into ticketing revenue.
How does this marketing automation scenario work?
On the Arenametrix side: the platform and the support
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The data: ticketing and shop data flow in real time. Each supporter has a single purchase history, deduplicated and consented.
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The count: the platform knows at any moment how many tickets each supporter has bought, and detects the 5th.
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The advice: our team suggested the scenario, the 5th-purchase threshold and the angle of the message, based on what works at the other clubs we support.
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The automation: the scenario runs on its own, at the right moment, without anyone at the club having to pull a list.
On the Stade Brestois 29 side: the offer and the club's voice
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The promo code and discount percentage, set up on the official shop.
- The tone and identity of the message, true to the club's DNA.
Why this message resonates with supporters
For the supporter, there are no data flows, segments or scenarios. There is a club that knows them and says thank you. The message works for three reasons:
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It is fair. It speaks to real behaviour, the 5th purchase, rather than a promotion sent to the whole database.
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It is grateful before it is commercial. The thank-you comes first, the offer second. The supporter feels recognised, not targeted.
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It builds a sense of belonging. Wearing the shirt is a way of showing your bond with the club. The club isn't selling a product: it is inviting fans to join its colours.
Feedback from the stands: The best indicator for this scenario doesn't come from a dashboard, but from a supporter. Shortly after the send, Stade Brestois shared the tweet one of them posted spontaneously:
An automated email that ends in a public declaration of love: proof that a well-designed data strategy doesn't cool the relationship. It strengthens it.
How can you replicate this loyalty scenario at your club?
Key actions in SB29's loyalty scenario
→ Connect ticketing and the shop: bring ticketing and shop data together in a single database, to follow each supporter across all their purchases.
→ Choose the right threshold: the 5th purchase in Brest, a different one elsewhere, depending on your fixture calendar and your audience.
→ Reward where there is margin: merchandise, food and drink or a matchday experience rather than a ticket discount.
→ Say thank you before you sell: tone accounts for half the result.
→ Listen to the response: reactions on social media, promo code use, return visits to the stadium.
With the 5th-purchase scenario, Stade Brestois 29 turns a piece of ticketing data into a gesture of recognition, and that gesture into a shop sale, with no manual list extraction.
Arenametrix, the audience data platform purpose-built for sports and cultural organisations, provides data centralisation, detection of the right moment and automation. The club brings its offer and its voice. We don't hand over software and walk away: with the clubs, leagues and federations we support across Europe, we build the scenarios that connect data to supporters' emotions, from their inbox to the stands, and all the way into their wardrobe.