How sports groups are offering rewards to attract more users and grow their group

Groups on OpenSports have been finding innovative ways to use discounts as a marketing tool and not only create buzz but fill up all of their available space in every pickup game!!

Here’s a few fun campaigns that some of our favourite groups have run:

1. Attract new volunteer game organizers

“Become an event host and receive your next 5 games free!”

Philadelphia Volleyball is the largest volleyball group on OpenSports, but what’s even more unique about them is they have 13 event organizers! Dan Elliott, founder of Philadelphia Volleyball, has created a tight-knit community, and from there, many regular players have become organizers.

In an effort to engage more “regulars” and encourage them to become organizers, Dan created a discount: If you host one event, you get 100% off your next 5 events! Incentives, much!?

Why we love this: The more volunteers you can engage to help you run your pickup events, the more events you can run, and the more you can grow your group! Running games on your own several nights per week will burn you out real quick, so finding those regulars who have the right attitude and enthusiasm to become the future event organizers for your group is very important for sustainability and growth of your sports group!

2. Regular member engagement

Social media photo caption contest

Sons of Pitches FC (SOPFC) used OpenSports’ robust discount tools to create a discount that would automatically apply to the winner of the contest for two upcoming pickup soccer games!

“The photo-caption contest is an idea I borrowed from a comedy club I used to live above and work with (the world’s smallest full-time comedy club!) — they’ve been doing the caption contest on Facebook for a while giving away free tickets to upcoming shows. We wanted to build engagement between players, introduce people to pickup who haven’t been before, and test our players’ wits — it was fun to see how some went with EPL jokes, and others reflected the humor right back into SOPFC.

The giveaway was a breeze with the discount feature — we just had the winning caption-maker message us for their discount code. It turns out it was someone who hadn’t used the app yet, so we scored at least one download conversion.” — Court, Club Development, SOPFC

Why we love this: SOPFC found a fun/funny way to engage their community of players, and used their actual product — recreational soccer — as a prize! Visit their Facebook page to see which comment actually won!

3. New member engagement

Welcome Discount of 50% off new members’ first pickup

Chicago Fire Recreational Soccer (CFRS) doesn’t just care about how many members they have in their large group — they care about how many members have come to at least one game, knowing that they will usually come back for more. Retention is a key metric!

“After OpenSports pulled our member data, we realized that only about 40% of all members had participated in a pickup. Even though we love our regulars, we are looking for ways to increase new business and to get fresh faces to our facility. We figure that incentives like this as well as a friendly welcome message will help to drive that forward.” — Dan, Event Operations Coordinator, CFRS

Why we love this: The founders of CFRS are on to something big: new member engagement and loyalty programs for regular members. Keeping your customers happy and recognizing their loyalty is an important part of running a business, and this group is on the cusp of some very innovative loyalty program ideas using OpenSports’ member reports and discount tools!

4. Community work for discounted pickup

Yes, we already mentioned Philadelphia Volleyball… but they deserve a follow up mention for this brilliant, creative, community centric idea! Philly Volleyball is giving away $4 coupons to encourage locals to clean their park!

Why we love this: By offering a discount for locals who do community work, Philly Volleyball is also cross-promoting their own pickup volleyball games because, of course, if you receive a discount, you’re going to want to use it!! We love this “Pickup for Social Change” model!

Organizers ❤ Discounts

“The eligibility, usage limits, and distribution are more than even our league software, so kudos on building a robust tool” — Court, Sons of Pitches FC

Learn more about creating discounts here!

💚The OpenSports team