You've got serious tunnel vision. I'm not in the market for a season ticket. They aren't appropriate to my circumstances any more. It doesn't mean other lapsed season ticket holders wouldn't be persuadable though.
I got a post card this morning with all the "More than just a game" guff in it. "It's in your blood...", "through thick and thin..." etc. I think that people who are that committed will rightly have renewed before now, at the early bird rate. Without a manager/head coach, and with a squad that looks inadequate to me even for League One it seems to me that I couldn't know whether what I was getting was any improvement on the last, poor 17 months or so. My mind is made up for now, but I recall in earlier seasons letters going out with some sort of statement of intent from manager/owner etc. That might have been better from a marketing point of view. As it stands, we'll see how it all looks at Christmas!
I haven't had any communication yet this year. Some seasons I get a letter. I can't ever remember getting a text or email and I reckon the last letter was three or four years ago now.
I just went on the club website. All the relevant season ticket info is on there. Given that this board requires an ability to use the internet just the same as the club website I don't get where there's a major problem. If I want to know anything these days I go on the internet and check it out. Simple.
I do not read the Barnsley Chronicle these days but when I used to in the days of Keith Lodge there was always ticket info & season ticket info published , is this not the case these days ?
I got the postcard with a sticker on it this week. And an email. Otherwise, I could copy and paste orsenkaht's post. Remain totally underwhelmed by club at the moment, top to bottom. Uninspired by the prospect of playing Div 3 teams too. Watching and waiting for now here.
Not me but im pleased they didnt. I actually knew when the availability of renewals was and also had the email and online info if i needed more. Also i was pleased the club reduced waste by not using paper to inform me of something i already knew. Also i no longer get paper statements from my bank but have a lot better and a newer means to check my ins and outs. So all good from my personal point of view.
This board doesn't have every Barnsley fan on it, it has a small minority. A lot of people, particularly the older generation don't use the internet regularly and I would wager that the majority of Barnsley fans don't use the official site, Twitter feed or Facebook page. I occasionally look at the official site when somebody posts a link here, look at the Twitter feed during games and that's it.
Come on ST. No one with a passing interest, especially season ticket holders is going to forget that we'll be starting a new season. If they want ticketing details at any time the first thing they're going to do is go to the club website. There's very few indeed incapable of using the internet and those that can't will almost exclusively have family members who can. Failing that they've got a tongue in their head. Do people really need spoon feeding? Are they going to sit there in a miasma of ignorance as to what's going on? I doubt it. To be honest I'd be asking why the club was wasting postage on routine reminders that season tickets are available. Maybe as follow ups to those who haven't renewed by a certain date but that's about it.
Got a postcard today, so I guess I haven't ticked any marketing preferences that state I don't want contacting, like has been suggested (I didn't think I had, but I wasn't sure). This is the first correspondence I've had via any medium regarding season tickets. Every year for as long as I've had a season ticket, which is most of my life, I've received renewal forms. Except this year. I don't care if they come by post or email, email would be my preference these days, but post is OK. That's how I know they're out. I'm pretty sure I've always renewed after the season has ended too, even with the previous early bird prices, although I could be wrong on this. Fact is, I don't automatically know when season tickets are available to renew, I tend to assume May, and I certainly don't know the time frame for early bird prices, I rely on being told. This year I wasn't told. About half way through April I happened to see a post on here about it, but I could quite easily have missed it as I don't read every post. I don't buy the chronicle or a programme, I'm not on facebook, I don't do Twitter and I rarely visit the official site. But I've never had a problem before because I've always received renewal forms. I don't think it's weird that after 30+ years of receiving renewal forms I expected to receive them again this year. What I do find weird is that I wasn't told about a promotion for something that I buy every year, something that I've always been told about before. And I find it very odd that some people think this is perfectly OK and that marketing a product is somehow a bad thing (unless of course it's a billboard in Times Square, that's a good thing). If I ever buy something from any other company, just once, I'm bombarded with offers until I tell them to stop. I'm pretty sure I've never told Barnsley FC to stop contacting me, they have contacted me now after the promotion is over, which suggests I haven't, but they didn't tell me about it when it was on and I don't think that's very good marketing. It's pissed me off and as yet I haven't renewed. That's what happens when you annoy your customers, they stop buying your product. If it was a mistake, my reminder was lost in the post or something then fair enough, but it isn't, they just didn't contact some season ticket holders.
The thing for me is that the window to get the early bird price is so small before the huge fine they impose means it's absolutely vital that they get information to everyone as early is possible. Its OK saying we know that the season starts but does anyone really know when they are going on sale? I've seen them go on sale anything from Feb to May, possibly even June. Last season you could pay in May for a discount, this year you can't. That's the kind of information you simply have to get out to your customers. Back in the good old days we used to send out season ticket notices and send out brochures showing everything for sale in the club shop too, these days you don't get either. Huge backwards move in my opinion
Well it's all opinions but for me, as soon as one season started to come to a close I'd be straight on the website looking for the cheapest option for next year. Everybody knows they do early birds. Virtually every club in the land must do them.
I said, as the season started to come to a close though. Again, everybody is well aware of how the club operates and has done for years.
If I needed, in this day and age, the club to send me a letter to make me aware that I'd need to renew for next season on the same basis that has been in operation for years I'd wonder if I actually still had the gumption to get out of bed in the morning. Again....every scrap of information you need is on the club website.
Every scrap of information on everything is on the Internet so really we should close all libraries. You can buy anything on the Internet so we should close all shops.