Marketing Research Analysis & Study
University of Arkansas
Who?
TheatreSquared, situated in downtown Fayetteville, serves as Northwest Arkansas's premier regional professional theatre. With its intimate setting, the theatre hosts 220 performances annually, providing a unique and engaging cultural experience for the community.
My 5-person team conducted an analysis on individuals who made single-ticket purchases at TheatreSquared throughout the 2022 season. The primary aim of our research was to identify the demographics and characteristics of this audience, with the ultimate goal of leveraging these insights to enhance sales strategies and attract similar patrons in order to boost overall ticket sales.
Objectives & Goals
What?
In partnership with the University of Arkansas and TheatreSquared, I worked alongside a team to analyze ticket sales during the 2022 season. The research findings were then provided to TheatreSquared to establish a foundational understanding of the factors attracting ticket buyers. This information serves as a baseline for the company to conduct more comprehensive and in-depth research moving forward.
TheatreSquared provided a list of identification information (names, postal addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers) for 1,834 single ticket purchasers. After weeding through useable information, we distributed an eight-question survey sent through email.
The survey received a total of 82 responses. 101 surveys were started, but 19 failed to continue and left the survey between clicking the link and answering the statement of consent. This makes the survey’s completion rate 81%.
The Survey
For this study, we utilized Qualtrics software to write, distribute, and manage our survey. The software also provided general analytics that made it easier for my team to process our results.
Above is a word-cloud created by Qualtrics that shows some of the most common words respondents used to describe TheatreSquared. The bigger words were used the most and the smaller words less.
Findings.
The average age of the respondents was around 44 years old. The youngest respondent was 18, and the oldest was 74. The chart to the right shows the number of sampling units within different age frames.
This chart indicates that 59% of respondents expressed a likelihood of returning to TheatreSquared. Our research identified a positive correlation between individuals inclined to attend TheatreSquared in the future and their willingness to invest a significant amount in tickets. Results also show that older patrons exhibited a greater willingness to engage in live theatre experiences in 2023.
We observed a negative correlation , suggesting that as age decreased, the likelihood of attending TheatreSquared in the future diminished, indicating that younger patrons are less inclined to attend.
With only a 7% response rate from over 1,200 survey invitations sent, challenges like bounced emails or disinterest affected the data quality. While alternative survey methods like mail or phone surveys were considered, email surveys often yield more in-depth responses. To address low response rates, improvements in email content, outreach strategies, or incentives might be more effective than changing the survey delivery method.
Limitations
Recommendations
Given that older audiences already enjoy positive TheatreSquared, there is an opportunity to target and persuade younger audiences to attend. It's important to note that younger audiences generally prefer tickets priced at $30 or less. An effective strategy could involve promoting the "30 under 30" ticket initiative more aggressively to cater to this demographic. Conducting additional research to understand what specifically attracts younger audiences to live theatre and where they spend their money could provide valuable insights.