Introduction to Theatre Royal Wakefield

In the county of West Yorkshire lies a town of 150,000 people called Wakefield, home to the small but mighty Theatre Royal Wakefield (TRW), boasting a Victorian Theatre that has been in service since 1894. We spoke with Sarah Shooter, Head of Development, and Isobel Walter, Membership & Development Co-Ordinator, about their work with TRG Arts in relaunching a brand-new membership scheme. This is a case study about the power of community, positive messaging, and segmentation that, as Sarah put it, is resulting in Theatre Royal Wakefield “running out of the pandemic, not limping.”

Unfortunate Timing

Theatre Royal Wakefield began a Revenue Accelerator relationship with TRG Arts in January of 2020, less than two months before COVID-19 Pandemic became a household phrase. At the toughest points, the TRW team consisted of three full time employees and even those could scarcely be in the office together at the same time. “The Pandemic gave us an opportunity for quite a lot of reevaluating”, Sarah recalled, one of those reevaluations was around their membership scheme, which was recreated to have five levels ranging from thirty pounds to one thousand pounds. Each level offers priority bookings, savings when booking multiple shows, exclusive events and more. TRG Arts offers a benefits analysis to Revenue Accelerator clients to help them identify the benefits that members value most and create a loyalty scheme focused on increasing what we call RFMG (Recency, Frequency, Monetary Investment and Growth) for every patron.

The challenge for Sarah and the Wakefield team, was how to launch this new membership scheme successfully at a time when no one was able to come to the theatre. “We decided to launch it in October at the point where we were starting to believe that we were coming out of the Pandemic. It turned out theatre wasn't back open for another eight months, so we had nearly an entire year of a new membership scheme based around ticket discounts at a point where we weren't selling tickets.” The communication strategy was to segment heavily and keep the letters about the new memberships very positive and transparent about why patrons should become members now and exactly what their money was going to support. In the end there were twenty-four different versions of the letter that went out to the same number of segments, some of them as small as six people.

RFMG Perfection

Comparing the membership scheme from the 19-20 season with the 22-23 season, Theatre Royal Wakefield’s total membership has doubled, and their member revenue has increased 400%. There are two primary reasons for the astounding success of the membership structure; the first is the fact that Theatre Royal Wakefield’s staff kept in regular positive contact with their patrons, even when there was very little to report, and the second is that the new membership programme drove customer behaviour toward RFMG. Reflecting on the latter, Isobel pointed out that the priority booking for members is timed with the announcement of the new season, which makes TRW’s “Season Saver” for multi-buying members even more effective. “We have our priority booking discount at the launch of each season, so while people are looking at all the upcoming shows, they've also got in mind that they're going to book at least three of them because that's how they can maximize their discount.” Encouraging early and repeat booking is RFMG perfection.

Surprising Loyalty

The foundation of TRG Arts’ counsel is building loyalty, and the loyalty of audiences at Wakefield is what gave them resilience through the pandemic and continues to propel them forward now. “We knew we were good,” Sarah shared, “be we didn’t realise quite how much love our community had for us. We massively underestimated how many people would be willing to donate their ticket money back and patiently engage with us.” Isobel remembers taking members to their seats and giving them a letter upon returning to the theatre for the first time, thanking each one for keeping their membership active while the theatre was not open. There was even a “welcome back” event held for all those whose loyalty and generosity had ensured that there was a theatre to come back to after the closure period.

Now that operations are fully back, Theatre Royal Wakefield is continuing to build on customer loyalty. At the higher donation circle levels, friendship communities have started independently organising centered around the theatre. “We’ve started seeing our higher circle members always coming together. When I ring them, they will have a look at the brochure and book ten shows.” Isobel said. “It's been that engagement, at the high level” added Sarah, “that has shocked me more than anything else. When I was having the early conversations with my TRG Arts consultant we weren't expecting this number of people would join at the top level.”

The Right Next Ask

As important as the Circle members are, the Theatre Royal Wakefield team knows and appreciates patrons at all levels of membership. “We know there are some people in Members Plus who could go up to the next Circle level” Isobel shared. “We also know there are some people in Members Plus who are at the top of their giving ability or already potentially stretching themselves, and we want to respect that. We want to make them feel just as valued.” This understanding and respect for each patron shows up in TRW’s communications as well. Isobel went on, “In our Christmas giving campaign last year, all of the communications that I sent to our members wasn't so much about donating, but about sharing it with other people.” For members who are at the top of their giving level the right next ask might just be for them to share why they love being a member with their friends.

Investment Mindset

The success of the membership programme at Theatre Royal Wakefield has had a compounding effect. “It has allowed us to secure funding from other trusts and foundations because we've been able to show after the pandemic that we are more than a going concern” Sarah said. “We've been able to show not just financially, but by the number of people who are in the membership scheme and buying tickets that we are worth investing in and are going to be able to deliver. We are not limping out of the pandemic, we are running out of the pandemic because we've got that income and support.”

The new membership programme has also brought with it a new way of thinking about expenses as investments during campaigns. “Everything has always been about what we can do without spending any money”, Sarah said, “but understanding and working with this membership scheme has made us go, yeah, actually, let's spend that bit of money. Let's do that. Let's do a bit of segmentation, let's do a bit of boosting, but what we have done is really make sure the members are at the center of everything.”

As Theatre Royal Wakefield continues to see their efforts rewarded, it reminds us of the importance of loyalty, and the magic that unfolds when the arts and community come together. In reflecting on her experience working with TRG Arts through these changes, Sarah reflected “I felt very supported by TRG during that time. I felt like that we were being listened to as well, which was important for us, it's also allowed cross department conversations to take place to make this new membership scheme possible.”