The club has received the results of the first visit of the 2023/24 season from independent mystery shoppers assessing our match day experience for families.
The feedback is fantastic with the club ranked fifth in the EFL.
Each year we have two unannounced visits and receive feedback, reports and recommendations on how to improve the matchday experience for families. We are benchmarked against others in League One and across the rest of the EFL.
The first visit took place around the game against Derby County in September with over 11,000 at Brunton Park. We have been assessed and ranked at second in League One (first visit in 22/23 ranked us sixth of 24 in League Two) and fifth in the entire EFL (first visit in 22/23 ranked us 32nd of 72) in the EFL.
The independent report concluded:
“For this first EFL Family Excellence visit of the season, Carlisle United performed well in a number of areas and delivered a consistently strong family experience across the touchpoints. Our assessor highlighted an enjoyable fan zone, the friendliness of staff throughout and a smooth ticketing purchase process. While the staff engagement was impressive at several points the visit, our assessor specially noted Simon the Supporter Liaison Officer, who goes above and beyond to ensure there is strong communication with first-time visitors before and after the matchday. Closing the feedback loop was something that he did very well, and made the assessor feel very valued.”
Chief executive Nigel Clibbens said: “The first independent report is fantastic and shows huge improvement across the board. There is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes, off-the-field, week-in-week-out to try and improve.
“We are always striving to get better and do new things, but every single day the operations staff are working to make the match day even better. It is a tribute to the staff that they continue to step up and that even before the takeover we do so well in comparison to other clubs.
“This independent benchmarking is unbiased feedback and is so valuable as it gives us recommendations, ideas and feedback to improve, as well as allowing us to see how we compare with other clubs. With the impetus of the takeover and boost that has given everyone in the club, we are all looking not just to keep up these levels but improve too.”
Background
The purpose of this first visit report is to help improve levels of family engagement at the club by providing detailed feedback on every element of the new family experience (from finding information to leaving your stadium after the match).
- The report makes clear recommendations on what could be done to address any ‘gaps’ and strengthen the experience.
- Second visits will take place between January and April 2024
- The report gives an overall score and individual scores for 10 specific areas (including feeling valued).
- It includes a summary of the touchpoints, with assessor feedback and recommendations for improvements.
- Also provided is a written summary of the detailed assessment report, as well as benchmarking.
- At the end of this season clubs will be rewarded with a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award depending on their overall family visit scores from across their two visit assessments
- The club has achieved the Family Excellence Award in every year bar once since it was established.
