FanX Catapults Augustana Vikings to the Next Level

Since launching their app, Emily Punt and her team at Augustana are maxing out their fan engagement and upping their sponsorship game in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD) launched their GoAugie Fan App as a direct response to the pandemic-induced need to communicate with fans where they are. According to their Assistant AD for Strategic Partnerships, Emily Punt, the GoAugie Fan App was the first app to be introduced on campus across all schools and departments.“Athletics can be the front porch for a University, and it was really exciting for us to be out in front with the app showcasing the exciting things happening in our department and with our teams.”

Integrations delivers options to Vikings fans. 

Prior to launching their app, the Vikings had neither a way to push out messages directly to their fans nor did they have a digital ticketing platform to rely on. The GoAugie Fan App accomplished both, with the integration of digital ticketing technology and the push notification technology from FanX

The GoAugie Fan App creates a touchpoint for new fans to engage with athletics.

Punt shared that marketing was all about social media and emails before the app was introduced. If a person was not on one of those channels, they had no way to reach them with marketing messages. Now that the app is live, the Vikings community of connected fans has grown. They can reach more people by using the app.

“The app opened doors for us to engage with new people. The ease of downloading it at any time offers a one-stop shop for everything,” explained Punt. “You can find everything from rosters to live stream information to purchasing tickets and finding the game program, anything and everything is there to find. It’s all in the app now, so we’re sending them there as opposed to always pushing people to a website.” 

New sponsors and incremental revenue came with the upgraded experience. 

When we talked about how the app was impacting the school’s sponsorship revenue, Punt shared some interesting information. The Augustana athletics department was able to secure a presenting sponsor for the app, generating incremental revenue for the program. This deal was a first-of-its-kind for the Vikings.
Analytics provide a holistic view of the fanbase. 

Schools on the FanX app benefit from a range of analytical data that helps them better understand who their fans are and what they are doing in the app. Emily Punt and her team are taking full advantage of analytics as they look to drive deeper engagement and increase revenues.

“We regularly look at the analytics that FanX provides to understand our fans and their behavior. We love to see that our fans are in the app for a really, really long time… whether it’s a live stream or pre-game notes… we’re seeing the engagement and we’re pushing people to the app,” says Punt.

Collaboration among industry providers elevates the fan experience.

For the Augustana University Vikings, Punt shared that the integrations between FanX and external technology providers has made her job easier and the fan experience even better. “Having collaborations with other vendors and providers makes the whole fan experience so well-rounded. Schools like us are going to see more and more value with collaborations like this, because they don’t have to have 10 different apps or 10 different things – it can really be all in one.”

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