Norwich City recently published a new supporter engagement plan - Here head of supporter engagement Elliot King discusses the plan and other initiatives.
Summarise the supporter engagement plan for us and how it came about.
Essentially, the plan helps supporters understand how they can engage with us and shapes what we do to proactively engage with them.
It introduces a schedule of key engagement touch-points throughout the season, as well the people who are leading this area for the club, while it also defines the framework by which we work.
Our aim is to be amongst the best at supporter engagement as it is likely that most clubs will introduce formal commitments following the Fan-Led Review and creation of the Premier League Fan Engagement Standard.
This is us formalising some of the work we do well already and making further commitments for the future.
Who is involved within the club?
Everyone within the club understands that they play a part in our supporter engagement, whatever their role.
We do however have defined roles that spearhead that engagement, which are set out in the structure section of the plan.
Importantly we have board-level representation with our executive director Zoe Webber, who is our nominated board official for supporter engagement.
Zoe and I have worked closely together to produce this supporter engagement plan and we will continue to shape it using consultation with various groups including our Supporter Panel.
What has been implemented already from an engagement point of view?
We’ve had several supporter engagement events already this season, including our open fans’ forum, a fixture release breakfast, a World Cup watch along with our women’s team, and the unveiling of our South Stand Legends mural.
We’ve introduced a Twitter/X account - @NorwichCityHelp - that is run by our customer services manager, Scott Kelly, which aims to answer supporter queries and share useful information.
When we had the results of the EFL’s Family Excellence Scheme report through, an area we identified for improvement was the introduction of post-match surveying. Our customer services and data teams have worked hard to pull this together and there was a good response rate to the surveys from the first two home games. It has helped us to better understand what our supporters are experiencing on a match day, and we value what they have to say.
Examples of small suggestions that have come through the surveys that have led to changes include the introduction of a vegan option at match day kiosks and our half-time entertainment, which has seen the return of the crossbar challenge.
The survey can be completed via a QR code displayed throughout the stadium (on posters, concourse TVs and on kiosk menu screens), and is a way for supporters to provide instant, anonymous feedback that is reviewed before the next home fixture.
What’s coming up?
We’ll be hosting themed Q&As for supporter groups as well as an event on the road.
The Supporter Engagement Plan has a looking ahead section that highlights the various topics we’ll be working with supporters to address in the near future.
You can read the new Supporter Engagement Plan here.