Spend and consumption: segment fans by economic value
Knowing how much each fan spends is one of the most powerful signals for personalising your communication. The fan who always buys an early-bird ticket deserves a different message from the one who waits for a last-minute VIP upgrade. The one who tops up £80 in cashless at every event has a different profile from the one who only buys the entry. This category helps you find all of them.
What spending criteria can you use for segmentation?
Section titled “What spending criteria can you use for segmentation?”| Criterion | What it represents | Example use case |
|---|---|---|
| Total historical spend | Sum of all the fan’s purchases since joining the platform | Fans who have spent more than £500 in total |
| Spend at a specific event | Purchases linked to a particular event | Fans who spent more than £150 at last year’s festival |
| Average ticket | Average spend per purchase made | Fans with an average ticket above £80 per purchase |
| Ticket type | Ticket category chosen (early bird, general, VIP, season pass…) | Fans who bought a VIP ticket at least once |
| Cashless top-up | Amounts loaded onto the event wristband or wallet | Fans who topped up more than £50 at the June event |
| Cashless in-venue spend | What the fan actually spent inside the event at bars, shops… | Fans with in-venue spend above £30 |
| Payment method | Payment method used | For internal financial analysis |
How to identify your VIPs with the total spend criterion
Section titled “How to identify your VIPs with the total spend criterion”Total historical spend is the equivalent of Monetary in the RFM model. Imagine you want to create a “premium clients” group to tell them first about a new season pass launch: you select fans with total spend above £400. That audience, though small in volume, has very high conversion rates because they have already demonstrated their financial commitment to your brand. In a fan base of 50,000, those who exceed that threshold are typically between 2,000 and 5,000 people with a radically different propensity to buy compared to the rest.
What is the average ticket criterion useful for?
Section titled “What is the average ticket criterion useful for?”The average ticket helps you identify fans who, even if they have not spent a huge amount overall, have a high spend-per-purchase propensity. For example, if your portfolio includes events at very different price points (a concert at £25 and a festival at £180), a fan who always buys the relatively most expensive option for each event has a high average ticket even if their total spend is moderate. This lets you target upgrade or VIP offers at them with a higher probability of success.
What are cashless top-up and in-venue spend?
Section titled “What are cashless top-up and in-venue spend?”Cashless is the contactless payment system that operates at many festivals and events using wristbands or apps. It has two distinct indicators:
- Cashless top-up: how much money the fan loaded before entering the venue. A fan who tops up £100 signals that they plan to spend and have the financial means to do so.
- Cashless in-venue spend: what they actually spent inside (at bars, merchandise stalls, food outlets…). This may be lower than the top-up if they reclaimed the unused balance.
Imagine you organise a festival in Barcelona with a cashless system: you can identify fans with a top-up above £60 and in-venue spend above £50 to send them a loyalty communication with early access to the VIP area at the next edition.
How to segment by a specific edition
Section titled “How to segment by a specific edition”An edition groups the commercial events and cashless sources of the same run of your festival. The Spending category includes two criteria that look only inside the edition you choose:
| Criterion | What it represents |
|---|---|
| Spent in an edition (gross) | Gross sum in euros of the fan’s collected, live operations within that edition: purchases of its commercial events and cashless consumptions of its sources. It follows the same rule as total spend (no top-ups, no per-product breakdown and no promotional credit), without adding anything from other editions. |
| Took part in an edition | Yes when that edition records at least one collected, live operation, or a live cashless top-up. It is not verified attendance. |
Both criteria only count purchases and consumptions with a confirmed link to the edition. If the amount in the edition is unknown, or a cashless movement can’t be attributed to any edition, the fan matches no amount condition — not even “no operations recorded.”
Choosing the edition
Section titled “Choosing the edition”Selecting either criterion adds an edition selector below it. The criterion stays incomplete until you pick one: without an edition the segment is neither saved nor previewed, and the editor asks you to “Choose an edition to complete the criterion.”
If your organisation has no editions yet, the selector shows No editions and explains that they are created from edition management. An edition without confirmed links can’t be used for segmentation either.
The edition’s revision
Section titled “The edition’s revision”Editions are revised: someone can add or remove events and sources over time. So that a saved segment doesn’t silently change population, the criterion pins the revision it was created with and shows it as “Edition links: revision N.”
When a newer revision exists, the editor says so and offers the Use revision N action. It only changes if you press it. You can also choose Always use the latest revision if you prefer the segment to follow the edition as it evolves.
If you open a segment whose edition no longer exists or no longer belongs to your organisations, the editor marks it as Edition not available and asks you to choose another one to complete the criterion.
Practical example: upgrade campaign for medium-to-high spenders
Section titled “Practical example: upgrade campaign for medium-to-high spenders”Imagine you have a rock tour covering several Spanish cities, including Madrid, Bilbao and Seville, and you want to identify fans with potential to buy a VIP upgrade. You build a segment: fans with an average ticket above £60 who have bought a general (non-VIP) ticket at least twice. These are fans who have the spending capacity but have not yet tried the VIP experience. A communication that explains in detail what VIP access includes may have a conversion rate well above your average.
Summary
Section titled “Summary”- Total historical spend is your primary indicator of long-term fan value.
- Average ticket reveals per-purchase spending propensity, useful for upgrade offers.
- Cashless top-up and in-venue spend are strong signals of economic commitment at the event.
- Ticket type chosen informs you about the fan’s buying behaviour profile.
- Edition criteria narrow spend and participation to one specific run, with the revision pinned so the segment doesn’t change on its own.
Next step
Section titled “Next step”Total historical spend is the foundation of the Monetary component in the RFM model, widely adopted in retention marketing. For reference, you can consult the Optimove guide to RFM segmentation in event marketing.