Engage, Retain, Scale: How the Digial Hub Drove Member Lifetime Value

Engage, Retain, Scale: How the Digial Hub Drove Member Lifetime Value

Engage, Retain, Scale: How the Digial Hub Drove Member Lifetime Value

Three mobile screenshots of Sharks365 Member Hub in a logged in, member state
Three mobile screenshots of Sharks365 Member Hub in a logged in, member state
Three mobile screenshots of Sharks365 Member Hub in a logged in, member state

Sharks365 members (the team’s most valuable recurring revenue stream) lacked a centralized digital home. Information was fragmented across email, sjsharks.com and Ticketmaster’s Account Manager.

I led the end-to-end design and strategic integration of the first-ever Sharks365 Member Hub into the San Jose Sharks + SAP Center mobile app. This wasn't a UI refresh; it was the creation of a new digital member hub designed to increase member lifetime value (LTV) and reduce the seasonal "churn risk" caused by fragmented communication.

The project to create the Sharks365 Member Hub began in the 2023–2024 season. After a rocky history of launching products without taking the time to validate them, the leadership team chose to put the project on hold, prioritizing a smooth renewal campaign over a new, unproven tool. This delay turned out to be a key learning opportunity and prevented us from hurting our reputation further with remaining members

The Challenge: A Tight Timeline and High Stakes

The Challenge: A Tight Timeline and High Stakes

The Challenge: A Tight Timeline and High Stakes

Seven months later and with the new season approaching, I had an ambitious goal: launch the new Member Hub in just six weeks. This required a reset, ensuring our work truly addressed the needs of our members, who are our most passionate (and critical) customers.

With the green light to reengage this project, I dove deep into the member journey before proposing recommendations to key stakeholders. I researched other sports teams Member Hubs and found common themes of game day essentials from managing tickets to accessing their member benefits. There was some initial pushback from our ticketing team urging us to release it with the message center, but this was not realistic for multiple reasons: vendor timelines to build it, testing multiple audiences and ability to fully test it. Knowing that there was a short runway to launch, I pitched an MVP with the basic needs to get us up and running for the start of the season with features that were sure to make members happy from the get go. I reminded them of past snafus with releasing products that didn’t meet members standards and the backlash the teams previously received. I wanted this message center to happen as much as they did because I believed in the features' power, but was not willing to sacrifice a good user experience for a rushed product. On top of it, I was 90% positive that I had a solution that would allow us to split messages between two audiences like the stakeholders requested. This would become a key feature critical to our renewal campaign.

My primary goal was to enhance our most valuable members' gameday experience by collecting all the information they would need and placing it in a single location for easy access and a streamlined user experience.

The Launch: Overcoming Unexpected Hurdles

The Launch: Overcoming Unexpected Hurdles

The Process: Research, Design, and Strategic Content
Placement

Despite best efforts, the launch didn't go as planned the second time around either. There were internal delays with data pulls and the vendor's connection process pushed our timeline. This provided an opportunity to build a more robust testing and launch plan. 

Fast forward a few weeks, I coordinated with our marketing, sales, and email teams to align on a launch date, got final approvals from the key stakeholders, and I officially released the Sharks365 Member Hub in late November. The results were immediate and impactful. Within two months of launch, 54% of Sharks365 Members were using the hub. This validated our core assumption: members wanted a centralized, accessible platform for all their gameday needs.

Four mobile screenshots of the logged out or not a member screen
Four mobile screenshots of the logged out or not a member screen
Four mobile screenshots of the logged out or not a member screen


Phase 2: From Tool to Communication Hub


Phase 2: From Tool to Communication Hub


Phase 2: From Tool to Communication Hub

With the hub's success established, I immediately shifted my focus to Phase 2: transforming it into a dynamic communication platform. I worked with Rover to develop a segmented messaging center, allowing us to deliver targeted messages to specific member groups. The message center was a feature I saw another team using; however, its functionality fell short.  Conversations with Rover began around our needs as an organization to segment the audiences even if we could start with just two for our renewal campaign. They didn’t believe it was possible but would take it back to their team for internal discussion. Before they did so, they walked me through how it's set up using an external connection via Contentful. During this chat, I proposed setting up a secondary connection within the same account for two separate audiences then identifying which audience each user fell into within the data sheets. A few weeks passed and Rover came back saying that it was possible - a massive win to kick off phase two. But what’s a new feature without its faults? I added coworkers across multiple departments into the member hub to help test and validate the audience segmentation before turning it live to our members. I sent a few test messages to each audience and issues were flagged immediately: links were added but not clickable and the whole message wasn’t appearing for Android users. I sent the feedback to Rover, the product got fixed and retested, then approvals came in across all stakeholders.

This new feature was crucial for our annual renewal campaign. We could now send personalized messages to both renewed and non-renewed members, leveraging the hub as a powerful tool to drive conversions. I empowered the sales team by training them to use the new platform, giving them direct control over their member communications.

The impact was undeniable. At the end of the renewal campaign, the organization achieved a 93% renewal rate, a 7% YOY increase and a number not seen since pre-COVID times. I wish I could take all the credit for this, but the Macklin Celebrini effect is real and his upcoming debut was highly anticipated, helping move the needle.

Beyond renewals, the hub generated tangible revenue via the message center feature. The vision for this product was general communications but having worked in our app for the last few years, I knew that there was a bigger opportunity here to help generate additional revenue. Working with our Membership team, I encouraged them to use the message center for all communication needs: gameday changes, new food and beverage options, special merch drops, and more.Even though this feature was highly requested by them, it was quickly forgotten about. Towards the end of the season I followed up and encouraged them to send a targeted message. A message focused on encouraging members to use their benefits to upgrade seats was delivered and resulted in a $14,000 revenue bump.This not only generated a small bit of revenue, but it also helped introduce members to our highest-tier Premium Hospitality offerings and proved that the message center could be monetized. 

The Sharks365 Member Hub project demonstrated that taking a step back to build a truly user-centric product can lead to significant wins for both the customer and the organization. It is now a cornerstone of our member experience and a powerful tool for driving engagement and revenue.

© Erin Tucci 2025

© Erin Tucci 2025

© Erin Tucci 2025