A Home Run for Your Business: Lessons from Major League Baseball
A case study in turning feedback into action.
Our customers' needs, wants and expectations are constantly evolving. To secure long-term success, we must listen to our customers and react to their feedback. Look at Major League Baseball. This season the MLB has made the most drastic changes to their product since the American League introduced the designated hitter. These rule changes have little to do with preserving the integrity of the game…but rather adapting to the needs, wants and expectations of their customers. Let's explore 3 of these changes from a customer experience perspective.
Photo by Jimmy Conover on Unsplash
Rule change 1: Teams can't employ a defensive shift. (Customer Wants)
If you're not a baseball fan, bear with me! The defensive shift has been a strategy in recent years to stack fielders on the right side of the diamond. This strategy was extremely effective against batters that favored the right side of the field...particularly left-handed batters. Since 2006, the season wide batting average had dropped a full 10 points according to MLB data.
Shifting the defensive alignment worked well strategically. Unfortunately, ground ball outs are not exciting. Baseball fans wanted more action, and MLB listened and delivered. With the elimination of the shift, MLB is seeing more base runners and more excitement.
Rule change 2: Larger bases. (Product Quality)
For the 2023 season MLB increased the size of the bases from 15 inches to 18 inches. This rule change is meant to improve player safety. Unfortunately, injuries are a factor in any sport. While injuries in any industry can be a disruption, in sports the athletes are the product. Customers tune in and attend games to see their favorite players. When a star athlete is unavailable due to an injury the "product quality" suffers, and fans are less likely to watch or listen to a game.
While testing this change in the minor leagues, there was a 13% decline in "injury events near the bases" from 2021 to 2022. Another bonus of this change is larger bases have shrunk the distance between bases by 4½ inches…enticing more players to attempt a steal! Not only does this change address the need to keep players playing, but also increases the action!
Rule change 3: Pitch Clock (Customer Expectations)
In 2021 the average Major League Baseball game took 3 hours and 10 minutes. The pace of play had continued to slow down at the same time consumer attention spans continued to decrease. An average baseball game was taking an hour longer than the average run time of the top movies of 2021. MLB responded by implementing a pitch clock. Now pitchers have 15 seconds to throw a pitch when the bases are empty and 20 seconds to throw with base runners. This change is contributing to a reduction in the length of games by an average of 26 minutes.
Are these changes good for the business of Major League Baseball? All signs point to yes. Although it is still early, attendance and ratings are both up. Long-term business success requires the forethought to evolve with the customer, the reverence to listen to feedback, and the courage to execute change. Luckily, you have LoyaltyLoop to help you identify your customer's changing expectations, wants and needs, giving you the opportunity to improve your product or service too!