Het Concertgebouw: A legacy of musical excellence
Established in 1888, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam stands as a beacon of classical music, renowned for its exceptional acoustics and rich history. Home to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the venue hosts approximately 900 concerts annually, attracting over 700,000 visitors from around the globe. Its commitment to musical excellence and innovation has solidified its reputation as one of the world’s premier concert halls.
The challenge
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to live performance venues worldwide. For Het Concertgebouw, the prolonged closure raised concerns about audience retention and engagement. With a diverse program featuring over 700 concerts, the institution faced the daunting task of re-engaging its audience and simplifying the concert selection process to encourage attendance.
After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, Het Concertgebouw faced a pressing question: will audiences return to live performances? With over 700 concerts in their programming, the challenge was twofold: how to keep visitors engaged and how to simplify their decision-making process.
The Goals
Win back concert-goers who had stayed away since the pandemic.
Increase loyalty among current visitors.
Make it easier and more enjoyable to discover new concerts.
Deliver personal recommendations backed by expert knowledge.
The solution: NETA – Next Event To Attend
Het Concertgebouw developed the NETA campaign: a personalised recommendation engine powered by a custom-built algorithm. In collaboration with Blue Field Agency and powered by Deployteq, this initiative turned concert data and musicological expertise into relevant, timely email content.
When a customer purchases a ticket, their data flows into the data warehouse and feeds the NETA algorithm. The engine then analyses behavioural patterns, musical preferences, and metadata like genre and composer to generate three concert suggestions. These are shared via email at optimised intervals— 1, 12 and 30 days after purchase.
The algorithm combined behavioural insights with expert musicological input to generate those three tailored concert suggestions:
A recommendation based on the last concert attended, as well as what others attended who visited that same concert – guiding the visitor toward similar experiences.
A pick influenced by the full history of past visits, combining relevance with personal taste.
A wildcard suggestion – a surprise element encouraging exploration of unfamiliar genres, carefully curated by experts.
The Technology
The kNN algorithm (k-nearest-neighbours) built by Blue Field Agency
Musicological input by Concertgebouw experts (e.g. ratings within variables like genre and instrumentation)
Automated campaigns run through Deployteq
Data integrity ensured through strong governance and ISO 27001-certified partners
The results
The implementation of NETA yielded remarkable outcomes. Compared to standard newsletters, NETA emails achieved a 52-fold increase in conversion rates and created an uplift in average revenue per email. Notably, this success was achieved with fewer emails sent. Post-campaign analysis revealed a significant uptick in engagement: unique ticket buyers increased, and ticket sales rose, translating to a revenue boost. These metrics underscore NETA’s effectiveness in revitalizing audience interest and driving concert attendance. Visitors returned and stayed.
52x
Higher conversion
Compared to the regular newsletter
