SeatGeek Scales Personalization for Live Event Marketing

Marketers in the live events space face relentless pressure to move fast and deliver. But speed alone doesn’t cut it, especially when outdated systems slow you down. Manual campaign processes, siloed data, and error-prone workflows don’t just waste time. They miss the moment entirely.

That’s why smarter teams are shifting from hustle to precision. At the 2025 Activate Summit, Hannah Starr, Senior CRM Associate at SeatGeek, revealed how her team rewrote their playbook by using Iterable’s Catalog and Snippets. The result? Better personalization. Less friction. And yes, more revenue.

Why Manual Campaigns Fall Short for Live Events

SeatGeek isn’t new to pressure. As a leader in live event ticketing, the stakes are high, and timelines are tight. But like many brands, they were stuck juggling CSVs, making manual updates, and chasing down cross-functional support.

Especially during key moments like the holidays, their team faced a frustrating dilemma: personalizing campaigns meant jumping through hoops. The process was slow, resource-draining, and risky.

Mistakes weren’t theoretical — they happened. A mistimed offer here, a broken link there, and trust eroded. For a fan-centric company like SeatGeek, those misfires could be the difference between delight and disappointment. By recognizing the limitations of their manual processes, the team knew it was time for a transformation.

A tech stack designed for yesterday’s marketing can’t keep up with today’s pace. Marketing professionals want to spend their time on creative, impactful work, not troubleshooting technical gaps or correcting spreadsheet formulas. By modernizing their stack, SeatGeek created an environment where marketers could focus on what they do best: connect with fans.

Unlocking Automation: Data Centralization With Catalog

SeatGeek cut the busywork. With Catalog, their team no longer has to convert files or tap developers for every update. Instead, they manage key data, like market-specific teams or game-day promotions, in one centralized source.

Need to highlight a jersey giveaway for a Rockies vs. Giants game? Done. Want to personalize by market in places with multiple teams, like New York or Chicago? Catalog handles it at send time.

This transformation gave the team the freedom to run complex tests across eight annual holiday campaigns, each with four to five test panels. The result? A 41% increase in total revenue from holiday campaigns between 2023 and 2024.

Scaling Personalization Across Campaigns With Snippets

Consistency shouldn’t mean compromise. SeatGeek paired Catalog with Snippets to supercharge their campaign consistency and speed. Updating a single snippet, like changing a promo code from 15% to 20% off, reflects across all campaigns using that content block. No spreadsheets. No duplicated errors.

SeatGeek also uses Snippets for common campaign elements such as email headers and SMS footers. This consistent structure reduces the chance of broken links or outdated offers, especially in critical campaigns like cart abandonment. Embedding Snippets in cart abandonment flows allows SeatGeek to increase promo visibility without adding sends. It also ensured each user saw the right promo, even within complex test groups.

That flexibility extends to testing, too. Because Snippets are modular, they can be updated independently. So teams can swap creative elements or try new CTAs without rebuilding entire messages. It’s a personalized testing lab that also fosters alignment. When creative and CRM teams work from the same dynamic building blocks, campaigns stay consistent and on-brand, without slowing anyone down. The result: more relevance, more conversions, less noise.

Dos and Don’ts for Smarter Campaigns

Starr ended her session with practical advice for marketers looking to modernize their approach:

• DON’T overcomplicate automation: Start small and scale. Don’t let perfection stall your progress.
• DON’T ignore data-driven optimizations: Learn from A/B tests and integrate insights into automations.
• DON’T work in isolation: Align campaigns with broader marketing strategies.
• DO automate where possible, but maintain a human touch: Automation is a tool, not a replacement. Personalization should feel personal.
• DO leverage dynamic content to scale personalization: Tools like Catalog and Snippets make personalization scalable and accurate.
• DO test and iterate constantly: Marketing evolves. Your approach should, too.

These lessons reinforce a universal truth in marketing: agility beats complexity. The ability to test quickly, learn fast, and scale efficiently is what separates good campaigns from great ones.

For a full replay of Hannah Starr’s session, watch the full Activate 2025 presentation.

Personalization That Moves at the Speed of Live Events

In live events, timing is everything. SeatGeek’s story is what it looks like when brands align strategy with scalable technology. As marketing teams face increasing pressure to deliver ROI, these tools allow for agile testing, targeted personalization, and message accuracy, without adding headcount or extra hours. The result is a more empowered team and a more engaged audience.

Lessons from SeatGeek’s session offer a roadmap for marketers eager to evolve from campaign-driven models to experience-driven engagement––a shift in mindset that prioritizes the customer, values precision, and celebrates efficiency.