NHL Seattle, which is kicking-off their inaugural season in 2021, have teamed up with Satisfi Labs to offer a “virtual assistant” chatbot to help fans with any and all questions.

Satisfi Labs, an artificial intelligence knowledge management platform, has implemented technology to help answer season ticket holders’ questions. Fans can ask the chatbot information about the selection process timeline, how depositors will be contacted, and which payment plans are available. However, the bot isn’t answering two important questions: how much these seats will actually cost and what the team’s official name will be.

Bill Bailey, the chief revenue officer for Satisfi, told the Seattle Times that their platform is perfect for the new team since there’s a lot of “customer engagement and (needed) education.”

Insomniac browser for ticketing professionals

“So, right now they’re talking about how to choose their seats or engage their deposit, or begin their journey from just deposits to more engagement with the team,” Bailey said.

While the software doesn’t give season ticket holders the exact amount per seat, the chatbot will note that tickets will start as low as $2,200 per season. The bot can also tell fans some basic information like how general season-ticket selection should begin my next spring, the required method of payment, and whether or not fans can buy seats with friends. The program can answer about 150 questions, allowing the team to get a break from the regular influx of calls and emails regarding questions for the new season. Now, fans can have multiple questions answered instantly.

Todd Humphrey, the NHL Seattle senior Vice President of digital and fan experience, told the Times that ticketing information was added to the virtual assistant last month, and already, they’ve seen that Seattle fans are 17 times more likely to chat with the team via Satisfi than actually picking up the phone and calling – a number that he says is gradually increasing.

“What’s changing is, fans, they want to engage the way they want to engage,’’ Bailey said. “You can’t push them anymore with technology. If I want to chat with you at 2 a.m., then I need to be able to find the answer. So, we have a lot of connections into that answer.’’

Last month, the team started the season-ticket selection process where it began to contact deposit-holders to book appointments to view and reserve about 2,600 club-level seats. The appointments were for those who made deposits of $1,000 over a year ago during the season-ticket drive by the Oak View Group. More than 32,000 deposits were made, with a majority of those being $500 deposits on general-seating season-tickets. The team has also already caught some fire with secondary sellers, as officials are trying to eliminate resale options by offering fans an “exclusive secondary ticket resale platform.”

Vivid Seats ad with text your ticket to mindblowing over a vivid seats logo