Badminton Ireland has launched a free new app for iPhone and Android.  The release comes just in advance of next week’s Irish Open Championships which run from Thursday November 6th to Sunday 9th.
The app is visually strong and carries detail of all tournaments and clubs around the country.  It will plug in to Badminton Ireland’s online TV channel which will live stream the action from the Open.
There is a feedback section which will allow fans and players to interact socially and push notifications which should significantly lift the engagement that the sport has with its membership and occasional players.
“Smartphone penetration in Ireland is expected to reach 71% of the population by the end of 2013,” according to Shenda Loughnane of Carat Ireland.
The move toward mobile is rapid and is changing the dynamic on how brands and organisations connect. The ability to push information straight to mobile is very important, doubling customer retention and increasing engagement by a factor of four.
Figures released recently show that 67% of engagement with an app is driven by push in the first month of a download, rising to 81% in month three.
There can be real world advantages too with those who download the app, available from iTunes, able to gain access to each day’s play at the Irish Open for as little as €1.