Pittsburgh Pirates Hit Revenue Home Run with Conversica’s Ticket Sales AI Agent

The Challenge

• Growing sales targets with limited rep capacity
• Changing fan expectations for engagement

In 2022, the Pittsburgh Pirates found themselves in a unique position. Like many organizations recovering from the pandemic, they were operating with a reduced workforce after scaling back during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, which had been heavily impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

With fewer staff and growing sales targets, the Pirates knew they needed a new approach. As they prepared for the 2022 season, they were exploring options for conversational AI that could augment their sales efforts, particularly for reaching out to segments that their reps wouldn’t prioritize.

Andy, the Pirates’ Director of Consumer Strategy, recalls, “We knew in 2022, we were moving towards fuller capacity. To scale up, we needed a year, so we started looking at conversational marketing or AI to help extend our reach.”

The sales team needed a way to engage large volumes of leads without burdening their already stretched staff. The goal was to focus their human reps on high-value opportunities while letting Conversica handle less urgent prospects, passive fans, and leads that had lapsed over time.

The Solution

• Chelsie Rizzo, Revenue Digital Assistant™ for Ticket Sales
• Skills: Cultivate Fan Interest, Winback Former Ticket Buyers, Generate New Fan Interest, Pre-Event Outreach, Reactivate Unresponsive Fans

The Pirates implemented Conversica in 2022, starting with segments that were lower priority for their sales reps—such as passive fans and customers who hadn’t engaged with the team for several years. Conversica’s AI handled the outreach, sending personalized messages at scale and nurturing leads that may not have been contacted otherwise.

According to Andy, “Conversica generated revenue from leads that would have otherwise been non-existent for us.”

As the Pirates’ sales team became more comfortable relying on Conversica, they began to expand their use of the platform in 2023. Conversica moved from handling lower priority leads to becoming the Pirates’ primary outbound tool for nurturing and qualifying prospects before handing them off to the reps.

The impact was immediate. By automating lead outreach and qualification, the sales team was able to focus their efforts on higher-value opportunities, improving overall efficiency and effectiveness.

“We saw a four-point increase in conversion rates with Conversica. And this year, we increased by 18 points,” Andy noted.

The Pirates’ outbound sales process became far more efficient. Conversica not only increased the volume of leads being engaged but also moved customers through the buying process faster. Leads were now converting months faster than the previous pace, freeing the reps to focus on other leads sooner.

In 2023, the Pirates began running Conversica campaigns to circle back to fans their reps had previously touched with a reactivation campaign. This addition increased the ticket revenue influenced by the AI agent by 325%. And by expanding their focus in 2024 to include their highest-priority leads—season ticket renewals, group renewals, and other large-ticket items—the team again increased their influenced ticket revenue. Conversica helped ensure no lead was left untouched, running them through multiple campaigns to maximize conversion opportunities.

“Conversica has completely transformed how we approach outbound sales. What began as a supplementary tool to engage lower-priority leads quickly became our primary outbound method, driving significant revenue and freeing up our reps to focus on high-value conversations. In just one year, we increased the Conversica-influenced ticket sale revenue 325%.”

Advice for New Conversica Users

1. Embrace innovation—and be prepared to learn from missteps.
   “It might sound cliché, but don’t be afraid to innovate and try new things, even if it fails. Some of our best learns have come from mistakes. The key is to keep experimenting. The more you try, the more you can fine-tune your approach, and each failure gets you closer to success.”
2. Leverage automation to its full potential.
   “The true gift of Conversica is its ‘set it and forget it’ automation. Once you’ve got your triggers in place through your CRM, Conversica handles the rest. It’ll automatically handle follow-ups, know when to reach out next, and even help with the right call-to-action. If you’ve got everything integrated correctly, you can trust that Conversica will keep your outreach moving without manual effort.”
3. Champion Conversica internally—it’s worth the investment.
   “Getting leadership buy-in is crucial. If you’ve got a receptive leadership team, don’t hesitate to ask for budget to maximize Conversica’s impact. Do your homework, show the returns you’re seeing, and talk to others in the industry who are leveraging the platform. We doubled our investment because we saw the clear value Conversica was adding to our business, and it continues to pay for itself.”