This one took us by surprise. Parents are more dissatisfied with the player evaluation process than any other element of the club experience. Why could that be? The cynic might assume that parents simply dislike reading less-than-stellar comments about their children. Deep in the study results data we found a clue: one out of every two parents who uses an app to access forms is very satisfied with their club’s evaluations. And, today, only 20% of parents report using an app or software to access evaluations. Making the delivery and consumption of evaluations as easy as possible for parents might just be the game changer here.

We also found an important link between player evaluations and the experience a parent has with their club. When a club shares player evaluations through an app or third-party software (as opposed to manually on paper or through email), parents are more than twice as likely to be very satisfied with their overall club experience.

BONUS: We Analyzed 240 Soccer Player Evaluation Forms. Here’s What We Learned.

We asked parents to identify the club activities for which they use a third-party application or software (mobile or desktop) as directed by their club:

64%  Registering and/or paying for programs and club fees

56%  Viewing team and/or club schedules, calendars, and events

54%  Receiving and/or sending club-related messages

30%  Updating player attendance for games/practice

20%  Accessing club forms and player evaluations

Nearly all parents (91%) agree that the technology their child’s club uses impacts their overall feelings about the club. And 98% of parents surveyed who are with clubs that use an app to do all of the activities listed above agree that the opportunities, services, and benefits that they receive from their club programs are worth the money they pay. 82% report having high expectations for the technology their club chooses.

So, why aren’t we seeing more widespread adoption of club management technology that enhances the member experience? It’s clear that parents want to interact with clubs digitally, managing their schedules, payments, and communications from their phones and computers. Parents from higher income households are 2x more likely than all others to list technology and apps used by a club as a top reason to stay for additional seasons.

There’s another issue stewing beneath all this data: The way clubs currently employ technology often leads to more frustration for parents and players. This is most often due to the “too many apps” problem.

54% of parents are made to use two or more apps to manage their club experience and one out of four have used three or more. 32% of parents who use three or more club apps report forgetting their log-in info at least once over the last year. As the number of apps that parents are asked to use grows, so do the rates of dissatisfaction with most areas of their club experience. Parents made to use 3+ apps are equally willing to pay additional fees for updated technology as they are for player development programs and quality of coaches. 

While making payments is the club activity most often done through club technology (64% of parents reported paying their fees through desktop or mobile devices), more than half of parents reported being dissatisfied by the payment process at their club. In 2023, parents expect to handle all their commerce the same way they do on Amazon: on their phones, in just a few clicks, all while in line at Starbucks. Quick and painless. 

Issues parents face today with club payments include having to pay by paper check, lack of flexibility in payment plans, having to jump through hoops if a refund is needed, and figuring out how to navigate poorly designed payment apps. 

Unsurprisingly, the more club-mandated apps a parent is made to use throughout a season, the more issues they face making payments successfully. Parents with three or more apps for their club are three times more likely to experience payment-related frustrations. 

One in three parents lists the quality of communication they receive from their club as a top contributor to their overall opinion of that club. Out of all of the parents surveyed, over one-third (34%) have experienced last-minute event changes (such as field location or practice time) in the last year and over one-quarter (28%) have missed entire communications from their club. These experiences can cause frustration among parents and decrease overall satisfaction with a club. 32% of parents said they’d be most willing to pay additional member fees for improved communication from the club.

One common communication problem clubs face is a lack of centralization and quality control. Too often we see team managers having to build and maintain their own email lists, important club info being sent over random text chains, and different teams using different messaging apps based on a coach’s personal preference. Don’t even get us started on communication apps with advertisements…

When parents are made to use more than one app to manage their club membership, communication issues increase dramatically. Parents are more than twice as likely to experience unresponsive coaches, lack of communication, and missed communications from the club when using more than one app. 

Would anyone argue that registration isn’t one of the most important - if not the most important - interactions a parents can have with your club? It’s often the kickoff moment for the relationship and sets the tone for what their membership experience will be like for years to come. An admin from a youth soccer club who recently switched to PlayMetrics told us that, using their former (and outdated) system, parents would receive an email promoting open registration for multiple programs, 99% of which were not relevant to them in the least bit. The parent would have to scroll through the email, reading each program until they find one that their child can apply to. Not the best first impression, is it?

While 64% of parents report using a third party app for club registration, 32% are so unhappy with the process that they would be most willing to pay additional member fees for improved registration technology over any other area. That number skyrockets to 50% for parents who are made to use more than two club apps.

Speaking of too many apps, 25% of those parents who use more than two apps for their clubs noted that they mistakenly signed up for the wrong program in the last year.

Need more convincing that seamless registration greatly benefits youth sports clubs? We found that nearly 75% of parents who reported being very satisfied with their overall club experience also use an app or third party software for registration.