How We Helped San Francisco Opera Reimagine First-Time Audience Journeys with AI

The Challenge: First-Time Audiences Rarely Return

At San Francisco Opera, 9 out of 10 first-time ticket buyers disappear before the season ends, and 3 out of 4 never come back at all.

To address this long-standing challenge, San Francisco Opera partnered with CI to explore how AI could act as a true strategic partner — helping the organization move faster, uncover audience insights, and test new solutions at scale.

The Approach: A Four-Phase AI Strategy

CI and San Francisco Opera worked through a Discover → Define → Execute → Measure framework, with AI integrated at every step.

I. Discover

In the Discover phase, we began with AI-powered “deep research,” scanning public reviews to uncover the emotional and logistical drivers of disorientation for first-time visitors. This revealed not just surface-level frustrations, but the deeper anxieties that often prevent a return visit. From there, AI helped draft a survey for new buyers that integrated these findings. In weeks, not months, San Francisco Opera had a professional-grade survey in the field, something that would have otherwise taken far longer to develop. Once the results came back (from over 300 visitors), AI stepped in again, synthesizing responses and ranking the most pressing barriers to returning. Instead of sifting through hundreds of comments manually, the team quickly surfaced a clear picture of what mattered most to audiences.

II. Define

In Define, we married those survey insights with a mapped customer journey, pinpointing where the greatest disorientation occurred. With that foundation in place, AI generated dozens of tactical ideas, ranging from rethinking the pre-performance email to providing subtle in-theater support for first-time attendees. While not every suggestion was a fit, the ranked list helped us spark conversations and consider the impact and lift of each opportunity. In the end, San Francisco Opera and CI honed in on four solutions that balanced feasibility with audience impact.

III. Execute

The Execute phase brought those ideas to life. Using proprietary audience data, we built AI-driven profiles that guided more tailored messaging. We launched a “sticky synopsis,” rewriting complex opera synopses into more approachable language, and extending them into audio files visible wherever audiences explored the season’s offerings online. At the same time, AI-assisted editing helped us personalize copy in pre-performance emails and create an incremental first-time ticket buyer email. We even paired these digital efforts with a subtle in-person touchpoint, ensuring that newcomers were supported from the moment they purchased a ticket through their arrival at the theater. Each piece was designed to provide clarity without overwhelming, creating a more welcoming journey for first-time attendees.

IIII. Measure

Finally, in Measure, we put the ideas to the test. A live A/B experiment compared the sticky synopsis against the traditional version, revealing early signs of stronger engagement. Additional tests are already in motion, tracking the impact of refined email strategies and in-person touchpoints to see if these incremental changes bundled together can translate to more return visits—and ultimately, incremental revenue.

The Sticky Synopsis: A Quick Win with Long-Term Potential

The sticky synopsis demonstrates the power of AI-accelerated iteration. What once took weeks of human rewriting became a collaborative process where AI drafted, humans refined, and audiences responded.

By making complex plots more approachable, and delivering them in multiple formats, San Francisco Opera has already seen audiences spending more time with the content that prepares them for the performance.

The Results So Far

While final retention outcomes are still being measured, early results are promising:

• Speed to Market: From idea to live test in weeks.
• Engagement Lift: Audiences are spending more time with the sticky synopsis.

As Troy Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at San Francisco Opera, put it:

“It’s speed. It’s efficiency. It helps us do more, to solve very specific problems and help people. It keeps us patron-first.”

The Takeaway

This case study demonstrates how AI, when paired with human expertise, accelerates problem-solving. By uncovering audience pain points, generating tactical solutions, and streamlining execution, San Francisco Opera and CI proved that AI can deliver incremental wins today, while laying the groundwork for stronger audience retention tomorrow.

CI’s AI Strategy service helps arts organizations unlock this kind of value: moving fast, testing smartly, and making AI a trusted partner in audience growth. Talk to us to start your AI journey today.