The client of this thesis was Hämeenlinna Theatre. The theatre´s group sales have decreased recently. The aim of the thesis was to find out the explanatory facts for the decrease and thereby to give some proposals for improvement.

The theory part first discusses customer oriented marketing. After that the theory deals with customer experience generally and the importance of creating of a good customer experience today. Customer experience is made up of all the phases of the purchasing process and the process is handled also in the theory. Previous customer satisfaction surveys of Hämeenlinna Theatre and national theatre researches have also been used as reference material for the study.

The research data was collected by sendind an inquiry to group customers who had earlier visited Hämeenlinna Theatre. Opinions and experiences of all the contact points between the customer and theatre were surveyed. On the basis of the results it can be stated that the group customers are mainly satisfied with the Theatre. Some critical points in the customer process however came up. The Theatre is advised to take these points into account in future.

During the research it was noticed that the decrease of group customers is a bigger problem among larger groups than among smaller groups. The reasons for the decrease of large groups are likely related to some external factors. The Theatre is thereby advised to focus more on the benefits of smaller groups and in that way try to increase group sales again.