The winning formula:

To truly turbocharge the fan experience and crank up the commercial value of sports brands, find the sweet spot between digital strategy and UX design. Each is the yin to the others yang – and data drives the success. But unpacking the opportunity presented by the data era means looking to the experts and major industry players.

Getting close to fans is critical when it comes to giving them what they want. Whether that’s half-time hotdogs in stadium, the latest player updates or loyalty rewards, only the organisations with excellent fan engagement experiences will gain the insight. Getting to know fans is synonymous with getting to know fan data. This requires smart, fan-centric user design (UX) – in alignment with a holistic digital strategy.

Seizing the digital opportunity

French football team FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FCGB or Les Girondins) is at the start of its own digital journey, with the launch of a customer data hub. This will achieve two things. Firstly, it will gather audience data, collating it in a data lake and transforming it into audience insights.  Secondly, these insights will be used to generate customised experiences. This digital transformation empowers not only FCGB, but also its brand partners with high-value data. Here lies the possibility for endless innovation and monetisation of audience data.

One thing is clear, according to FCGB: when laying out plans for a data-driven transformation precious budgets need to be carved out for both the day-to-day operational needs and the technical development of your digital strategy. The latter portion is important when it comes to getting the groundwork right. Connecting the dots as audience data is collected from across a range of channels and plugged into the CRM is essential and requires specialist skills.

Playing the field with data

Les Girondins is now looking to foster new relationships with companies that can help build out its digital successes – from fan engagement, to stadium advancement and digital rights. With the aim to monetise its data, integrating this digital transformation across all aspects of the business will be key –something the Olympic Team GB know all about.

One of the key challenges that Team GB faces is keeping fans engaged outside of the Olympic period. While it previously focused on the commercialisation of content, the introduction of General Data Protection Regulation in May 2018 triggered a change in direction. Now, data drives the engagement strategy, helping the organisation to better understand fans and tailor campaigns more closely to their needs and desires. This is helping to sustain engagement consistently throughout the cycle of events. Along with digital products, data represents a major commercial opportunity and an integrated ecosystem lays the groundwork for future innovation and success.

Putting UX to work with digital strategy

But this success balances on the thoughtful design of the digital experiences that guide fans across key touchpoints. Providing the baseline for all interactions, powerful UX means levelling with fans – putting empathy at the heart of design. This is achieved through Design Thinking.

Design Thinking is a human-centered iterative process that creative teams use to understand their users, challenge assumptions, refine problems and innovate. When building digital sports experiences, it means knowing today’s fans – and understanding tomorrows. This is achieved by moving through the five-steps of Design Thinking.  This starts with observing, ideating, prototyping and testing ideas. The process is built to confront challenges head on.

When synergy is achieved between the UX and digital strategy it supercharges fan engagement and the commercial benefits flow. What’s more, with powerful interactions and data-driven insights, sporting organisations will always be in beta.  Paving the way for a new wave of innovation and increased opportunity for monetisation of fan data, brands that get this right will gain the competitive edge. In the data era, this is the winning formula.

And if you don’t know where and how to start off, just drop us a message.