How to unlock a new level of fan engagement with a 360-degree CRM | #04

Why Football Clubs Leave Fan Engagement on Autopilot and How Journey FC Changed the Game

‍

The Hidden Costs of Staying Analogue

Journey FC, a professional football club operating in a competitive European second-tier league, had long been a respected name in its region. With a loyal fanbase and steady home attendance, the club generated approximately €25–40 million annually, the club struggled with stagnant revenue growth and declining fan engagement. Data was scattered across multiple disconnected systems, including the Eventim ticketing platform, merchandise databases, and email newsletter platforms. This fragmented approach meant that communications to fans were generic and impersonal. Sponsorship deals suffered as well due to the inability to demonstrate measurable value, causing the club to miss out on lucrative commercial opportunities.

Key issues identified:

• Disconnected fan data systems across ticketing, merch, and communications
• Lack of personalization in fan outreach
• Inability to demonstrate sponsor ROI
• Missed opportunities for engagement-based monetization

‍

The Inspiration for Change

The ambitious team at Journey FC was eager for improvement but uncertain about where to start. A turning point came when the team stumbled across a compelling case study about another mid-sized European club that had successfully transformed their fan engagement and commercial processes using a structured, data-driven CRM system. Inspired by this story, the team began to realize the potential lying untapped within their own organization. They knew it was time to break free from outdated practices and embrace a more modern, data-centric approach.

Catalyst for transformation:

• Internal ambition paired with external inspiration
• Recognition of data as underutilized commercial leverage
• Desire to serve fans more intelligently and efficiently

‍

Lifting the Curtain with a Comprehensive CRM Audit

The journey began with a detailed audit of the club’s existing systems and processes. During this audit, numerous operational inefficiencies became apparent. The Eventim ticketing data was completely isolated and unavailable for targeted marketing campaigns, limiting the club’s ability to tailor communications to fan preferences. Merchandise and ticketing data were stored across multiple Excel spreadsheets, making it difficult to identify opportunities for cross-selling and upselling. Furthermore, the audit highlighted critical gaps in fan journey mapping—first-time visitors and long-term loyal fans received the same generic emails, resulting in a diluted fan experience and missed revenue opportunities.

To address these issues, a comprehensive visual map using a collaborative Miro board was created. This visual approach enabled the team to clearly understand the current state of their fan journeys, identify key pain points, and visualize how future processes could look. The Miro board became a vital tool, maintained regularly, and used as an ongoing reference for team alignment and training.

Audit takeaways:

• Ticketing data isolated from CRM systems
• No segmentation logic tied to lifecycle stage or behavior
• Poor visibility into full fan lifecycle and engagement flow
• Creation of a living fan journey map in Miro to steer transformation

‍

Building the Data-Driven 360-Degree Fan Profile Engine

The solution revolved around implementing a fully integrated CRM with HubSpot as the core. The initial step involved integrating Eventim ticketing data. While direct connectors were unavailable, Eventim offered API access through Tixx-Connect. Initially, a manual CSV import process was established, quickly identified as a candidate for automation through custom scripts and  AI-driven solutions.

PostgreSQL was introduced as an intermediary step, ensuring efficient data storage without incurring hidden replication or storage costs. To enrich the fan data, Hightouch was used to sync segmented data back into HubSpot, forming actionable, real-time profiles. Reporting capabilities were enhanced by embedding Looker Studio dashboards into HubSpot, providing the club with clear, real-time insights on fan engagement metrics and commercial outcomes.

But ticketing data alone doesn't paint the full picture of a fan. So the club identified other data sources essential to a complete 360-degree fan profile. The next step was integrating the web shop, pulling in purchase behavior to better understand commercial preferences and timing. Finally, they focused on the club app. Unlike other platforms, the app offered not only data on interactions but also a direct, low-friction method to ask fans questions through quick in-app surveys. These surveys captured soft attributes that CRM systems typically miss—like favorite players, preferred matchday travel modes, or whether they watch games from home, the pub, or the stands. Feeding this data back into the CRM unlocked next-level personalization. For example, fans who preferred biking to the stadium were included in eco-transport campaigns, while home viewers received optimized halftime offers through second-screen targeting.

What the architecture included:

• HubSpot as the CRM and marketing automation platform
• Tixx API and interim CSV processes to move ticket data
• PostgreSQL as the intermediate data warehouse layer
• Web shop integration for capturing merchandise and commercial behavior
• Club app integration for behavioral insights and fan surveys
• Hightouch for reverse ETL back to HubSpot
• Looker Studio for real-time, sponsor-facing dashboards

‍

Personalized, Multi-Channel Fan Journeys

With robust fan profiles in place, Journey FC began to reimagine its communication strategy from the ground up. A fan purchasing a single match ticket now entered a well-designed journey: within minutes, they received a welcome email not just thanking them for their purchase, but offering a personalized map of the stadium, tips for travel and parking, and a discount code for first-time merchandise buyers. Two days before the match, a reminder email would go out, followed by a matchday push notification via the club app offering an exclusive flash sale on home kits, only valid during halftime.

For long-time season ticket holders, the experience was just as personalized. Monthly newsletters were dynamically populated with content that matched their seating section and historical purchases. If a fan had bought jerseys in the past, they’d be the first to know about new kit launches. If they hadn’t attended a recent game, they’d receive a smart, behavior-triggered message with a highlight reel of what they missed and a tempting 2-for-1 drink voucher—turning absence into anticipation for the next home match.

The CRM engine also powered multi-channel flows, adjusting communication based on engagement behavior. Fans who didn’t open emails would receive a short, friendly reminder via SMS (if opted in), and highly engaged fans were encouraged to join the club’s loyalty program via WhatsApp or app push notifications. Everything was connected, timely, and relevant.

Fan journey improvements:

• Event-triggered emails tailored by fan type and behavior
• Cross-channel communication with fallback logic
• Dynamic content in newsletters linked to CRM attributes
• Automated reminders, offers, and loyalty nudges via app, SMS, or WhatsApp
• Subtle matchday commercial opportunities baked into fan experience

‍

The Payoff – Clear Results and Transparent Metrics

Journey FC implemented a revamped CRM strategy that led to measurable, high-impact results. Email engagement metrics improved dramatically, with open rates increasing from 18% to 31%. This significant jump was driven by better segmentation and personalized messaging, which allowed the club to communicate with its fans in a more relevant and timely manner, significantly boosting fan interaction and campaign performance.

The club also experienced a calculated €200,000 annual increase in revenue due to improved cross-selling and upselling opportunities made possible by enhanced CRM segmentation and targeted campaigns. Sponsor relationships strengthened significantly as the actionable dashboards provided clear demonstrations of fan engagement and commercial ROI, proving invaluable during sponsor renewal negotiations.

More importantly, the club embraced a performance model based on lead and lag measures. Instead of only reviewing end-of-season revenue figures (lag), they tracked fan journey interactions they triggered (lead), and open rates on campaign flows, offer click-throughs, or in-app behavior patterns. This helped them identify friction or success much earlier—and respond accordingly.

Outcomes from the transformation:

• Email open rate improved from 18% to 31%
• Estimated €200K uplift in merch and ticketing revenue
• Sponsor reporting improved credibility and renewal leverage
• Clear ROI narrative embedded in dashboards
• Adoption of lead measures to influence commercial lag metrics

Learn more about lead vs. lag measures in football

‍

Behind the Scenes – Ensuring Long-Term CRM Success

To ensure lasting operational success, thorough documentation and practical playbooks were developed, detailing every CRM-related workflow. The team introduced supered.io, providing interactive, in-app guidance within HubSpot to simplify daily operations.

Additionally, the club emphasized data quality as an ongoing, habit-driven practice by establishing automated CRM stand-ups delivered through email or Slack. These routine check-ins prompted the team to regularly review key reports and dashboards, ensuring constant vigilance and data accuracy.

Sustainability practices implemented:

• CRM playbooks and visual SOPs
• Interactive onboarding via supered.io
• Automated Slack/email-based reporting check-ins
• Strong emphasis on habits, not just tools

For deeper strategies on how to keep your CRM clean, structured, and truly usable explore: Clutter Kills Your CRM

‍

Lessons Learned & Actionable Insights

What the Journey FC story reinforces is that transformation doesn’t hinge on flashy tools—but on clarity, commitment, and operational rigor. CRM success stems not from data volume but from how clubs structure, activate, and iterate that data across journeys, teams, and outcomes.

Expanded takeaways for clubs:

• Consolidate data early—fragmentation creates costly friction and slows learning loops.
• Don't wait for perfect tech—imperfect integrations with clear processes beat perfect plans with none.
• A Miro board and shared CRM blueprint can provide a north star across commercial and operational departments.
• Multi-channel personalization matters—but only with good data hygiene and opt-in logic.
• Documentation > memory. Train your systems to scale, not your people to remember.
• Dashboards are only useful if reviewed. Build reporting into your rhythms.
• Segmenting fans is not a bonus feature—it’s the core of intelligent monetization.
• Reporting is your secret sponsor weapon: if you can show ROI, you can extend deals.

‍

Conclusion

Journey FC might have already captured your imagination. While—you guessed it—this particular club is fictional, the strategies, systems, and processes described throughout this story are not. They’re real—and they’re already in play, not just in other industries, but increasingly across forward-thinking football clubs across Europe and globally.

The beauty of this story lies in its believability. Nothing in this narrative is far-fetched. Every step—from the initial audit to the reporting dashboards—is rooted in real-world application. The playbooks, the segmentation, the CRM logic—they’re already at work in modern businesses and clubs, creating real value for sponsors and fans alike. If anything, Journey FC serves as a blueprint, a mirror, or maybe a mild provocation: What’s stopping your club from being next?

We didn’t invent best practices here. We simply stitched them together with intention. If this story sparked ideas, challenged your assumptions, or gave you clarity—then it’s already done its job. And if it made you uncomfortable, even better. Comfort rarely creates change.

Because the truth is, there are clubs out there right now still copying last year’s newsletter. Still guessing what fans want. Still showing sponsors vanity stats. Still hoping things “just work.”

Journey FC broke that cycle. And your club can too.

Perhaps someday Journey FC will come to life. Until then, why not start building your club’s future today?