Loyalty in Sports: Building Stronger Fan Relationships Through Design

It’s a fact that sports fans are among the most loyal groups in the world — supporting their teams through thick and thin, often boasting an encyclopaedic knowledge of their team’s history and stats.

However, that doesn’t mean that sports teams and organisations should take them for granted. In a world where new media and other forms of entertainment are constantly competing for the public’s attention, sports teams need to use every tool at their disposal to consolidate engagement and retention.

One such method of achieving this goal is via team websites and apps, which allow fans to access up-to-date info about fixtures, transfers, and even special perks and freebies. Although such loyalty schemes have proven effective in the past, they ultimately depend upon a solid foundation of design principles to succeed.

This article will explore how sports organisations can leverage web and app design to boost fan loyalty and fan relationships. We will also analyse some existing examples of teams who have succeeded in this endeavour. Read on to learn more.

Why Sports Platforms Help Boost Retention

When it comes to boosting fan retention, sports brands have a great opportunity in the form of online, digital platforms that are totally dedicated to their team, sport, or brand itself.

It’s vital, therefore, to take advantage of social media technology, as well as AI and data analytics, to craft a medium in which you can actively engage with fans. Furthermore, it’s also important to give fans a space in which your fans can communicate with one another and build the kind of robust communities that can help consolidate their loyalty.

Although it’s possible to piggyback on an existing social media service, such as Facebook, TikTok, or Twitter, there are still a number of advantages to building your own from scratch.

For starters, your brand will have full access and visibility over the user data that you can recoup from the app or website you employ. This, in turn, means that you can know exactly what your fans are looking for from your brand, and can answer their unmet needs accordingly — which will make them more loyal to you as a consequence.

But more important than that, your brand will have full control over the design and aesthetics of your platform of choice. This means that you’ll be able to include the features that are most important to your personal loyalty objectives and discount the ones that are irrelevant. Furthermore, you’ll also be able to guarantee consistency with your platform — ensuring that it adheres to your existing stylistic brand guidelines.

Good Design In Sports Fan Platforms

With all that in mind, what are some of the key design principles we have to consider when designing a platform for sports fans?

<h3>Gamification</h3>

Gamification is a design concept that incorporates core gaming features into a platform or service, making tasks more enjoyable and engaging for users. This approach leverages the fun factor of gaming to increase user participation and promote sustained involvement.

By utilising elements such as point scoring, tier-based levels, and competition, sports fans can enjoy a simulated version of the sport they enjoy, which makes them more attached to the brand. For example, fantasy football leagues are an ideal way of getting football fans to engage virtually with their club.

Personalisation

Personalisation entails designing an app with a degree of reactivity and adaptability, so that the service can be tailored to the specifications and preferences of individual users. This involves collecting relevant user data, (such as their web browsing history, cookies, and location) to provide a more bespoke user experience that matches their needs.

In loyalty terms, this personalisation might involve recommending merchandise to them, providing updates on upcoming events or giveaways, or celebrating important fan milestones.

Integration

Again, when designing an app for a sports team or club, it’s best to ensure that the platform itself reflects the brand’s image and values, so as to create a consistent experience for the users. You want users to feel as though they are standing in their home stadium every time they open your app or access your website.

Easy navigation

Finally, it’s important to ensure that your design is as intuitive to use and easy to navigate as possible. This will, naturally, lower users' frustrations on your platform and ensure that they have a positive experience when visiting. This, in turn, will make it more likely that they will continue to use your platform down the line, thus leading to increased retention.

Case Studies: Loyalty Program Design

The French Football club PSG (Paris Saint-Germain FC) is one example of a sports club which now boasts a well-designed app aimed at increasing fan loyalty and providing intuitive interactions.

As Future Platforms played a key role in the development and launch of this app, we have first-hand experience of the principles and ideas which went into its design.

The main objective of our revamp of PSG’s app was to provide an interactive, stable, content-rich, and personalised experience that would grant users better access to their favourite players while also increasing delivery efficiency and reducing technical debt. Another key goal was to leverage the app to help accelerate the sales of tickets and merchandise by integrating it with other platforms.

To achieve this, we looked at integrating key design features like:

• Custom native integration work for video playback, which could also support relevant team news, articles, and blog posts.
• Scores, stats, and standings, as well as other relevant information regarding players and fixtures.
• E-commerce integration with the club’s online store, as well as special offers, discounts, codes and member benefits.
• A PSG app TV service to support fans viewing games through livestreams via video subscription accounts.
• Stadium notifications to support fans viewing games at the grounds.
• Ensuring a consistent look and feel in terms of the visual grammar of the app: utilising the same graphics, icons, font choices, and colours that are commonly associated with the club as a whole.

Thus, each of these design points served to strengthen the emotional bond that fans had with the team. Or they made it easier for them to access content or see their games, while also guaranteeing long-term ticket sales to help the club grow.

Building Lasting Loyalty With Future Platforms

Are you looking for help building your own loyalty program? Future Platforms can help. We already boast a wealth of experience helping sports organisations design or revamp their applications, websites, and platforms.

So, if you’d like to know how we can help, then get in contact with our team today.