Our Client
A premier national sports franchise boasting a workforce of over 500 dedicated employees and a franchise value exceeding $5 billion.
Implementing Marketing Cloud Engagement transformed our fan interactions, boosting engagement and loyalty across international markets.
Director of Fan Engagement
The Challenge
The client, a storied sports franchise for its passionate fan base and rich history, had ambitions to grow their global presence but struggled with the following:
- Fragmented Fan Data: Disconnected marketing channels made segmenting fans effectively and optimizing engagement strategies difficult.
- Generic Communication: A one-size-fits-all email approach failed to resonate with different international audiences.
- Standard Preference Center: Fans could not customize how they received team updates, promotions, and event information, making it challenging to meet global data compliance standards.
- Limited Personalization: Email templates lacked dynamic content capabilities, leading to lower engagement.
Our Strategy
To address these challenges, we implemented a multi-pronged solution focused on unifying fan data, enhancing personalization, and optimizing regional outreach. We developed a custom preference center, allowing fans to tailor their communication preferences, and introduced dynamic email templates and data-driven campaigns to deliver personalized content. Additionally, we deployed multiple Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE) business units, ensuring localized messaging aligned with regional preferences and regulations.
This strategy gave the team a scalable, efficient, and highly personalized marketing framework, strengthening global fan engagement and driving long-term loyalty.
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Our Solution
Implementing Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE) with a Data-Driven Approach
To address these challenges, the team deployed Salesforce MCE, focusing on designing and improving the data experience for the company’s end users and the fans they would interact with.
Why Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE)?
Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE) provides the robust, scalable, data-driven marketing platform this NBA franchise needs to elevate global fan engagement. By centralizing fragmented fan data, MCE enables a 360-degree view of the fan, allowing for hyper-personalized messaging tailored to preferences, behavior, and location. With its powerful automation and AI-driven insights, the team can streamline campaign execution, reducing manual effort while improving message relevance and timing.
MCE’s Journey Builder ensures fans receive timely and contextual communications, whether for game-day updates, exclusive offers, or regional promotions. Its dynamic content capabilities allow customized email experiences based on fan demographics, engagement history, and team interactions. A custom preference center, built within MCE, empowers fans to manage their subscriptions and communication preferences, reducing opt-outs and increasing engagement.
Additionally, MCE enables multi-business unit management, allowing the team to segment communications for Canada, EMEA, and domestic audiences separately. This ensures localized messaging that aligns with regional preferences, languages, and compliance requirements, ultimately improving fan engagement across diverse markets. Data-driven campaigns help the team optimize engagement strategies by tracking real-time fan behavior and campaign performance, refining outreach for higher conversions and loyalty.
By integrating dynamic email templates, automated journeys, and AI-powered insights, MCE delivers a scalable, personalized, and efficient marketing solution that strengthens global fan relationships and drives long-term growth.
How we accomplished this
Custom Preference & Communication Center
Designed a user-friendly preference center where fans could select content types, frequency, and preferred communication channels.
Integrated real-time data syncing with CRM and other digital platforms to ensure accurate fan preferences, leveraging a structured data design to unify disparate sources.
Branded, Data-Driven Dynamic Email Templates
Developed mobile-responsive, visually appealing email templates featuring team branding, upcoming games, merchandise, and exclusive international content.
Integrated dynamic content blocks powered by structured fan segmentation models, enabling personalization based on fan behaviors, past interactions, and geographic location.
Incorporated Einstein AI for predictive engagement, ensuring optimal send times and subject line personalization using historical data analysis and engagement scoring.
Automated, Data-Driven Campaigns
Journey Builder was used to create multi-step fan engagement journeys structured based on data-driven insights and behavioral triggers.
Leveraged Mobile Studio for SMS and push notifications tailored to international fans attending games or events abroad, ensuring consistent multi-channel engagement informed by data trends.
A/B Testing improved subject lines, email design, and CTA effectiveness, leveraging a data-informed approach to content optimization.
Separate Business Units, Segmented by Geo-location
Enabled regional customization, allowing US, European, and Canadian fans to receive personalized localized content based on interests and events in their area while having the ability to track regional performance metrics separately.
The results
By unifying fragmented fan data, implementing personalized communication strategies, and optimizing outreach across multiple markets, the franchise achieved stronger fan relationships, increased digital engagement, and a scalable foundation for global growth.
45%
Increase in Email Open & Click-Through Rates
30%
Growth in International Fan Engagement
20%
Higher Merchandise Sales from Email Campaigns
Key Takeaways & Future Expansion
- Fan-Centric Personalization is Key: A structured data approach enabled a highly personalized experience, resulting in stronger brand loyalty.
- Localized Engagement Drives Global Growth: Tailoring communications by region improved fan connections outside the U.S., using data-driven insights to inform content.
- Automation & Data Design Enhance Efficiency: Automated journeys, informed by structured data modeling, ensured fans received timely and relevant communications without increasing workload.
Data Experience Resources
Decision Foundry is a certified independent software vendor, managed services provider, and a certified award-winning Salesforce integration partner. Decision Foundry closes the gap between data access, platform adoption and business impact. Our global, Salesforce consulting services include the integration of Data Cloud, Account, Engagement, Personalization, Sales, and Service.
