Emphasising user experience with the official Club Brugge fan app
Key takeaways
'Club Brugge fans' are a demographic that can be tricky to define. In an effort to suitably accommodate such a diverse group, we've reframed the app in its entirety and considerably expanded its feature set.
Client
Club Brugge
Services
Digital product strategy —
User interface design —
Data & content strategy —
Content hubs and headless CMS —
3rd party integrations —
UX design —
As an innovative and digital-first sports company, Club Brugge had many new business goals in mind for its premium mobile application.
These all posed substantial challenges due to:
the complex nature of their fans’ user journeys,
the highly competitive market,
changes in the media landscape &IP deals,
and of course: high expectations from the public.
As their digital partner, Bits of Love was responsible for the strategy, design, and development of the new app and its custom content management system.
All of the following objectives were based on a list of pain points provided by fans and partners to guarantee absolute user-centricity.
Create a genuine one-on-one connection
The first hurdle was to create a genuine one-on-one connection with a broad range of fans, which we tackled by using a single sign-on across all channels and the Club IDas a centralised hub.
Parents now also have the ability to register their kids as ‘fans’ using the dedicated Kids section.
Behavioural elements like personalised avatars and segmented push notifications further strengthen the bond between the user and the app.
We prioritised convenience by integrating the Ask Club helpdesk and implementing features such as card top-ups, in-app stadium access, selling your seat to other fans, and easily editable contact details.
Club means business
Another primary objective of ours was to provide new services and opportunities to their B2B partners. This took shape in a brand new Business section that has its own visual branding and boasts a separate newsfeed, exclusive B2B deals and a VIP shop. Most importantly, it also includes an ‘address book’ to easily kickstart networking between partners.
We added new revenue streams in the form of a sponsored deals section and integrations for partnered advertisements. On top of that, we were able to realise a substantial increase in customer spend by removing all hurdles to transactions: the app now directly enables top-ups, ticket sales, seat swapping, and integrated storefronts.
Accentuating black & blue’s presence
Additionally, we set our sights on emphasising Club Brugge’s owned media channels and increasing time spent in the app.
The previously static news section blossomed into a fully personalised feed based on individual users’ profiles and interests. The Club Brugge content team now has a bespoke CMS at their disposal to dynamically update the feed with exclusive content such as unique statistics of live games, live video replays & press conferences, and 2 new extensive overviews of the YLA (Women’s) and NXT (Youth) teams.
The results speak for themselves!
The desired results and KPI’s were fully met. In just one month,
the active user base increased by 14.4%,
total sessions nearly doubled from 450K to 740K,
notification open rates went up by 58.8%, proving a decisive boost in user engagement.
The increased spend per head went through the roof: in-app revenue doubled and average top-up frequency multiplied by 8 since May 2021.
Finally, B2B sales were strengthened thanks to the broader value Club Brugge is now able to offer their partners.
“A project like this requires technical expertise combined with a strategic vision. Together with thorough research, this is what sums up the Bits of Love DNA for us. You feel the concern and the active acceptance of challenges that inevitably arise in complex projects. They are an excellent group of ninjas who get the job done.”
Maarten Dedobbeleer, Marketing Director – Club Brugge
Creating a new design system
We also created a new design system for a more consistent UI experience. The bespoke menus that feature layered dimensions, personalised feeds and one-click payment services were plenty innovative in their own right, but the complex content & data hubs in conjunction with deep integrations of 10 external data services are what truly takes it to the next level.
This app helps further solidify Club Brugge as an unquestionable force to be reckoned within the realm of digital sports, both in Belgium and in Europe.
