About Voetbal International
Voetbal International (VI) is one of the leading football media brands in the Netherlands and part of the PXR media portfolio, which also includes Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Bright, Runner’s World, and VoetbalPrimeur.nl. VI delivers daily football coverage through its website and app, alongside subscription options in both print and digital formats—including VI PRO, its premium offering.
To deepen fan engagement and drive smarter growth, VI partnered with BlueConic and implementation partner Funnelboost to modernize its data strategy—bringing club-level personalization to the forefront of its digital experience.
Challenge
Before partnering with BlueConic and Funnelboost, VI’s email marketing program was limited. A small number of generic campaigns were sent to a broad audience, and most user profiles contained only a name and email address. This lack of detail meant VI couldn’t tailor content to match the interests of individual readers—even though many clearly followed one or more favorite football clubs.
But VI wasn’t just leaving data on the table—they were missing moments of connection with millions of fans. In a world where club loyalty defines identity, the brand saw a clear opportunity: give each fan content that reflects their team and their passion, in their inbox.
With revenue tied to both subscriptions and advertising, the stakes were high. The more a story aligned with a reader’s interests, the more likely they were to read, engage, and return. Every missed interaction was a missed chance to convert, retain, or reengage.
At the same time, parent company PXR was evaluating customer data platforms (CDPs) to unify and activate data across its many brands and channels. The selected CDP would need to support high traffic volumes, consolidate data from multiple sources into real-time profiles, and operate without impacting site performance.
After reviewing several options, PXR and VI selected BlueConic—with strategic implementation support from Funnelboost—to bring a club-first personalization strategy to life.
Solutions
Together with Funnelboost, VI launched a bold new personalization strategy powered by BlueConic. The team’s first mission: identify each fan’s favorite football club—and make that insight instantly actionable.
Funnelboost began by creating a strategic blueprint that outlined clear goals, KPIs, audiences, and hypotheses to guide the initiative. This roadmap ensured every step would deliver measurable impact.
Next, BlueConic Listeners were deployed across VI.nl to capture behavioral signals as fans engaged with club-related content. Metadata from articles helped infer interest in specific teams, while a scoring model flagged users with strong, consistent preferences.
But VI didn’t stop at assumptions. To ensure accuracy, a personalized form prompted users to confirm or adjust their favorite club in one click. Once validated, that preference became more than just a data point—it powered action.
Fans with confirmed affinities saw tailored newsletter sign-up prompts and received personalized emails featuring content about their club. What started as a simple signal became the engine for meaningful, relevant engagement.
And the momentum didn’t stop at email. With a robust set of enriched profiles in place, the team moved quickly to extend personalization to the homepage—aligning every digital touchpoint with individual fan passions.
Results
Six months after implementation, the impact of VI’s club-level personalization strategy was clear:
VI now knows which club 1 in 10 readers prefer based on their website behavior
15% of these profiles then manually confirmed their club preference via a dedicated pop-up
56% of these confirmers signed up for a club-specific newsletter
The club-focused pop-ups convert 326% better than generic pop-ups
The open rate of the club newsletters is 55% higher than regular newsletters
The click through rate of these club newsletters is 150% higher
With BlueConic as the engine and Funnelboost as a strategic and technical partner, VI built a scalable foundation for personalization— starting with football club preferences and now extending to the full fan experience. The result: deeper engagement, better-performing campaigns, and a more relevant experience for every reader.
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