Success Story
By harnessing the power of play and automating fan engagement, the FAF saw, amongst other great results, a remarkable 21% increase in conversion rate (orders per email delivered) for their gamified birthday campaign.
The Football Association of Finland (FAF) is a prime example of how a small marketing team can achieve big results through strategic automation and gamification. Partnering with Playable, they’ve executed over 350 gamified campaigns since 2021, fostering stronger fan loyalty, boosting revenue, and capitalizing on major sporting events – all while maximizing efficiency with a lean team.
One of the key strengths of FAF’s approach lies in automated processes. By creating reusable campaign templates, they can effortlessly update content with fresh information, such as upcoming matches, without needing to manually build new campaigns each time. This not only saves them valuable time and resources, but also allows them to maintain consistent engagement with their audience throughout the year.
“The Playable platform saves us a lot of time. Basically, we can re-use campaigns and automate the process one time for the whole year. The campaign runs in the background without the need to interfere. It makes the whole process more efficient. That’s a big win for us.” Hanna Korpimäki, CRM & Data Manager at FAF
“The Playable platform saves us a lot of time. Basically, we can re-use campaigns and automate the process one time for the whole year. The campaign runs in the background without the need to interfere. It makes the whole process more efficient. That’s a big win for us.”
Let’s have a closer look at the marketing challenges FAF has tackled using gamification:
One of their primary marketing goals is to cultivate a deeper connection between the audience and the national team, fostering stronger brand commitment and loyalty.
A key insight is that fostering player awareness among the Finnish population is crucial for building stronger loyalty with the National Teams. This is precisely why they’ve implemented various engaging campaigns, like “Guess the player’s name” or “Pair the players with their jersey numbers,” to keep fans engaged and learning about the players.
Participants get 10 attempts to match the correct player with their corresponding jersey number. After completing the game, they can subscribe to the National Team’s newsletter for exclusive discounts on merchandise and tickets. Initially launched in June 2021 using both social media and email marketing promotion, the game has since transitioned into an always-on campaign accessible on their website and game hub, generating great results.
We publish two newsletters: one focused on the National Teams and another on the grassroots football in Finland. Each newsletter features diverse content, including one game per month. The game is consistently one of the most popular sections in both newsletters, highlighting the engagement it generates. Hanna Korpimäki, CRM & Data Manager at FAF
We publish two newsletters: one focused on the National Teams and another on the grassroots football in Finland. Each newsletter features diverse content, including one game per month. The game is consistently one of the most popular sections in both newsletters, highlighting the engagement it generates.
FAF also use gamification to cultivate deeper loyalty with their fans through personalized interactions – their birthday campaign being an example.
Before gamifying the campaign, subscribers received a birthday video from the National Teams along with a 15% discount code in a standard email. However, since incorporating gamification with Playable, they’ve transformed this campaign into a more engaging experience.After gamifying the campaign, subscribers now click a button in the email they receive on their birthdays to access a gamified landing page featuring a gift box they can virtually open to reveal the birthday video from the National Teams as well as a 10% discount code.
This is even more impressive considering that the discount percentage was smaller.
We’ve also implemented a reactivation flow for subscribers who haven’t opened our emails in six months. This flow prioritizes re-engagement, primarily through gamification. We utilize dedicated email campaigns within the flow that solely feature games, as we’ve observed a strong positive response to this approach. Hanna Korpimäki, CRM & Data Manager at FAF
We’ve also implemented a reactivation flow for subscribers who haven’t opened our emails in six months. This flow prioritizes re-engagement, primarily through gamification. We utilize dedicated email campaigns within the flow that solely feature games, as we’ve observed a strong positive response to this approach.
FAF strategically employs gamification to generate revenue, both by promoting merchandise and match tickets. They create exciting competitions for their email subscribers and social media followers, offering discount codes, gift cards, merchandise, and tickets as prizes. This not only incentivizes participation but also keeps the FAF at the forefront of fans’ minds, especially during crucial periods like upcoming matches or merchandise promotions.
FAF understands that abandoned carts are a common challenge in e-commerce, and that winning back those abandoned carts is a great way to boost sales. To address this, they’ve implemented a clever strategy – when a shopper abandons a cart on their Shopify platform, they are automatically added to a 3-email sequence. While the first 2 emails focus on non-gamified cart abandonment messaging, the final email takes a unique approach and adds a fun wheel-of-fortune where participants can win a discount they can use on their abandoned cart items.
The results (Since September 2022):
FAF saw Euro 2020 as an opportunity to expand and grow their fanbase as well as create a memorable experience for their fans. Their strategy focused on maximizing their digital touchpoints during the Euros, ensuring their presence across various online channels whenever fans engaged with football content.
To achieve this, they implemented a diverse range of gamified campaigns:
The results were impressive: FAF successfully doubled their opt-in database during Euro 2020 alone, demonstrating the effectiveness of their gamified approach in attracting new email subscribers and fostering deeper connections with existing fans during major sports events.
During the Euros, more than 50% of the participants opted into the newsletter, so Playable was the main thing supporting our goal of growing our email list. Our biggest outcome is that we are able to collect data so much more efficiently from different marketing campaigns. Hanna Korpimäki, CRM & Data Manager at FAF
During the Euros, more than 50% of the participants opted into the newsletter, so Playable was the main thing supporting our goal of growing our email list. Our biggest outcome is that we are able to collect data so much more efficiently from different marketing campaigns.
FAF’s future plans for gamification? Hanna Korpimäki, CRM & Data Manager at FAF is clear: FAF is eager to leverage gamification to gain deeper insights into their fans. Their goal is to understand who their fans are, their preferred players and products, and other valuable data points.
To achieve this, FAF plans to develop engaging games, such as personality tests, that will help them unveil valuable information about their fanbase. Armed with these insights, they plan to create hyper-personalized online experiences tailored to individual fan preferences.
We’re excited to see how FAF puts this strategy into action and the positive impact it will have on their fan engagement.
“The Playable platform has given us a clear competitive advantage. Without it, the campaign would have taken too much time, been too difficult, and we would have risked operational problems and breakdowns during the campaign. With the platform it all works – I don’t have to worry at all.”