Don’t just collect first-party data, use it to make the fan experience personal

Big moments in sport pull huge attention. The real question isn’t how many names and emails you capture – it’s whether what you collect helps you understand why fans show up and what will keep them coming back. When data reveals motivations and preferences, you can turn a spike of interest into a relationship that compounds across a season.

At Greenroom, we’ve seen this play out across codes and campaigns. The organisations that win aren’t the ones with the biggest forms: they’re the ones who use light, well-timed questions to learn how fans watch, what they value and the kind of recognition that actually feels rewarding. Then they use those signals to shape the next touchpoint.

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Behavioural and zero-party data: the fuel for relevance

First-party data tells you what someone did with you yesterday. The most useful layer for tomorrow is zero-party data - the preferences, intent and context a fan deliberately shares with you. 

Quick definition: zero-party data is volunteered, not inferred. It’s the answers a fan gives to short, situational questions in a tipping flow, a match-day QR journey or a campaign quiz. Think “I usually watch condensed highlights”, “I’m here for behind-the-scenes stories”, “Experiences appeal more than merch”, or “Friday night is pizza with mates”. Because it’s explicit and consented, it’s clearer to act on than clickstreams alone.

Signals that genuinely help you personalise:

• Watch mode: live every week, condensed highlights, social-first recaps
  
• Motivation: performance and improvement, community and social, story and access
  
• Offer appetite: exclusive content, experiences and tickets, merch and discounts
  
• Match-day context: at-venue or at-home, family or mates, preferred F&B

These aren’t vanity questions. They’re routing logic for what a fan should see next - on site, in email, in a wallet pass, or at the ground.

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From data to felt personalisation

Demographics tell you who a fan is. Behavioural and psychographic signals tell you why they’re here and what they want next. When you understand why, you make better choices about everything that follows: the content topics, the creative tone, the cadence, the offer timing, even which channels deserve the next dollar of media.

A few practical illustrations:

• A fan who watches live every round will value real-time utilities and post-match analysis more than long features two days later.
  
• A highlights-first fan wants smart summaries and context they can consume quickly, with simple on-ramps to bigger moments.
  
• A “social weekender” rider will respond to café-route content, community invites, and partner offers they can share.
  
• A story-led spectator is more likely to act on behind-the-scenes content, human angles and competitions tied to marquee moments.

None of this needs to feel like heavy personalisation. It just needs to feel relevant.

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Example: ESPNFootyTips × DoorDash’s Friday night feed

Inside the weekly AFL tipping flow, ESPNFootyTips added a single, well-placed question for DoorDash about the fan’s “ultimate Friday night footy feed”. One extra tap at a moment of high attention, and completely natural in context.

Why it works

Cuisine preference is more than trivia – it’s routing logic. That single signal lets DoorDash tailor creative and offers that match what a fan actually wants to eat, and which nearby retailers are most relevant.

What it unlocks

• Fans who pick pizza see local pizzerias and a match-night bundle
  
• Subs unlock a different set of partners and a simple half-time deal
  
• The same media dollar works harder because message and retailer selection fit intent.

What “good” feels like for the fan

A good data experience is light for the user and heavy for your CRM.

• It takes under a minute and explains the value up front.
  
• It gives something back immediately: a tailored highlights pack, a simple persona badge, and a fixture alert set to their club.
  
• It asks only for what you’ll use within 30-60 days.
  
• It makes preferences easy to update and cadence easy to slow.

When you design like this, you see compounding effects: stronger opens and clicks, lower fatigue, higher offer uptake and a steadily growing base of fans with reusable profiles.

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Small questions, big downstream impact

You don’t need a lab of data scientists to get started. You need clarity on what each answer will power. Think of the following as conversation starters that pay off later:

• “How do you usually follow the game?” – live, mini highlights, social recap
  
• “What do you come to us for most?” – stories, analysis, community, offers
  
• “What kind of reward feels valuable right now?” – content, experiences, discounts
  
• “What does your match day look like?” – at the ground, at home, with family, with mates

Each answer should map to a content theme, an offer type, a tone and a cadence. If a question doesn’t power a decision, don’t ask it.

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Example: Škoda’s We Love Cycling at the Tour de France

During the Tour de France, Škoda ran a lightweight quiz on We Love Cycling that went beyond basic entry fields and asked fans how they watch, ride and choose gear. It took less than a minute and felt native to the event.

Why it works

The questions surface zero-party signals that actually explain behaviour – live watcher or highlight catcher, performance chaser or coffee-ride social, tech specs or human stories. Those answers map neatly to mindsets that guide what comes next: content themes, tone of voice, cadence and the kind of offer that will land.

What it unlocks

• Performance-driven fans receive fit tips, tech deep dives and early-access messages
  
• Social weekenders get café-route content, community invites and shareable partner offers
  
• Story-led spectators see behind-the-scenes features and prize draws tied to marquee stages

Loyalty without the buzzwords

Plenty of sports-tech projects have reached for blockchain or complex points systems as the answer to loyalty. For most fans, that’s unnecessary overhead. The principle that matters is recognition over time. A simple, well-structured program that accumulates value for consistent engagement is usually the most effective path. Track actions that actually signal interest, reward them in ways that feel tangible and surface those benefits wherever the fan interacts with you. If a wallet pass helps you deliver that, great. If clean profiles and clear rules in your CRM get you there, that works too.

Trust is the foundation

Fans are willing to share when the value exchange is obvious. Respect that trust and keep the contract simple.

• Ask with intent: every field has a job.
  
• Be transparent about how answers improve the experience.
  
• Store only what you’ll activate soon, and show the benefit quickly.
  
• Make it easy to update preferences or slow the cadence.
  
  

How this changes your comms

Shifting from “collect everything” to “ask what matters, use it well” changes the texture of your communications:

• Journeys feel more like a conversation and less like a broadcast.
  
• Offers stop feeling random and start feeling timely.
  
• The same campaign generates different onramps for different mindsets, without adding heavy creative overhead.
  
• You spend media more efficiently because audiences are shaped by intent, not guesswork.
  
  

A note on measurement

This isn’t a dashboard for dashboard’s sake. Measure the things that prove relevance:

• Completion rate and question-level drop-off
  
• Percentage of fans with a usable profile: mindset plus a few attributes
  
• Lift versus control for each mindset: opens, clicks, conversions
  
• Downstream value – redemptions, repeat engagement, time to second purchase
  
• Unsubscribe rate by cadence and content mix

You’ll know it’s working when fans start telling you the experience “feels like it’s for me.”

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The takeaway

Collecting first-party data isn’t the win. The win is using it to understand the why behind fandom and to shape what each person sees next: the storylines, utilities and rewards that feel right for them. That’s how you turn big-event buzz into durable relationships and measurable growth, even as the rest of the data world shifts around us.

If you’d like a lightweight starting set of questions and a simple rules framework that maps answers to content and offers, Greenroom can share a template and help you pressure-test it against your next campaign.