Federazione Italiana Rugby and IQUII: together again, developing the new Sport Platform

Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) is the association organising and promoting rugby in Italy since 1928. It is affiliated with World Rugby, the international federation, and features among the most important rugby associations in the world, participating to the famous “Six Nations”, the tournament in which the main rugby teams of the north hemisphere challenge each other.

Another step forward boosting the fan experience and supporting the strategy of the Federation: this was the challenge of the third stage of the collaboration between FIR and IQUII – established for the first time back in 2016 – to carry on the winning path in the Sport Digital Transformation and continue to represent even more a unique case in Italy in the management of the relationship with the fanbase.

Thanks to the consolidated relationship with the client and the continuous consultation to improve the app experience, the shared will to take the platform to the next level emerged, taking advantage of the IQUII’s know-how and accommodating the needs of the Federation to:

• have a more flexible and integrated platform;
• boost fan engagement through new features;
• strengthen the fanbase acquisition and fidelization strategies;
• renovate the layout of the application.

The answer to these needs has been identified with the implementation of SportXP, the IQUII’s own framework already adopted and tested in the partnership with other clients, which is in a continuous evolution to keep up with the latest fan engagement innovations.

It offers a captivating design and a new look & feel, as well as improving the fanbase acquisition and profiling process, allowing to carry on more structured and efficient fan engagement activities; specifically, talking about the FIR’s project, new features have been integrated, such as the Instant Win – based on gamification dynamics to encourage the fan interaction offering the chance to win exclusive prizes, – the FIR’s FanCam and the official Stickers to communicate and share the passion for Italian rugby in a new way.

Moreover, the framework is completely adaptable with the new technologies and it is integrable with the main Content Management, CRM and e-Commerce solutions.

The numbers of the new Sport Platform have confirmed once again the sense of belonging and the participation of Italian rugby fans: indeed, in less than three months from the publication, more than 14K new downloads have been registered, a significant amount reinforced by the rate of users who decided to sign in (more than 65%), to activate push notifications (57%) and who gave their consent to receive the newsletter (80%).

Finally, the number concerning the average time length of each session (above 3 minutes) is significant, as a proof of rugby fans’ engagement enjoying the content and the features proposed.

The third step of the partnership between FIR and IQUII represents an essential evolution enabling the Federation to offer Italian rugby fans an even more complete tool: indeed, from a purely informative platform, the application has become even more engaging thanks to the introduction of the new features supporting the fan experience.

Moreover, the implementation of a consolidated framework such as SportXP laid the foundations for new scenarios, in which the strengthening of the fan engagement, the customised membership strategies and an innovative approach to the fanbase profiling process represent the pillars to build a competitive advantage for the FIR’s strategy and to move the fan closer to his or her passion.

FIR and IQUII, together for the Digital Transformation of Italian Rugby.