Recovering fans: redesigning a football team website to overcome covid-19

1. Overview

I redesigned Atletico Mineiro’s membership website to improve user experience and reduce cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a research-driven solution that provided valuable insights despite the project’s cancellation.

For confidentiality, some specifics—like survey protocols, sample details, metrics and other deliverables—aren’t included in this case.

2. Background

Atlético Mineiro, a football team from Minas Gerais, was facing a decline in membership during the COVID-19 pandemic. With no games to maintain engagement, the existing membership website—outdated and difficult to navigate—wasn’t helping. Fans saw it mainly as a payment platform, leading to frustration and cancellations.The goal of this project was to rebuild the membership website, improve user experience, and reduce membership cancellations. I was responsible for leading the design process from research to delivery.

3. Problem statement

The challenge

Declining memberships and user dissatisfaction highlighted the need for a fresh approach to the website. The existing platform didn’t offer fans value beyond payments, and its design, content, and functionality weren’t aligned with their expectations.

Key questions we wanted to answer

What were the primary pain points driving user dissatisfaction and cancellations?
How could the website’s experience better engage fans and retain members?
What strategies from other football teams could inspire meaningful changes?

4. Research

To understand the root issues, I conducted extensive research across four key areas:

User research: I used Hotjar to gather CSAT data from over 1,000 respondents, identifying pain points in the user experience and areas where the website fell short.
Business research: addressed concerns raised by the client, including outdated design, content disorganization, and member attrition.
Product research: I analyzed user behavior with Google Analytics, tracking conversion funnel gaps, external link engagement, and sponsor interactions, which influenced negotiations.
Market research: benchmarked strategies from sports teams in American and European football leagues, identifying trends in engagement mechanisms and visuals.

Through these methods, I discovered that fans primarily saw the site as a payment platform. This perception, coupled with poor content and usability, contributed significantly to attrition rates.

5. Ideation

After analyzing the research, I developed solutions focused on enhancing user experience and delivering value:

Design improvements: a complete visual overhaul to modernize the website and align it with fan expectations.
Content strategy: emphasized creating meaningful content to engage fans and increase perceived value.
Copywriting: improved messaging to make the site more relatable and fan-centric.
Prioritization framework: used a 2×2 matrix to balance customer value with feasibility when selecting solutions.

6. Design process

The production phase combined research insights with iterative design and testing:

Visual benchmarking: I analyzed designs from leading football teams to inform a visually appealing and functional prototype.
Prototyping: developed a clickable prototype for stakeholder presentation and team collaboration.
Usability testing: conducted tests to validate design decisions and ensure the solution addressed user pain points.
Quality assurance: worked with engineers to refine the final product and ensure its readiness for launch.

7. Results and insights

Although the project was canceled due to changes in Atletico Mineiro’s management, it produced several valuable outcomes:

Enhanced user experience: the prototype offered a significantly improved experience, addressing key user pain points.
Content-driven strategy: the market research inspired a shift towards creating valuable content for fans, influencing broader marketing strategies.
Actionable insights: the research process highlighted critical opportunities for improving fan engagement and retention.

While this project didn’t reach completion, it offers a rich foundation for future work. Explore the prototype in the Figma file and see how Atletico Mineiro’s membership experience could have been reimagined.

8. reflection and learnings

Challenges

The project’s cancellation was disappointing, especially after reaching the testing phase. However, the research and design work provided valuable lessons for future initiatives.

Key takeaways

Deep user and market research are crucial for addressing core issues and aligning solutions with audience expectations.
Prototypes and usability tests can uncover overlooked pain points, making the end product more impactful.
Projects can provide significant value even if they don’t reach deployment.

9. Future opportunities

The insights from this project could guide future initiatives:

Revisiting the prototype: with a different management approach, the redesigned website could still serve as a foundation for enhancing the membership experience.
Expanding the content strategy: creating valuable, fan-focused content can drive long-term engagement.
Broadening market research: continuing to benchmark against global teams for inspiration and innovation.