Recovering fans: redesigning a football team website to overcome covid-19
Situation
Atlético Mineiro, a football team from Minas Gerais, experienced a decline in memberships during the COVID-19 pandemic. With no games to maintain fan engagement, their outdated and difficult-to-navigate membership website became a source of frustration, perceived mainly as a payment platform. This lack of value contributed to user dissatisfaction and cancellations.
Task
I was responsible for leading the redesign of Atlético Mineiro’s membership website. The goals were:
- Improve user experience and modernize the website design.
- Provide fans with engaging content and a reason to stay connected.
- Reduce membership cancellations by enhancing the perceived value of the platform.
- Benchmark best practices from other football teams to inspire new features and strategies.
Action
I conducted a comprehensive research and design process to address the challenge:
- Research:
- Collected CSAT data from over 1,000 respondents using Hotjar to identify pain points.
- Addressed client concerns regarding outdated design, content disorganization, and attrition.
- Analyzed user behavior in Google Analytics, identifying gaps in the conversion funnel and sponsor interactions.
- Benchmarked American and European football clubs to learn engagement and visual strategies.
- Ideation:
- Developed design improvements with a complete visual overhaul.
- Created a content strategy emphasizing fan-focused, valuable content.
- Refined copywriting to make the site more relatable and engaging.
- Used a 2×2 prioritization matrix to balance customer value with feasibility.
- Design & Testing:
- Conducted visual benchmarking to inform aesthetics and functionality.
- Built a clickable prototype for stakeholders.
- Ran usability tests to validate design decisions and address user pain points.
- Collaborated with engineers during QA to refine implementation.
Result
Although the project was canceled due to changes in management, the process delivered valuable outcomes:
- Enhanced user experience: prototypes demonstrated a significantly improved journey.
- Content-driven strategy: insights shifted focus toward fan engagement beyond payments.
- Actionable insights: highlighted critical opportunities for improving fan retention and satisfaction.
- Broader marketing influence: research informed strategies beyond the website redesign.
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.
Reflection and learnings
- Deep research is essential for aligning solutions with audience expectations.
- Prototypes and usability testing uncover hidden pain points and inform impactful design decisions.
- Even canceled projects can generate valuable insights for future initiatives.
- A research-driven approach strengthens stakeholder alignment and design credibility.
Future opportunities
- Revive the prototype under new management as a foundation for future improvements.
- Expand fan-focused content strategies to increase long-term engagement.
- Continue benchmarking global football teams to inspire innovative approaches.