The project began in 2016 with the adoption of Marketing Cloud to automate sending emails and push notifications to fans. Integration with the CRM platform, where fans are segmented automatically, combined with the power of Marketing Cloud allowed the club to change its contact strategy, which improved deliverability statistics, open rate, click rate, and direct conversions. Automation is used with both proximity dynamics for marketing linked to events and match days, and with behavioral dynamics for sending messages that are increasingly appreciated, consistent and relevant.

All these measures increase both upselling and cross-selling potential. The results were quickly apparent: In addition to the aforementioned revenue figures, the average number of spectators at the San Siro stadium has grown by 23%, match and season ticket sales have skyrocketed, and fan retention rate stands at around 82%.

The first part of this project has lived up to the expectations of the club, which places great emphasis on its relationship with fans. “Inter is a mentality,” said Luca Danovaro, the club’s Chief Marketing Officer. “We inspire passion and emotion through soccer, through our city and through our unique values, entertaining our fans and our audience. We always try to attract and engage new supporters, wherever they may be. We want to grab their attention and engage them in exciting, ongoing conversation.”

Inter has also implemented Service Cloud, which is now used by the club’s seven-person contact center to manage over-the-phone relationships with its many fans — over 4 million in Italy and more than 14 million globally.

“Our fans are special. They love our club and support it always. They show great affection and engagement in everything we do. Thanks to our Media House and cutting-edge digital ecosystem, we have moved the engagement bar toward a world where proximity is becoming less relevant every day. Today, we can say that the San Siro and our colors are everywhere,” Venneri said.

The key to engagement is personalized service, and this is where Service Cloud really makes all the difference, as Venneri said: “Now, we can access a detailed history of each fan’s interactions with the Inter universe. This will enable us not only to further improve customer support and services, but also to continue increasing direct revenue from this channel.”

The other aspect of the project concerns sponsorship and hospitality services. The entire B2B sales process is now managed through Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, which provide Inter with a unified view of each sponsor, even on the go. What’s more, thanks to an app available in AppExchange that features a parameter-based search, the club’s marketers are now directed toward more promising businesses when searching for new sponsors and hospitality customers. The fully customized Sales Cloud platform is also used for generating sales forecasts, editing draft contracts, and performing and optimizing contractual asset activations.

Marketing Cloud also enables Inter to automate sending emails to customers – as it does for fans – that contribute to increasing the conversion rate. As for its sponsors, Inter has also created a community based on Community Cloud. This community has allowed Inter to speed up the authorization process for individual sponsorship projects developed within the framework of a contract. Previously, this process required an intense exchange of emails.

“The Salesforce platform’s flexibility has been invaluable in implementing our solution. For example, it has enabled us to adapt the data model to the specifics of our B2B market,” Venneri said.