Testing a sustainability proposition with dutch hockey clubs.
THE BACKGROUND
Through Eneco GroenGebouw, we wanted to test a sustainability proposition within sports clubs across the Netherlands. We had three clear objectives: communicate in a relevant and personalized way, scale quickly, and remain cost-efficient in our outreach efforts.
The biggest challenge was not the proposition itself, but defining the target audience. When approaching “sports clubs” through traditional data sources such as LinkedIn or Company.info, you end up with a broad and fragmented list of organizations: football clubs, swimming clubs, tennis clubs, indoor sports centers, and many other types of sports organizations.
This diversity makes it nearly impossible to create a homogeneous audience and develop a message that is equally relevant to everyone.
THE IDEA
Instead of starting broad, we deliberately chose to focus on a single niche and approach it in a structured and comprehensive way.
Our niche of choice: hockey clubs.
This meant that we sourced specific data on hockey clubs, created messaging tailored exclusively to hockey organizations, and selected a passionate hockey player as the sender of the outreach to make the communication even more authentic and personal.
THE PROCESS
The process started with data collection. Through Hockey.nl, we gathered information on every hockey club in the Netherlands. Using Clay, we scraped, enriched, and supplemented this data with relevant contact information.
Next, we developed a sustainability narrative specifically for hockey clubs. Rather than using a generic message about sports facilities, we addressed topics directly relevant to hockey organizations, including their pitches, clubhouses, energy consumption, and membership-based structure.
To make the outreach even more personal, we included a short personal note from our enthusiastic hockey-playing colleague within the messaging.
For outreach execution, we used Lemlist to launch large-scale one-to-one email campaigns within a short timeframe. The story was divided into three separate emails, creating multiple touchpoints and increasing the likelihood of engagement and response.
Each email was automatically personalized by incorporating the club’s logo into a visual “Sustainability Scoreboard.” This allowed us to combine automation and scale with genuine personalization and relevance.
THE RESULTS
Within just a few weeks, we reached the entire target audience within this niche and achieved significantly above-average results in terms of reach, engagement, and follow-up conversations.
(The exact numbers are something we’ll happily discuss over a call.)
The niche-focused approach proved to be both effective and scalable. The model can easily be replicated across other sports categories and similarly well-defined markets, such as tennis clubs, football clubs, and golf clubs.
This go-to-market strategy demonstrates how tools such as Clay and Lemlist make it easier than ever to execute creative and highly personalized sales campaigns without requiring significant manual effort.
By using Clay to identify 267 hockey clubs, gather contact information, and collect club logos, we were able to automate personalization at scale through Lemlist—creating a campaign that felt highly personal while remaining operationally efficient.
