Ultra Football teamed up with Attentive to evolve from volume-based sends to an integrated, insight-led SMS and email program that delivered stronger results.

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Before Attentive, Ultra Football used another provider for email but struggled with access to dedicated, hands-on support, bloated lists, and limited guidance on segmentation. They needed a partner who could help them communicate with purpose—not just push more messages.

A new way to reach customers

Ultra Football began exploring Attentive in May 2024. They wanted to identify and segment their most engaged subscribers, track visitors across their website and deliver a smoother experience for their customers with one platform delivering both SMS and email. 

Attentive’s hands-on support stood out immediately. Instead of waiting in ticket queues, Ultra Football worked directly with specialists who guided setup and strategy, building confidence and capabilities.

Email deliverability soars with Attentive

When Ultra Football migrated its email program to Attentive, the team consolidated 270K profiles down to 150K. Removing duplicates and inactive contacts created a healthier, more responsive list that quickly outperformed previous revenue levels. The shift reflected their focus on quality engagement over volume.

Email performance improved fast. Deliverability climbed to 99.9%, driving stronger engagement across campaigns and newly built journeys. Open rates also reached 52.6%. With Attentive’s guidance, Ultra Football added new triggers for abandoned carts, product alerts, and price drops, keeping customers engaged with the items they cared about most.

“After seeing the level of support we were getting, unifying our tech stack with Attentive became the obvious next step. It really was a no-brainer.”
- Michael Hodgson, Brand Manager, Ultra Football

SMS became a consistent revenue driver

SMS quickly became a reliable revenue channel, delivering double-digit click-through rates and supporting both launches and evergreen campaigns.

“It was clear Attentive were best in class for SMS, so I wanted to give it a try.”
- Nate Antonucci, Head of Digital Marketing, Ultra Football

Ultra Football’s first BFCM SMS campaign drove a 15.1% conversion rate, showing how SMS can drive action with customers when interest is highest. The team paired this with triggered messages for low-inventory and back-in-stock alerts to keep customers informed as stock levels shift. And with demand shifting quickly in football retail, this agility is essential.

Turning peak seasons into growth moments

During BFCM, Ultra Football used Attentive-hosted Spin-to-Win popups—a quick, interactive sign-up experience—to capture new SMS and email subscribers, driving a 15.2% email opt-in rate and a 5.5% SMS opt-in rate.

Sharper segmentation improved SMS and email performance

With a unified customer view, Ultra Football’s campaigns became more targeted and more effective. A limited-release Nike United Pack test sent to 4,800 high-intent SMS subscribers achieved a 22.3% click-through rate and 10.7% conversion rate.

Their loyalty-focused SMS for Revo subscribers, which was sent to customers with over 7,500 points and advised how they can use it, drove a 10.7% conversion rate.

Looking at email, an invite to an on-pitch event at Ultra Football Melbourne was exclusively sent to customers with an assigned location in Victoria, and led to a 52.5% click-through rate.

“Exploring segmentation and learning how to use it effectively has been excellent. It’s become a natural part of how we work and something we use all the time.”
- Michael Hodgson, Brand Manager, Ultra Football

AI Pro helped them reach the right audiences

After testing AI Pro for smarter audience targeting, Ultra Football fully integrated it into their workflow. A Nike campaign using AI-driven audience recommendations delivered a 6.4x ROI. Continued optimization has since driven a 28% boost in SMS performance.

“AI Pro has definitely been a game changer. We weren’t doing much retargeting at the start, and now segmentation and audience building are so much easier. We use it for pretty much every campaign.”
- Nate Antonucci, Head of Digital Marketing, Ultra Football

Ultra Football now relies on AI Pro to help with send-time guidance, segmentation decisions, and retargeting.

Integrations that simplify marketing

Ultra Football uses Attentive’s integrations to create smart, connected workflows. Shopify keeps the team informed about stock levels, while Rivo powers their loyalty program—helping identify top customers and giving visibility into who to reward. Zendesk routes SMS replies directly to the support team, making customer engagement seamless.

“The Zendesk integration is the one we use the most. When customers reply to an SMS, it goes straight to our support team, and we’ve had a lot of inquiries come through that way. It’s been really valuable.”
- Nate Antonucci, Head of Digital Marketing, Ultra Football

Looking Ahead

Over the next year, they plan to deepen their use of AI Pro, explore AI Grow, expand segmentation for key audiences, and weave loyalty more directly into their strategy. Their goal is to continue building a communication approach that feels personal, timely, and aligned with what their community cares about most.