Sports retail, CRM content pipelineBuild

    Decathlon E-Mail Content Engine

    From product segment to a send‑ready, on‑brand template

    Stunden je Mail

    Zeitersparnis im Schnitt: Bildrecherche und Aufbau rund 2 Stunden, Text bis zu 4 Stunden, dazu Abstimmung und Koordination

    Agenten

    je ein Agent pro Schritt der Kette, von der Strategie der Kommunikation bis zum fertigen Template

    Prüfstufen

    vor der Freigabe: inhaltliche Bildzuordnung, technische Bildprüfung, Dublettenabgleich über alle Segmente, menschliche Endabnahme

    Overview

    Automated customer communication sounds like a button you press once. In reality, the same chain of work sits behind every email: understand who it is going to, work out which of the company's own content fits, pick the right products and services, pull matching images from the image stock, assemble the modules within the brand's layout, write, link, check. This chain comes up fresh with every occasion, and multiplied across the number of occasions in a year and the breadth of a range spanning many sports worlds, it adds up to a volume that is no longer plannable by hand. The bottleneck was not the idea and not the copy, but everything in between.

    Starting point

    What was blocked

    • Recurring content creation across many sports worlds without a repeatable system
    • On-brand copy at volume, without starting from scratch each time
    • Image assignment and format checks as a manual bottleneck
    Voyage Digital's role

    Sole architect and builder of the email content engine within the Decathlon CRM lifecycle mandate: pipeline design, system prompt engineering, QA tooling.

    Approach

    How we thought about it

    • 01The process was first run manually until it was clear which decision truly gets made at which point, then handed to eight specialised agents, one per step of the chain
    • 02An eight-step chain from communication strategy through audience, in-house research, and product selection to images, modules, copy, and the finished template
    • 03Writing from a fixed library of more than twenty module types with fixed character limits and hard language rules against promotional clichés
    • 04A dedicated QA chain before release: content-level image matching, technical image checks, duplicate matching across all segments, human final sign-off
    Stations

    The stations

    1. 01 Communication strategy

      First, what this communication is meant to achieve: product understanding, service, repeat purchase, or seasonal reactivation. That determines the number, order, and trigger points of the emails.

    2. 02 Sharpening the audience

      A distinct profile for each segment: who buys here, with what experience, with what open questions after purchase. This profile is the yardstick every later line of copy is measured against.

    3. 03 Researching in-house content

      The research step sifts the existing stock of guides, care instructions, and service pages and picks what fits the occasion and the audience, rather than inventing anything the company already explains better.

    4. 04 Selecting products and services

      Which concrete items and service offers belong in the email so it is useful rather than generic. The result is sourced references, not placeholders.

    5. 05 Pulling images from stock

      A dedicated connection to the in-house media library searches, selects, and inserts matching images, drawing on the customer's existing image stock instead of producing new ones.

    6. 06 Choosing modules from the library

      The email is assembled from a fixed library of modules that exist as code and already match the brand layout, so on-brand consistency is a property of the material, not a check at the end.

    7. 07 Writing on brand and audience

      The copy step writes from the researched material, in the brand's voice and against the audience profile, within hard guardrails: more than twenty module types with fixed character limits and language rules against promotional clichés.

    8. 08 Building the finished template

      What results is the finished set of modules per email, with all references set and full traceability in place. They go into the email system without anyone rebuilding them there.

    Execution

    What was built

    Eight complete annual journeys took shape across eight sports worlds, each running from audience analysis to a send-ready template. The templates were rendered and checked in the customer's email system, and the copy was tested through real send tests.

    Impact

    What it produced

    A complete pipeline from product segment input to send-ready HTML
    A real test send in the customer's email system
    Eight complete journeys across eight sports worlds
    A multi-stage, documented iteration process rather than a single pass
    New product segments onboarded in under an hour, where it used to take days
    Segments below the profitability threshold become viable, personalisation becomes a matter of configuration
    The transferable core is the production capability itself, not tied to this brand, range, or format

    Voices

    What the collaboration says

    Alicia Brandt — Portrait
    “Anyone who wants to bring order into complex topics and take their marketing to the next level needs you on the team. You gave my team essential support in setting up a well thought through CRM strategy, building automated lifecycle journeys and establishing the right processes. Together with you we made the leap from simple newsletter sending to real, working CRM. You are extremely clear, structured and honest, you combine strategic foresight with pragmatic solutions, you think along actively and you stay reliably on top of the projects. Throughout the whole time you were a firm part of the team for us and a great sparring partner on equal footing. Thank you for your outstanding commitment!”
    Alicia Brandt — Marketing Lead VAN RYSEL, Decathlon Germany
    Joshua Wenzel — Portrait
    “Together we developed a solid CRM strategy, built a lifecycle system with automated journeys and designed and rolled out the processes that go with it. That is how our classic newsletter turned into real CRM. What makes the collaboration so valuable beyond that: alongside his pragmatic and structured way of working, we also value him enormously on a personal level. With his genuine interest in the projects and his consistently open, helpful manner he is a real asset you can rely on 100 % at any time.”
    Joshua Wenzel — CRM Project Manager, Decathlon Germany
    Tristan Hain — Portrait
    “With Andy we built and automated our entire lifecycle system, among other things. Working with him was always clear and structured, we could rely on him, and we never lost the fun on the way to the goal.”
    Tristan Hain — CRM Project Manager, Decathlon Germany
    Merle Walter — Portrait
    “Over the past five years or so you have always been a constant and reliable point of contact for me across different stations and for the most varied projects. From process development and optimisation through coding and technical topics, the holistic view and consolidation of the CRM area, all the way to strategic direction and the implementation of a wide range of subject areas, I could always count on you. With your way of working you were able to give us, and me, structure and guidance. Setting up the automated post purchase strategy was, I think, our most intensive collaboration. I was able to benefit and learn an incredible amount from you, and for that I am immensely grateful. Working with you throughout was always great fun, and I really valued that we could talk about more than just work while keeping productivity high. I will definitely miss our regular exchanges.”
    Merle Walter — Loyalty Manager, Decathlon Germany
    Sebastian Schermer — Portrait
    “Andreas is the structuring element most teams are missing. Focused, targeted execution. Maximum ownership. Ruthless prioritisation. He takes topics that look difficult and complex at first and brings them to the finish line. If need be, he takes them over himself. Anyone looking for someone who takes ownership instead of just advising is in the right place with him.”
    Sebastian Schermer — Founder & CEO, digitalforce
    Johannes Auffermann — Portrait
    “Andi held our delivery together. Projects, infrastructure, coordination, that was on him. Weeklies and dailies ran without me, and for me that was the real proof. I never had to ask whether the status was accurate. On the bigger calls, offers, partners, budgets, he was my counterweight, even when that was not comfortable for him. No agency speak, straight answers.”
    Johannes Auffermann — Founder & Managing Director, Astral
    Jonny Crawford — Portrait
    “Andy and the team rebuilt my whole online presence from the ground up. What changed is who shows up: every qualification call I took in the first month closed. Three out of three. Anyone landing on my page now can see straight away that I'm an exclusive high ticket coach. So impressed with you lads and what you've built, this is phenomenal.”
    Jonny Crawford — Founder & Coach, Project Knight
    Eric Lehmann — Portrait
    “Andreas kept the overview in a complex project, including when things around it got chaotic. Thank you for your commitment and your overview in the shared chaos. Without him a lot would have been lost on the agency side. I very much hope we work together again.”
    Eric Lehmann — CTO, Constantin Film
    Cihan Erben — Portrait
    “In Andreas I have a professional partner who is able to think across industries and to look at my business model afresh from his perspective. That lets me steer my company toward the future with more confidence and keep challenging it.”
    Cihan Erben — Founder & CEO, Erben Bau
    Konstantin Doerr — Portrait
    “Andreas stands out through an exceptional strategic understanding and the ability to consistently think from the outcome backwards. He reliably supported our CRM team in structuring processes and prioritising projects efficiently. Beyond strategy development, his strengths include leading workshops and producing concise management presentations. With his direct communication he is a valued sparring partner on equal footing.”
    Konstantin Doerr — CRM Team Lead, Decathlon Germany
    Sarah Krone — Portrait
    “Andy built the whole thing for me in like no time, and it was a banger. What amazed me most is that he got my tone of voice right straight from my instagram, I didn't even have to explain it. Changes I asked for were often live the same day. And he kept delivering even when things got messy on my side. I'm really grateful for all he's doing, it means a lot.”
    Sarah Krone — Tattoo Artist, Kroneink
    David Solk — Portrait
    “Thank you for everything you did for us. It was genuinely seen and appreciated. You worked closely with both our team and the people doing the work, helping to keep things moving and well coordinated.”
    David Solk — CEO & Co-Founder, SOLK
    Marvin Burmester — Portrait
    “Andy and I have exchanged regularly on product, data and strategy for years. Beyond his technical expertise, I value his entrepreneurial drive: he meets challenges with vision and openness. He sees opportunity where others fear complexity. What makes him stand out for me is that he doesn't just develop concepts, he digs rigorously into the details of digital products, as his own online shop shows. Andy never shies away from conflict and always gives a direct, honest picture. A fearless sparring partner you'd want at your side.”
    Marvin Burmester — Founder & CEO, Growing Forward
    Solveig Schmerer — Portrait
    “With Andreas we were able to run a highly successful AI workshop and develop a well-founded AI roadmap for our team. He did an excellent job of making the opportunities and possibilities of AI tangible – without stoking fears, but with a clear focus on real potential. Together we developed AI solutions that took our work in Customer & Market Research to a new level. Andreas supported us perfectly with his expertise, his neutral perspective and enormous solution orientation. He was a sparring partner and a reliable advisor at once – always honest, structured, pragmatic and to the point. The partnership was consistently on equal footing. What I particularly value is that it did not stay in grey theory, but created real, lasting value for our everyday work. The result has a noticeable impact on my daily work and my professional development. Thank you so much for your outstanding support!”
    Solveig Schmerer — Insight Analyst, Decathlon Germany
    Deni Panknin — Portrait
    “Andreas and I kept overlapping over the years: me deep in the technical implementation, him in the strategy and the process above it. That fit together cleanly. He operates more strategically than most people you deal with on projects like these. Strictly speaking he is only half a service provider, at his core he builds business models.”
    Deni Panknin — Salesforce Architect, Aviando
    Michael Bauer — Portrait
    “My collaboration with Andreas has been with me and Decathlon since 2023. What started back then in CRM with automating customer journeys in email marketing and support in day-to-day operations has grown over the years into a genuinely strong partnership. As head of the Customer & Market Insights team it was clear to me that I wanted Andreas at my side again in 2025. He was instrumental in developing the strategy for our team and the project. His AI expertise was a huge gain: through his hands-on training and the implementation of deep-research projects he moved the team forward enormously. But what truly sets Andreas apart for me goes far beyond the technical side: over the years the purely business relationship has grown into a real, trusting foundation – and a friendship. Andreas is both a sparring partner and a coach to me. He knows how to motivate me again and again, to see things from a new angle and to push my own projects forward boldly. What I value enormously: he is never too proud for anything. He acts lightning-fast, helps me sort topics correctly and shares his wealth of experience completely without fuss. For me Andreas brings exactly that rare mix of deep expertise, real hands-on mentality and human class that you wish for in a partner. Thank you for the great support over all these years!”
    Michael Bauer — Insight Team Lead, Decathlon Germany

    Conversation, not pitch

    Understand first, then decide. We take time for an initial conversation, without sales pressure, without obligation.

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