Gotta Catch 'Em All: lead generation and CX evolution at Pirelli

What do Pokémon, tires, and data have in common? Anyone who attended the latest CX Circle in Milan probably already knows: they’re all elements that, in one way or another, have helped Pirelli’s digital customer experience evolve. Andrea Rapuzzi, Head of CRO and Analytics at Pirelli shared their how they're fostering a innovative, collaborative, and a data-driven culture.

It’s not just about tires or performance optimization—it’s about how we’ve learned to interpret data, rethink collaboration, and create digital experiences that truly connect with the customers who choose us—and ultimately also guide us.

Andrea Rapuzzi

CRO & Analytics Lead

More than just a tire company

With more than 150 years of experience and a global presence in over 160 countries, Pirelli is synonymous with excellence in the automotive and motorsport industry. Today, Pirelli’s innovation thrives off the track, with a strong focus on showcasing their digital products online. With over 25 million visitors a year across 6 websites, Pirelli's challenge was showing the value of Pirelli products online, where choosing a tire can seem, as Andrea puts it, "anything but simple." The main goal was to turn a complex product into a simple and helpful digital shopping experience.

Bitbang and Contentsquare: player 1 and player 2

Andrea shares insight into Pirelli's partnership with Bitbang and Contentsquare:

In digital marketing, we often make quick decisions in response to immediate issues. These decisions are frequently made in silos and can be misleading—especially when you're not looking at the bigger picture. That’s why Pirelli’s CX team shifted its approach, building a more coherent, informed, and collaborative data-driven framework. But it wasn’t just about having more access to data—it was about connecting the data.

With BitBang and Contentsquare, everything changed for the better. We moved from isolated insights to more aligned thinking. It was like connecting 2 Game Boys: suddenly, the data and user experience was shared. With BitBang's support, we built an internal CRO (conversion rate optimization) team that started small but quickly grew into a cross-functional team driving innovation. Meanwhile, Contentsquare equipped us with the essential tools—like Experience Monitoring—to help us understand real user behavior and uncover friction points we didn’t even know existed.

For example, we found that users loved the accordion feature on our product page more than the beautifully designed CTAs.

Pirelli's 3 key learnings

1. CRO: the art of failing

One of the most interesting lessons came from what Andrea ironically calls “the art of failing safely.” Thanks to the experimental nature of CRO and A/B testing, the team was able to validate hypotheses without compromising the overall user experience.

Take the vehicle configurations product page, for example. Although it had been redesigned according to best practices, testing revealed that users gravitated toward a component originally designed for SEO—completely overlooking the more prominent CTAs. Rather than forcing users to behave differently, Pirelli's team, in collaboration with BitBang, adapted the page and made the navigation of the page relevant for the user.

The result? A significant boost in their vehicle configurations, higher conversions, and a more motivated team.

2. Simplification isn't the end-all and be-all

After the first optimizations, they learned that simplification alone wasn't enough. Andrea explains:

At first, we believed that streamlining the funnel would be enough to deliver lasting results. But when we tried applying the same strategies to other areas—like the homepage or listing pages—we started to see a negative impact on results.

Making pages simpler doesn’t automatically make the experience better. It’s not just about making optimizations to the—it’s about rethinking the entire journey, with a design that guides users seamlessly across every touchpoint.

3. To win, you need “multiplayer” mode

Initially, excitement around CRO led to rapid, continuous testing—but issues across teams quickly surfaced. Developers began reporting issues with code, and designers were asked to integrate components outside their existing design system. It became clear that they needed to shift from a siloed, vertical approach to “multiplayer” mode, where CRO became a shared, cross-functional project.

The core team expanded to include not just designers and developers, but also key stakeholders responsible for QA (Quality Assurance), SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and Paid Media. Empowered by Contentsquare insights, they redefined workflows, created clear processes and well-defined deliverables that allowed everyone to collaborate effectively toward the same goal. This new approach has resulted in seamless execution, less friction, and a real, measurable impact on the business.

The results

• +14% increase in conversion rate

• 12 experiments released in just 9-months

• A higher-than-expected win rate

Pirelli has shown that even with complex products, you can drive real digital change. With the right strategy, the right partners, and a data-driven culture, even the toughest challenges can be overcome.