About the client
Swim England is the national governing body for swimming in England. Its membership base spans swimmers, divers, water polo players, and artistic swimmers, most of whom join via local clubs.
Challenge
Stakeholders assumed that email journeys were underperforming but lacked a framework to measure engagement or tailor content to different audiences. Email planning was based on broad segments rather than member-specific insights. Reporting focused on surface-level metrics, with limited understanding of how content was performing across different cohorts. Many members were unaware they even held a Swim England membership, limiting brand engagement and value perception.
Our solution
A Wood for Trees foundation audit analysed the full membership base alongside email campaign data to uncover actionable insight.
The audit began with stakeholder interviews to identify goals and concerns. Member records were then segmented and matched against eight email campaign types to assess differences in engagement across age, sport, gender, and tenure.
This process confirmed assumptions and revealed overlooked insights, particularly around smaller cohorts.
Results
- 5.7m+ emails reviewed across 242k+ members
- Divers and water polo players, though smaller in number, showed higher open rates (56%) than swimmers (50%)
- Welcome emails were opened by 75% of recipients; those who opened were twice as likely to engage with future emails
- Event-related emails had the highest open rate at 74%
- Newsletters underperformed by comparison (46%) but still exceeded typical benchmarks
The audit enabled Swim England to take a more proactive, strategic approach to email content planning, targeting segments more effectively with tailored content.
They now have a clearer understanding of who their members are, what drives engagement, and how to structure campaigns to maximise value.
A deeper CRM review is planned to further refine segmentation and unlock more advanced personalisation.
