How to Build a Parent Communication System That Actually Works

23 min · Olivier Rousseau & William Rochford · Mar 18, 2026

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About this episode

A big part of running a sports and leisure organization is keeping parents and participants informed: what’s happening, what’s coming up, and what they need to do. When a class gets canceled because of a snowstorm and the message never reaches a family, everyone feels it. In this episode, Olivier Rousseau and William Rochford explain how to build a parent communication system that holds up on busy days and crisis days alike. They cover automated and personalized messages, segmenting your list so people only get what concerns them, keeping your messaging consistent, and deciding who sends what when something goes wrong.

What we discuss

Why clear communication matters, especially on bad-weather days Automated messages that still feel personal Personalizing emails and texts with placeholders Segmenting your database so people only get what concerns them Keeping your messaging consistent, including your newsletter Deciding who sends messages during a crisis Auditing your current communication tools Resources mentioned 8 Powerful Automations to Save Time and Grow Your Activity Business The Real Problem With Mailchimp for Sports & Leisure Activity Messenger SMS Activity Messenger email marketing Activity Messenger automations Book a free demo of Activity Messenger Follow Olivier on LinkedIn About the hosts Olivier Rousseau co-founded Activity Messenger after spending 13 years running a kids' sports program that served 4,000 families. William Rochford is Activity Messenger's product expert. Want to share your story or ask a question? Email olivier@activitymessenger.com.

Full episode transcript

Read the full transcript

Intro[0:00] Let's face it, a huge part of running a sports and leisure organization is communicating with parents, with participants, clearly stating what's happening, what's coming up, what they need to expect. So, today we want to talk about how to improve your communications and how to automate a whole bunch of it so that you don't forget a single message and you don't have to spend your entire day answering emails in your inbox. Stay tuned. Hello everyone. Welcome back to the AMplify podcast. I'm your host Will. I'm here with Oli today. Hey Oli, how you[0:42] doing? Pretty good. Yourself? I'm doing really good. And I really like this topic. So today we're talking about how to improve our communications. And we want to start today with why communication really matters. And IWhy communication matters[0:57] think we have a nice opportunity to start with a sort of live example here where we're recording in Quebec. We had a really really early snowstorm and uh I think a lot of people were not ready for it. No winter tires on the car. And so, you know, what happens during those those those times where we have to, for example, maybe cancel a class because of bad weather or something like that, and we're not able to get a message out to our participant, the person coming for class, uh, for whatever reason. Maybe we sent an email and the person didn't check the email. Maybe the email landed[1:30] in the junk folder. There could be all kinds of reasons. and that person really went out of their way to make it to class only to find out on location that it's canceled. So this will generate frustration, resentment, even if it's not 100% your fault, it will do that. So how can we make sure that we get our our communication set up so that this situation does not happen? Yeah. I think I think two of the main things are you need a plan and you need the tools to do it, right? So I believe nowadays one of the main tools we should[2:04] be using is texting, right? So for example, if I have to cancel something last minute, um you know, I work I'm a lot of times on Zoom calls. So if you call me, I'm probably not going to answer. And if you email me, it's might get lost in all those emails. But if there's a text about my child's program, I'm going to see that instantly and I'll be able to kind of, you know, see it and plan it in my head even if I'm doing something else, right? Um so I think that's kind of one of the main things. And you want to be using those tools like you said for those big events when[2:29] something can when something's canceled last minute or when there's a snowstorm like you were saying. Uh the ability to target the right people. Have a workflow and a a plan on how you reach people uh is super important. Absolutely. So this is one example of you know a crisis sort of situation. But in general why does communication matter so much? Yeah, I think when you're running a sports organization, I think one of the things that's super important to consider is that there's the owner administrator, there are all your coaches, there's the child, and then[3:03] there are all the parents, right? And even sometimes you'll have parents that are split up. So, when you think about it, there's all these people that need to get the the right message at the right time. You need to coordinate all these people. And if you're talking with your staff and they don't get CCD or in the text or the email about the next class, like it can get very confusing. Um, and I think people just want clarity. people are busy and they're like they want to know exactly what's going to happen during the session that they booked with you.[3:26] So I I think in in today's world like that's what parents are now expecting a lot more or participants is that okay sure I registered but what's the next step right when am I going to get the next message what happens if you have to cancel a class how do I do makeup class whatever those things you know happening are happening you need to be very clear with the with the parents or the participants yeah so clarity in terms of messaging uh timeliness as well uh people want to receive messaging on a schedule probably based on when their[3:56] class is happening as well, right? So, like a couple days before, weeks before, whatever it is. Um, so there's a lot to think about there and that is really going to help build trust is going to help with um, you know, interestingly, not only your client retention, but also your staff retention. Yeah. Because your staff has the clear information. We'll get to that, I think, a little bit later in the conversation. But[4:18] just wanted to start with how, you know, good communication really minimizes complaints. um increases engagement with your business and just creates a smoother operation all all around. Right. So super super important and one of theAutomated messages[4:36] tools that we have that help us communicate so clearly and make sure we don't forget a single message is going to be uh automation. Yeah. Right. Automated emails, automated text messages. And often times I think some people maybe are still under the impression that automated messages are impersonal or you know spammy or or whatever whatever they might think about that. But we want to kind of push the idea that and especially in the sports and leisure industry where people depend on your messaging so much.[5:10] We want to kind of push the idea that actually automation helps you personalize even more. Yeah. So let's talk about that a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's important to consider that the automation as something different in the service industry. So a lot of times you are have an automation around a class around a private lesson around a birthday party whatever it is. Um so I always try to tell organiz uh admins think about it like when do you would you prefer the best time to be a message to be sent out[5:38] right so let's say camp starts in in a month when's the best time to get that reminder is it 7 days before is it 10 days before is it 3 days before you decide that and then you automate it so you create the automation as the same before there's even a single registration so at the same time as you're creating your classes your forms um and that automation will refresh at that exact time and send it out. Another good example, let's say you have a a field trip, you know, set up on the on the Wednesday for camp and they need to bring specific uh things. Well, you can[6:05] set it up way in advance that the night before the parents get a a nice clear email or SMS reminding them for the next day. So, you can take it out of your mind because the system automates it and then also you send it at the exact right time, right? Exactly when you want the parent to get it. So I think there's there's so much value there in automating all these different things um that'll just you know improve your communications so the parent gets a timely reminder. Can you can also use that opportunity to[6:33] remind them what to bring if they need to bring something or you know what to expect if there's something special happening the next day or whatever it is. Um and so how could we personalize thosePersonalized communications[6:44] automated messages and that's that's an important part. So if you automate, I always recommend that you personalize as well because then the automation could get, you know, not as great if you're just automating the same email to everybody. Yes. What we're going to do is we're going to build templates either email or SMS and we're going to add placeholders. So that's just think about of it like a mail merge. So all the information you collect during the registration. So let's say the child's name, start date of the class, start time in the class,[7:07] location, maybe you divide them into groups. You can add all these placeholders in that message. So I can create a template, send it out to a 100 people. They're all going to get a personalized version, but also they're all going to get it 3 days before their class starts, right? So, it's going to be based on the date and it's going to be personalized with that child's information. Pretty powerful. Yeah, pretty powerful. So, you're sending messages 3 days before the class on all[7:31] the different days of classes. Yeah, this episode is sponsored by ActivityPromotional content[7:36] Messenger, an online registration software I helped build after spending more than a decade managing kids sports programs and dealing with outdated, disconnected tools that slow everything down. I know the frustration of using a bunch of old tools that don't sync, don't scale, and definitely don't make life easier. Activity Messenger is built to fix that. Our goal is to be your all-in-one operating system, modern, mobile first, and to simplify your entire workflow. Want to check it out? Visit activitymessenger.com to book your free demo. Now, let's get back toSegmenting your database[8:10] the show. And this is going to help with another thing, too. And I think you have a personal example of this recently that happened is the idea of segmenting. So, not sending the same message to your entire database. Yeah. when you know it's not going to concern 80% of of any given person. Yeah, that's the other part. So you have the automations, you have the personalization, but if you automate without being able to segment, so select the right people for the right message, that can actually be uh backfire in a way.[8:41] So I I have my kids signed up for tennis lessons and the other day I got a message for I don't remember. I think some part of the gym was closed on Halloween, but like that had nothing to do with me, right? It was a day that I don't go there. I just go to the tennis. I never go to the gym. So, it was interesting. I got that message. I was like, that has nothing to do, you know, I I get why you're sending it. Yeah, I am one of your clients, but it had nothing to do with me, right? Um, now because I work in the industry, it kind of did not unsubscribe. But I[9:09] could see people being like, why am I getting this? And you unsubscribe and then, you know, maybe you send two, three unrelated emails to somebody and then once the fourth one actually relates to their program, then they're like, I never got the message cuz they unsubscribed or they they don't look at them anymore, right? So that's really important to be able to segment. So for example, you have a a big sports center, there's a pool and there's a pool closure. Well, if there's people registered at the gym or at any other[9:32] part that are not affected by the pool closure, they should not receive that message. It should really be segmented to the people that it concerns. Um, so I think the ability to have a software that allows that that type of segmentation is super important. Another good one, like you were talking about the snowstorm. Well, you know, why send it to your whole list? send it to everybody who has a class, you know, on that day that's affected by the snowstorm. Exactly. So, segmenting in different categories. So, there could be per[9:59] class, per interest, or whatever category they're in, you know, pool versus tennis court. And there's also segmentation based on date. So, we kind of hinted at it earlier with, you know, sending messages um uh sending messages to people who have classes today if there's something happening today. And so in Activity Messenger uh we actually have a way to do this really really easy. We call it the today tab. And so it's basically going to list all of the participants who are basically scheduled for an activity on this day. Yeah. And I remember like many years[10:35] ago, so let's say we'll say 10 years ago, we had um power outage um in my area where I was running my programs. And I wanted to make sure so much that the people would not show up the next day that we had my admin just call every single parent. Right? That was hundreds of people leave a message. People still missed the message. We sent an email. People still showed up. It was long. It cost me a few hours of admin time. Good grief. And it did not it did not go well. You know what I mean? It was not a great it wasn't effective.[11:04] And then I'm like I'm kind of jealous of people running programs nowadays where like I wish I had this tool where I could just click the today tab. It's going to list every single person in your organization coming today. So, no matter the location, the type of class, and that whole today tab is really meant for that exact situation, you're like, "Okay, I got to cancel. I got to send somebody based on the day." And then you click, everybody send a text. So, that thing that took us 4 hours that missed so many parents would have taken literally 30 seconds and missed zero[11:34] parents cuz everybody checks their text. So, you're like, "Wow." And then parents would be are a lot happier when they get that text, right? Yeah. Parent gets a text and gets to go have brunch with grandma, they might actually forget you canceled the class, right? Or they won't be as mad cuz they they got a good experience out of their day and everybody's busy. They they really take time to register for programs with you. Well, if it's canceled, make sure they get the information. Yeah. And I think that's part of the power of SMS too is, you know, nowadays[12:10] I I don't know about you, but you know, if I receive a phone call and I don't recognize the number, I'm probably not calling. There's so many spams and frauds and all like I keep getting called by China here and there and and you know, it's like I just don't answer if I don't recognize the number. And so, uh, I think it's really really powerful to have a text message because that's that's where people are. they get it right there on their phone and you can read the message so you know who it comes from and I think you don't want to overdo it[12:37] because I personally don't really like SMS marketing. Uh so I'm always a little wary about that. But if you're going to text, especially if it's you know kids programs and you're going to text a parent about their child like that is that is massive. That's super important. The other thing we can talk about segmentation. So in terms of the last minute communication, you want to be able to send it to both parents. So, a lot of like software I used in the past, it was only the account owner,[13:03] um, which is not great because if people are divorced, if you know the parent has the child, the other one doesn't have it, the communication goes to the wrong place. So, in terms of those emergency or last minute stuff, you want to really be able to segment to both parents. Yeah, of course. And so having just a simple, it's really just a click, send to both parents. Exactly. And then you're good to go. So the power is really in the data intake and then how that data intake is basically usable in terms of actionable[13:32] uh things that we can do with it. So I think it's worth also mentioning you know you gave us this really powerful contrast of back in the day when you had to call everyone just like this cold call. I can't even imagine that nowadays, you know. Yeah, I wasn't running an a thing like that back in the day, so I can't imagine that. But I think it's worth appreciating just how far the tech has come. And it's worth appreciating, but it's also, I think, put a bit of a pressure[14:00] on sports and organizations cuz the market is now expecting it. You go to your dentist, you get a text, you know, reminding you the day before. Oh, yeah. So, like once once you get used to that, and I think that kind of comes up to like setting up clear, consistent messaging. So, if you're going to start automating things, if you're going to start uh reaching out to parents, so if I text you to cancel a class and the next time I email, that's terrible, right? You got to make sure that if you're going to start texting, then you always text for canceled[14:25] classes, right? Yeah. If you're going to send an automation 7 days before camp, well, keep that 7 days before camp every summer, right? Because that's when people are going to expect it, right? So, I think that's really important that you keep those that consistency across the board. So, maybe have a plan and then make sure your staff kind of follows it, but parents are going to start expecting uh the communications in the way you're doing them. Right. Exactly. And so, we've alluded toConsistent communication[14:48] it already, but that really comes into this whole idea of, you know, have a plan for your messaging because your messaging needs to stay clear, needs to stay consistent. you know, if if you're sending a reminder and one day it's by email and the other day it's by SMS and one day it's at 6 p.m. the other day it's at 8:30 a.m. Um, you know, like parents are going to get lost. So, they want that consistency. We are habits of creatures of habit. Um, so what can you say about that? Um, yeah, I would say keep the consistency.[15:19] I think another one that's important is your newsletter. If you're going to have a newsletter, which I really recommend if you don't have a newsletter, get one. It's great way to kind of manage uh uh communications and just kind of tell people what's going on. Get them to the next session. But be consistent on that, too. If you're sending it every Monday, you know, send it always at the same time. I think that's a good one. The other aspect, too, is if you're going to send a long message, make sure you have the highlights at the top[15:42] because a lot of people, like we see it with the software, like most people are going to open your email on their phone, right? And they might just click once and never come back to it. And if it's too long cuz it's the work day, I'm I've never come back to it. So if you can get the top the most important things to show up when they click on the message on a small screen, right? So maybe it's just like four bullet points before entering through everything else. That's going to allow them to kind of read those full four bullet points maybe in a few seconds. And then make a mental[16:11] note. Oh, I'm not I can't read it now, but I know I want to go back because it said something specific to my classes. So if you have a very long email, I really recommend kind of putting that that stuff at the top for the phone view and and a quick view from for parents. So pro tip, add a TL;DR section to your emails. And I think also this comes into another sort of point of avoid admin bias in the sense an admin is usually setting things up, writing their emails on a desktop. Yeah.[16:41] But the parents are reading those emails and are interacting with those forms or whatever you're setting up from a phone. Yeah. So very different. Yeah. give yourself that perspective sometimes, you know, that's a little extra tip for you right there.Who sends the messages?[16:57] Um, so yeah, and and in in terms of that clear, consistent messaging, it's also about having a crisis communication plan. So we talked about the snowstorm or the bad weather, whatever it is. Um, so it's not only what you include in that message, but it's also well, who's responsible for sending it. Y and on different days because maybe that person doesn't work on weekends or maybe that person So exactly things like that. So, who's going to segment? Who's going to find the classes? Uh, you know, you might[17:23] have software that allows the coach to send messages. So, maybe it's their responsibility. So, really knowing how is it SMS, is it SMS and email, both? Who's sending it? Uh, what's the template? I would I think a template is also good to have. So, creating a template for different uh use cases so that all the message is always clear on on what's going on. So, I think setting that up is really important just so you have that consistency and that you can as soon as something happens cuz something will happen. I mean, anybody listening here, everybody's had a heat[17:52] wave, a snowstorm, lost power, water damage, whatever it is. I mean, all those things happen, right? So, they're going to happen. So, how are you going to react and how smooth is that experience is going to be? And like I said, parents now expect it. And it's such a great service. Like, I I really think that, you know, parents that like you cancel a class, but they don't, you know, they they're they're informed at the right time, it it makes such a big impact for for retention. Um, because people are busy, they just want the information.[18:18] Right. Exactly. Um I think if there was one major takeaway from this entire conversation, we could say that communication is a lot more than just logistics. Yes. It's actually part of your brand. Yeah. So um why is this important? I mean, you know, the thing that keeps coming to my mind now while we're talking about this is you like in a marriage or in a relationship, like communication is so so so important. And when you're running uh a[18:50] business, any business really, but especially when you're like you're having kids coming to classes, things like that, you're really building a relationship with the family that you're interacting with. And so communication becomes an essential Yeah. piece. It It's an essential piece. And it goes further than like you said communication. So one thing I've noticed when I started kind of adding those automated reminders before classes[19:13] start. I still remember one coach telling me wow they had been with us for a few seasons and being like wow everybody came more prepared this time around. And I was like and and they were and she was like people were not as stressed. So what I had done is I developed a start of session email that included like a blog article on how to get ready for your first session. uh all the the where they had to park, you know, to keep the boots outside just so everybody showed up 10 minutes early. Everybody knew where they were going. They asked good questions to the[19:40] coaches. And the first class of a session can be very stressful. Maybe it's the first time they're doing gymnastics or their first time they're swimming, right? So, if you arm the parent to reduce the parents stress, to make sure that they know what they're getting into, then your staff can really focus on spending time with the kids, getting the class set up, and then if you have a good start of a session, the rest really goes well. So, that could be the difference between somebody coming to your first class and dropping out of that class and losing a client. Or that[20:07] could be the difference between, you know, a session where everybody stays till the end and re-registers next session because it started on the on the right foot. Yeah. And your staff is extremely happy about that. And I think that especially in the sports and leisure industry, you have a lot of part-time staff. Like I remember having coaches that were like, "I'm doing this for fun." They were not doing it for the money. They were like, "I'm working three hours a week. I just want to have fun on Saturday mornings." But[20:29] if the classes, you know, were not going well, if the parents were lost, all that kind of stuff, they just weren't having fun anymore. So, if you structure it really well, it's going to help your retention cuz people are going to love they're going to be like, "Oh, I I know my admin team, my owners. They're helping the communication be so clear." Um, so I think that is a a little retention tool that you don't think about it. How can communication with parents help retention with your staff and it actually does, right?[20:56] 100%. And also bonus tip on that is like make sure your staff knows what you're sending to your parents. BCC them and and super important, BCC them on the messages. That way they know exactly what's being communicated and they know what to expect when the parents get there. They're on the same page. And that comes back to our point about everyone being coordinated on the same page.Outro[21:16] So kind of to close this out, I think uh our encouragement to you if you're an admin of uh you know an organization like this in the sports and leisure or service industry is really just an encouragement to audit your communication tools like the way what you're using now, how you're using it. you know, think of maybe try to apply one or two things we talked about here today and I think you'll see a huge difference. Yeah. Um in terms of time saving if you're not automating already,[21:45] you know, in terms of client satisfaction if you're not necessarily personalizing or being consistent in your messaging and uh you'll avoid a lot of frustrations on those crisis days as well. For sure. Um yeah. So, any closing thoughts? No, I I the only well the last thing I would say is like I I really believe that you know a few years ago the most important thing was like taking registration like simplifying online registration right[22:14] just making it easy for people to to register on your form and we have a first episode is all about how to improve it and I think we can still improve it but I really think the focus has now shifted away from that where everybody has an online registration software now people can go in they sign up online wherever they want. I think the post-purchase communication, support, automations, I think that's where you can really stand out in the industry if you if you really put the the right tools in play. 100%. So, on those words of wisdom, go[22:41] out there and put these tools to the test. And uh as per usual, we really encourage you to, you know, leave a like on the video or on the podcast, wherever you're listening to it. Leave a comment uh down below. We love to read your comments. We'd love to interact with your thoughts here. And we really want to make this podcast as useful as possible for all of you admins out there and people running these types of businesses. So, you know, leave us your thoughts and um yeah, we'll continue the conversation. So, we'll see you next time everybody.[23:11] Take care. Bye everyone. Bye, Oli. See you.

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