SwimTopia has long prided itself on its robust summer league team management features. Built by summer swim parents for summer swim parents, SwimTopia’s goal from day one has been to reduce stress and give parents back their time. Time is precious, after all, when your kiddos seem to grow up in the blink of an eye. With this in mind, SwimTopia is bursting with time-saving features like: meet and job templates, the ability to copy registration forms, the use of roster groups for targeted communications, and an accompanying mobile app to keep information at parents’ fingertips.
Collaborating with similar parent-oriented companies is a joy and privilege for SwimTopia. The new partnership between SwimTopia and SwimOutlet has continued to save parent volunteers time. SwimOutlet’s team store function allows team reps to choose from hundreds of customizable gear and equipment options. Need a team suit? SwimOutlet will help you find the right one! Need team bags? SwimOutlet’s got it! Need fins, paddles, pull buoys, and kickboards? Yep, SwimOutlet’s got it all (and some!). SwimOutlet collects orders and payments, shipping straight to parents. Team admins never have to lift a finger (following the initial store set up). As easy as 1, 2, 3.
SwimTopia’s SwimOutlet team store snippet feature allows SwimTopia customers to directly link their SwimOutlet team stores to their team site. With one button click, parents are taken to their SwimOutlet team store and can shop to their hearts delight. To celebrate entering the second year of this incredible partnership, we chatted with three SwimTopia/SwimOutlet users to see just how much easier team spirit wear has become.
Q: What is the name of the team you’re using with SwimTopia and SwimOutlet?
Megan Hubbard: Name of the team is the North Stafford High School Wolverines…a high school team, but I am also planning to use it with my summer team this year.
Liz Grossman: I’m with the Sherborn Snappers and we’re a summer swim team.
Jason Franklin: We’re with the Steiner Ranch Stars and it’s a summer swim team as well.
Q: How long have you been using SwimTopia and what was the team using prior to SwimTopia?
MH: We started using SwimTopia for the high school in October, around when their season started. Before SwimTopia, we were using all kinds of things! Google forms, excel docs, paper, and personal gmails. I honestly had no idea how I was going to pass along everything after I was done with my position!
LG: We’ve been using SwimTopia for, oh goodness, it must be about 7 years now! Obviously, we only use it during the summer but we’ve been with SwimTopia for a long time. Beforehand, I’m pretty sure the team didn’t have anything.
JF: I don’t know- we honestly have been using it for such a long time. I’m a former board president and we have had it even before that. Well over 4 years!
Q: What’s been the best thing about using SwimTopia compared to your old solution?
MH: Definitely having everything in one place! The ability to assign roles and create roster groups [for communication] has been awesome. Before we would use google forms for registration data and I’d have to continually re-sort the sheet depending on who I wanted to reach. The online registration piece has also been important. We can now collect fees and athlete sizes online instead of having to show up at practice and do it in person! And, lastly, it is going to be so easy to pass along to the next team admin. When I took over my job, the previous admin just handed me a giant stack of papers. That was our ‘team management.’ I feel confident knowing that whoever eventually takes my role will be covered.
LG: Well, firstly, it has greatly enhanced the ability to make line-ups for meets. Prior to SwimTopia, I cannot even imagine how they were getting swimmers’ declarations. It has also greatly improved getting the required meet staffing. And, finally, it has helped keep track of swimmers’ times. Kids drop times so quickly in the first few weeks of the season, as they get a better grasp on the strokes. It is easy to see the improvement in SwimTopia’s backend. Overall, super user-friendly. I can use it all summer, step away for the rest of the year, and then easily come back to it the following season. Plus customer service is so patient and willing to spend as much time as you need to figure things out!
JF: SwimTopia helps manage the team and it is fairly easy to get things set up like creating a new season or ramping up registration, which we are currently in the middle of doing. Again, all pretty straight forward and you can carry set-up from the previous year to your new season. Saves a lot of time.
Q: What’s the best thing about using SwimOutlet for spirit wear and has it helped you make more sales?
MH: It has been great! I do what is basically a ‘pre-order’ for suits and sweaters, but then also put them year-round into our SwimOutlet team store. That way, if families miss the pre-order deadline, they can still get items. In the past, if kids missed the deadline, they missed it. Now we are able to make more sales with the team store open year-round!
LG: First of all, the SwimOutlet team store is SO much easier to use for volunteers! The deadline for team spirit wear used to come up incredibly fast…in order to have gear in time for the season, we had to take orders during a time when parents aren’t even thinking about the summer season. And then they might miss it. We also would have a guy come by for suit fitting on one single day early in the season. It’s summer league, you know? We want it to be a fun introduction to swimming, so kids don’t come to every practice and that means they might miss the fitting day. With SwimOutlet, we have our own fit kit to use year round which makes it simple to get swimmers in the right size. Plus there is no minimum which means, if two or three kids want a swim bag, we don’t have to corral 7 others to also buy just to make a minimum requirement. A lot of gear options to choose from and, for a small team, this makes us feel more official.
JF: We were having issues with the company we’d been working with prior to SwimOutlet. They had a hard time getting us suits or providing information about our personalized caps. So we looked to SwimOutlet and setting up the store was super easy. Plus, it didn’t cost anything. We literally had nothing to lose. Also, in the past, we had to do bulk orders and would have a lot of leftover stock by the end of the season that people didn’t buy or pick up. And then we’d have to carry all of that around. Now, parents can buy exactly what and how much they want and it’s shipped straight to them. SwimOutlet gave our team more options without the burden of carrying extra leftovers.
Q: Have you found the SwimOutlet integration to be useful?
MH: The integration is super simple, takes just a few minutes. Once you leave the SwimTopia site you contact SwimOutlet for help, but I have to say that the SwimOutlet customer support team is fantastic. They are patient and willing to spend tons of time with you to figure out solutions. Plus, you are continually in contact with the same area rep. They get to know you and your team’s needs pretty well. Also, we love the 5% kickback from the sales made in our store! This past year, we used that money to buy a suit for a swimmer who couldn’t afford it and that was so cool.
LG: I haven’t linked up the integration yet, but I have been told it is very easy to do. Looking forward to doing that this summer. Altogether, using both products has been a dream. If you can type in a word document, you can do this.
JF: Parents on the team were definitely using SO before on their own, but now with our team store we can get all families their free SwimOutlet Plus account and also a portion of the sales comes back to the team. It’s a little bit of extra money for the team and gives parents the opportunity to save some money. The integration is really easy to set up. Honestly, we wouldn’t have even thought about doing a team store if SwimTopia hadn’t announced their partnership with SwimOutlet.
You heard it from the users themselves here! Interested in trying SwimTopia for your summer swim team management?
***Start a free trial here!***
Interested in learning more about the SwimOutlet team store?
Lastly, excited about the idea of having your summer swim team management and spirit wear management located in one place together?
***Learn more about the SwimTopia/SwimOutlet integration here***
SwimTopia and SwimOutlet wish all summer swim teams good luck as they gear up for yet another wonderful season!
SwimTopia & SwimOutlet are SwimSwam Partners.