How Headfirst earns 90% open rates on vital staff communications

The experiential learning provider uses Axios HQ to keep staff — and families — informed.

Where are they now — Headfirst's 2024 update

Jump to read Headfirst's original case study further down this page. Recently, we caught up with Director of Executive Operations Jack Marooney and Senior Associate Caitlin Ellwanger to hear how things have been going since that original story. A few of their thoughts are below. 

Headfirst started the year with two priorities: move offices and launch a new strategic plan that would impact and improve the everyday work of all its team members.

Their all-hands newsletter was central to educating folks about those changes — and guiding and supporting them through it. “This cadence of communication emphasized the goals we identified at the beginning of this year— without having to assemble the full team as often to reinforce them.” 

• “It built transparency around what colleagues were doing and our performance, whether it was an enrollment push, retention for seasonal staff, or college coach outreach.”
• “It also emphasizes overarching company goals and how what each of us is doing in our day-to-day ladders up to those goals. It also gave staff a really good opportunity to hear from people they typically may not.”

Headfirst’s all-hands evolution: “That internal newsletter has always been related to our staff meeting, but it's increasingly detached — in a healthy way. Previously, the Axios HQ update was meant to tee up everything we were going to talk about live. But now that the backbone of that newsletter cadence is so reliable, we can experiment with our team meeting, utilize that time most effectively, and focus maybe just on one topic, if that feels right, rather than having to talk live about everything.”

They also launched a student athlete update called “The Roadmap.” Sent weekly to high school baseball and softball athletes — and their parents — who attend Headfirst, it gives them the mental, physical, and informational support and resources they need to get the most out of camp.

• “It's a differentiator for us in a highly competitive space that we are preparing the student athletes more holistically than just creating a moment where they can show their worth in front of college coaches who maybe they haven't interacted with face-to-face before.”
• “There's a lot of pressure. Parents spend a decent amount of money to get athletes there and in front of college coaches. These communications are tailored to students, their grad year, their sport, and arranged in a way that lines them up for success.”
  
  

Headfirst's story, as of 2022

The challenge: In 2019, Headfirst had an existing team in DC, another that was newly acquired in Colorado Springs, and no clear way to communicate with both together. Its leaders were searching for a way to better integrate staff and make all-hands communication more cohesive. It had to be:

• Efficient: Internal updates were already too long. They needed something new, unique and engaging that could serve as a pre-read to their staff meetings and make conversations more productive.
• Consistent: With multiple collaborators and authors supporting staff comms, Headfirst would still need to ensure a central style, voice, and tone came through.

The solution: Headfirst now uses Axios HQ to send two recurring updates that earn nearly 90% open rates — a weekly all-staff update and an every-other-month communication that dives deep into team wins and professional development opportunities.

• 💭  Jack Marooney, Manager of Executive Operations: “Axios HQ was a lifesaver.  Beyond the immediate value of transitioning away from long emails, it established what our remote work life would look like. Our Axios HQ update did not become just an email elsewhere. It took on its own narrative arc and style of writing — Smart Brevity. That's really shaped our cadence and the structure.”
• 💭  Sarah Rae, Senior Manager of Education, Training & Development: “HQ creates friendly competition, too. We always want to get 100% on the Smart Brevity Score. When it's not, we think, I need to fix my bolding or make this a bit more punchy and efficient. It's a good reminder each time we're writing.”

How it works: Headfirst collaborators — about five or six on each edition — log into Axios HQ to add their updates. Built-in Smart Brevity tips help each contributor write with a unified voice and style, easing the amount of edits that Jack, Sarah or their founder have to apply before they hit send.

🧠  Jack’s words of encouragement:

• “Axios HQ has also served as a valuable jumping off point for team recognition. The ability to shout out the work folks are doing that wouldn't make it in a 30 minute, every-other-week, meeting — because only so many things can — has been another great way to show the team that their work is valued.”

Go deeper: See an example of the Professional Development update Headfirst sends with Axios HQ.