Sportsbet

Sportsbet

Experimentation as the new operating model

The Challenge

The business was running experiments. It wasn’t yet using experimentation to run the business. There is a fundamental difference between having an experimentation capability and operating an experimentation mindset. Sportsbet had begun to build the former. The goal was always the latter.

The CRM team was not standing still. Experiments were being designed, launched, and evaluated - but experimentation was being treated as a side activity: something done alongside the work, not the mechanism through which the work was directed. Without a shared process, consistent hypothesis design, or a way to embed winning results into day-to-day operations, each test existed in isolation. Insights were generated, then lost. The knowledge accumulated from one experiment rarely informed the next. And critically, the team’s decisions were still being made the same way they always had been. The diagnostic revealed four interconnected gaps, each limiting not just the quality of individual experiments, but the organisation’s ability to use experimentation as a decision-making operating model. The tool was not the problem. The conditions for experimentation to become the operating model - cultural, structural, and behavioural, had not yet been built.

Experimentation as the new operating model
Experimentation as the new operating model
Our Approach
Our Approach

The Impossible Premise was appointed to design and deliver a tailored experimentation uplift program over a six-month period.

The team rapidly assessed existing capability, engaged key stakeholders, and implemented a fit-for-purpose operating model. This included establishing a dedicated experimentation team, embedding a consistent end-to-end experimentation process, developing supporting frameworks and artefacts, and delivering formal training alongside hands-on coaching. Successful experiments were operationalised, supported by a centralised repository of learnings to ensure knowledge was retained and scaled.

Experimentation as the new operating model
The Solution

Experimentation is not a program you run alongside the business. It is the mechanism by which the business proves and improves itself.

The goal was never to build a better experimentation team. It was to change how the team operates — so that testing, learning, and acting on evidence became the default mode of working, not an additional discipline layered on top. That requires change at two levels simultaneously: the structural conditions that make experimentation possible, and the cultural conditions that make it inevitable.

Results Image


Building the conditions for experimentation to scale

We built the conditions for experimentation to scale by embedding it directly into how decisions are made through an operating model and squad design, introducing clear frameworks for hypothesis design, test validation, and reporting to make rigour the default, and establishing a centralised experiment repository that turns individual tests into shared organisational knowledge.

Building the conditions for experimentation to scale

We built the conditions for experimentation to scale by embedding it directly into how decisions are made through an operating model and squad design, introducing clear frameworks for hypothesis design, test validation, and reporting to make rigour the default, and establishing a centralised experiment repository that turns individual tests into shared organisational knowledge.

Building the conditions for experimentation to scale

We built the conditions for experimentation to scale by embedding it directly into how decisions are made through an operating model and squad design, introducing clear frameworks for hypothesis design, test validation, and reporting to make rigour the default, and establishing a centralised experiment repository that turns individual tests into shared organisational knowledge.

Building the belief that it works - through proof

We built belief that experimentation works through proof, starting with formal training that established both the methodology and mindset while introducing best practice, followed by on-the-job coaching through live experiments to build real fluency rather than just compliance, and finally closing the loop by embedding winning experiments into BAU so each success directly informed the next decision.

Building the belief that it works - through proof

We built belief that experimentation works through proof, starting with formal training that established both the methodology and mindset while introducing best practice, followed by on-the-job coaching through live experiments to build real fluency rather than just compliance, and finally closing the loop by embedding winning experiments into BAU so each success directly informed the next decision.

Building the belief that it works - through proof

We built belief that experimentation works through proof, starting with formal training that established both the methodology and mindset while introducing best practice, followed by on-the-job coaching through live experiments to build real fluency rather than just compliance, and finally closing the loop by embedding winning experiments into BAU so each success directly informed the next decision.

Over the past six months, Nima and Stacey have been invaluable partners to the Sportsbet Customer Marketing team as we began to level up our experimentation capability. They helped us cut through the noise and get clear on the fundamentals - what good experimentation looks like, why it matters, and how to set it up in a way that’s practical and sustainable for our business. What we appreciated most was their ability to simplify complex concepts and meet the team where we were. Their guidance was always pragmatic, and they challenged our thinking in a way that felt constructive and supportive. They didn’t just help us understand experimentation - they helped us build the confidence to start putting it into practice. Thanks to their work, we now have the foundations in place, experiments up and running, and a clearer path forward for embedding experimentation into how CRM operates. We’re grateful for their partnership and the genuine care they put into helping us grow this capability.

Lucy Jamil

Head of Commercial Analytics

Experimentation as the new operating model