Launch · Consulting
Email, Lifecycle & Marketing Automation, Measured in Booked Meetings, Not Opens
Open rates stopped meaning anything years ago; the metric worth defending is meetings booked.
The problem
What this usually looks like
The list has thousands of names on it and no segmentation, so everyone gets the same monthly newsletter and a quietly growing number of them stop getting anything at all. Nobody has checked whether the sending domain is authenticated, so part of every send goes to spam before a human has the chance to ignore it. Sequences built two years ago still fire, referencing an offer that no longer exists and a person who no longer works there. The report that reaches leadership leads with open rate, which since inbox privacy changes measures something very close to nothing.
How I approach it
I start with the list and the segments: who these people are, where they came from, what stage they are at, and which of them should be suppressed rather than mailed. Deliverability and domain authentication get fixed before volume goes up, because sending more from an unauthenticated domain only accelerates the damage. Sequences are then built by intent, welcome, nurture, sales-triggered, re-engagement. Each with a defined job, a defined exit and an owner. Reporting is rebuilt around replies, booked meetings and pipeline so the channel is judged on the same terms as every other one.
Scope
What I actually do
Audit the list: source, consent, engagement recency, and how much of it should be suppressed rather than mailed.
Build segmentation that reflects the buying process, stage, role, industry and behaviour. Not whichever import file they arrived in.
Write and build the welcome sequence so a new subscriber gets oriented instead of waiting for the next newsletter.
Build nurture tracks for buyers who are interested but not ready, each with a defined exit into a sales conversation.
Build sales-triggered sequences: post-demo follow-up, quote follow-up, no-show recovery and stalled-deal reactivation.
Run re-engagement and suppression properly, so dormant contacts are either won back or removed before they damage the domain.
Fix deliverability and domain authentication: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, sending domain separation, warm-up and bounce handling.
Rebuild reporting around replies, booked meetings and influenced pipeline, and retire open rate as a decision metric.
Deliverables
What you get
- List audit with a segmentation model and suppression plan
- Welcome, nurture and re-engagement sequences written and built
- Sales-triggered sequences wired to CRM stages and deal outcomes
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC configuration with a monitored DMARC policy
- Deliverability remediation plan including sending domain and warm-up schedule
- Lifecycle reporting on replies, booked meetings and pipeline
- Platform and CRM integration with documented triggers and owners
Outcomes
What changes
- Email that reaches the inbox instead of the spam folder
- The right message to the right segment instead of one newsletter to everybody
- Follow-up that fires on a trigger rather than when somebody remembers
- A reporting line leadership can compare directly against other channels
- A smaller engaged list that outperforms the large dormant one
Engagement
How we work together
Deliverability and domain authentication audit
Lifecycle programme design and build
Sequence writing and implementation inside your existing platform
Ongoing lifecycle management retainer
Questions
Straight answers
Why will you not report on open rates?
Because mail privacy features and image proxies pre-load tracking pixels whether or not a human ever looked at the message, which inflates opens and makes them unusable for a decision. They are still worth watching as a rough deliverability signal, but the numbers that should drive spend are replies, booked meetings and pipeline. If a sequence produces opens and no conversations, it has not worked.
What are SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and do we need all three?
They are DNS records that let a receiving mail server verify you are allowed to send as your domain. SPF lists which servers may send, DKIM signs the message so tampering is detectable, and DMARC tells the receiver what to do when the first two fail and reports back to you. Yes, you need all three. The major mailbox providers now enforce them for bulk senders, and without them a meaningful share of your mail is filtered before anyone sees it.
Our list is old. Can we just mail all of it?
No, and doing it once can cost you months. Mailing a large dormant list produces spam complaints, hard bounces and spam-trap hits, which teaches the mailbox providers to filter everything you send afterwards, including mail to people who want it. The sequence is to authenticate the domain, segment by engagement recency, run a controlled re-engagement to the dormant portion, then suppress whoever does not respond.
Do you work in our existing platform or move us to a new one?
I work in what you have unless it genuinely cannot do the job. Most platforms are used at a fraction of their capability, and a migration usually buys a new interface rather than better results while costing you your sending history. If the platform cannot segment, cannot trigger from CRM activity or cannot report past opens, that is a real reason to move and I will make the case for it.
Related
Services that usually go with this
Marketing, SEO & Demand Generation
Marketing built by someone who has to live with the leads it produces.
CRM Implementation & Revenue Operations
The platform matters far less than the adoption plan; a perfectly configured CRM nobody updates is an expensive spreadsheet.
Sales Funnel Design & Build
A funnel is an operations problem, not a graphics problem.
Hiring instead of contracting? See the full-time roles, or the ATS-formatted resume.
Contact
Tell me what you are hiring for
- Call: +1 519 278 5085
- Email: tim@timarmstrong.ca
- Based: London & Southwestern Ontario, Ontario, America/Toronto (Eastern Time)
- Availability: Available nationally across Canada, on-site, hybrid or remote
- Serving: London · Stratford · Woodstock · Kitchener: Waterloo · Cambridge · Guelph · Brantford · Sarnia · Chatham-Kent · Windsor · Toronto · Mississauga and Canada-wide