Capability

Email

Roughly 200 campaigns and 400,000 sends a year, on a list of 4,000 contacts. Built, written, and measured by one person.

~400,000 sends a year

How I approach it

I was responsible for ACNL’s email program for seven years: strategy, copy, templating, list hygiene, and analytics. The audience was primarily using their hospital- or university-issued work emails, both of which have notoriously aggressive security filters, and both of which are also notoriously busy work environments.

To clear security, the emails had to be text-forward and image-light. When Outlook might not load your images, and the mail server might not let them through to begin with, the only images you should be using are your logo and the occasional attention-grabbing header — nothing with dates, locations, speaker names, or calls to action.

Getting the attention of a busy nurse is a bit trickier, especially when, in many ways, ACNL was a B2B company that only appeared to be B2C. Yes, I was promoting events directly to potential registrants, but many of those registrants were going to file for reimbursement with their employers. Emails had to be straight to the point, easily scannable, and have potential benefits or learning objectives clearly laid out, so a nurse could print the email and hand it to their manager for a quick approval.

Analytics are hard to measure since the implementation of Apple MPP. I built in a simple, invisible footer link on every send, almost the opposite of a pixel, intended to set a baseline for clicks. If Mailchimp said a CTA was clicked X times, and the invisible link was clicked Y times, I could reasonably conclude that the CTA was actually clicked X-Y times.

Samples

Five representative sends. Click any one to read the full email.

ACNL 48th Annual Conference announcement email with synthwave-themed conference artwork — **The 48th Annual Conference announcement.** This is one of those "attention-grabbing headers". The main annual conference graphic was always styled like an event poster, so it has the date and location, but these are repeated in the text. The header has a cool-factor but nothing is lost if an overzealous mail server eats it.

Conference registration reminder email with a live countdown timer — **A late-stage registration push with a live countdown timer.** Manufactured urgency, sure, but honest urgency: early bird pricing really was about to end, and this was the most direct way to say so.

Webinar promotion email for The Clinical Nurse Specialist: A Pivotal Moment, with learning objectives listed — **A text-forward webinar promo.** The learning objectives are easily scannable so a nurse could print the email and hand it to the manager who approves the reimbursement.

Virtual Finance Foundations Course promotion email taught by the ACNL president — **A virtual course promo.** One header graphic, and everything else is text: dates, format, platform, and a scarcity line, all scannable in the few seconds a nurse leader has between meetings.

Foundation for Leadership Excellence program email featuring attendee testimonials — **A five-day program pitch that leans on testimonials.** When the ask is a week away from the unit plus a hotel stay, other nurse leaders' words carry more weight than mine.