007 · Email & Activation

What this is

The email channel rebuilt as the rail the signal engine fires over: nurtures moved onto a clean architecture with content rewritten to the current story, the database segmented on the three personas (builders, executives, customers), a governed sending reputation, and channel governance with teeth — one council, send caps, and a registry of every system that sends. Katie and Janelle lead; Grazitti carries the Marketo build cadence on the MOPs budget (the one retainer that stays, because the cadence is genuinely continuous). First ship (memo): nurture architecture + migration plan.

Goal: sends need a reason, not a date — toward the signal engine's >60% triggered-sends north star, with the highest-intent emails actually arriving.

Why now

Email sends on timers today, across multiple senders with no arbitration. The live nurture inventory tells the story: 8+ standing nurture programs on a priority model, with the reactivation program alone sending millions at a ~3% open rate while the healthy nurtures run 9–14% — volume standing in for strategy. The TOFU nurture rebuild (brief updated Aug 27) is already applying the new standard: persona-split paths, entry criteria that respect active sales cycles, waiting periods, and a recommendation to decommission the legacy Marketo program shells adding reporting noise. The memo's bar: the nurture migration plan locked by day 30.

The rebuild, per piece

• The three-persona architecture — the database segmented on builders, executives, and customers; nurtures rebuilt per persona with content rewritten to the current story (the same personas paid targets, so every channel tells one story). The TOFU rebuild is the working template: persona-split email paths with role-matched CTAs (product tour + sign-up for builders, meetings for leaders).
• The migration plan — every existing nurture mapped to keep / rewrite / retire on the new architecture; legacy program shells decommissioned; migration sequenced so nothing high-performing goes dark mid-transition.
• Behavior-triggered, not timer-based — post-signup activation rebuilt so product behavior triggers each touch (the Signup Activation Journey owns that stretch); signal-engine plays fire over this rail as triggers land.
• Deliverability + the governed sending reputation — inbox placement protected as an asset: list hygiene, suppression discipline, and the sending-reputation work that makes the highest-intent sends actually arrive.
• Governance with teeth — one council, send caps, and a registry of every system that sends; the smart-list approval step (with Laura) is live governance already landing; cadence arbitration replaces same-day collisions.

The signup activation journey (absorbed Sep 4)

The signup-to-activation stretch rebuilt signal-aware: the post-signup experience redesigned so product behavior, not a timer, triggers each touch. Seventy thousand quarterly sign-ups make this the highest-leverage stretch of the funnel — small activation gains compound into paying customers without a dollar of new acquisition. Frame: 70,000 sign-ups → 17,000 keys → 1,050 paying, ICP cohort tracked through every stage. Paused through the owner transition; resumes when the Growth Sr Manager backfill lands.

• The journey audit (first ship) — the current signup → activation experience mapped end to end, incl. the SSO variant: every send, trigger, gap, and drop-off documented with baselines.
• Deliverability first — activation sends are the highest-intent email we send; fix inbox placement before redesigning content.
• Signal-aware redesign — touches triggered by product behavior (database created, key generated, usage thresholds); Amplitude wired as the product-signal source.
• The messaging pass — builder-persona content, the no-hook high-value touch replacing generic drip copy.
• Ship behind a measured test — judged on activation lift, not opinion; the product partnership formalized (in-product + email as one journey).

Work to be done

• Nurture architecture + migration plan locked — the three-persona architecture designed, every nurture dispositioned (keep/rewrite/retire), legacy shells decommissioned, and the migration sequenced — the day-30 memo bar.
• The rail rebuilt and governed — priority nurtures live on the new architecture with rewritten content, deliverability protected, and the council + send caps + sender registry operating.
• Signal-triggered sends growing — the engine's plays firing over the rail, timer-based sends retired as triggers replace them, pacing toward the >60% triggered share.
• Owner landed and the activation audit published — the Sr Manager, Growth Marketing in seat, the end-to-end journey audit (incl. SSO) published with locked baselines.
• The activation journey rebuilt and tested — deliverability fixed, behavioral triggers live off product signals, shipped behind a test with measured lift, then rolled to 100%.

Current state

Grazitti's build cadence running through the transition; smart-list approval being implemented with Laura; the TOFU nurture rebuild in flight on the new standard. The full re-charter lands with the incoming Sr Manager, Growth Marketing.

Dependencies & risks

The owner transition: Katie and Janelle lead, but the lifecycle re-charter deepens when the backfill lands. Deliverability work must precede volume changes — reputation damage compounds. The persona segmentation depends on database quality (the audience mapping in Month 1). Governance only works if every sending team joins the council — that's an org ask, not a config. [owner to complete]