CRM Nurture · Campaign Strategy · Audience Journeys
Not every prospective family needs the same follow-up. I developed targeted nurture campaigns for parents at key points in the enrollment journey, tailoring the content, cadence, and calls to action to what families needed at that stage.
My role
Context
Premier Early Childhood Education Partners
Multi-location early childhood education organization
The challenge
Families can pause at very different points in the enrollment journey. A parent who submitted an inquiry but never responded has different questions and needs than a family who already toured a school or paid to join a waitlist.
The opportunity was to create more relevant communication for these moments instead of treating every prospective family the same.
The question behind the strategy
“What does this parent need from us at this point in their decision?”
Where the campaigns fit
These targeted campaigns supported specific moments within the broader enrollment journey. Regular school communication continued outside these campaigns.
Three audiences, three different needs
Primary goal
Re-engage the family or encourage a tour.
Primary goal
Re-engage the family and support an enrollment decision.
Primary goal
Maintain engagement and trust until a space becomes available.
From journey stage to content strategy
This wasn’t simply about writing a series of emails. The content strategy considered:
Campaign logic
Each campaign had its own cadence and exit conditions.
Parent enters a defined audience group
Receives stage-specific nurture content
Parent behavior or status changes
Campaign stops or parent moves to the appropriate next stage
Status changes that end or move a campaign
Exit conditions helped prevent families from continuing to receive messaging that was no longer relevant to their situation.
Content examples
Audience
New Family, No Response
Purpose
To be added
Why this message
To be added
Audience
Tour Completed, Never Enrolled
Purpose
To be added
Why this message
To be added
Audience
Waitlist Paid
Purpose
To be added
Why this message
To be added
The system behind the content
The value of the campaigns wasn’t automation for automation’s sake. The goal was to make follow-up more useful by matching communication to the family’s relationship with the school.
Instead of asking, “What email should we send next?” the process started with, “What does this family already know, what might they need now, and what is the most useful next step?”
Not
Send more emails
But
Send more relevant communication
What this project shows
This project brought together audience understanding, content strategy, and execution to create communication that reflected where families actually were in their decision journey.
Takeaway
Good nurture isn’t about communicating more often. It’s about understanding what someone needs based on what they’ve already experienced and making the next interaction useful.
This principle now shapes how I think about audience journeys beyond email, including websites, landing pages, campaigns, and digital experiences.
