Reimagining Email Marketing for a Global Audience
Client Overview
The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) is a global non-profit organisation that aids businesses and organisations in improving their performance through the internationally recognised EFQM Model, a framework for driving organisational excellence.
EFQM promotes continuous improvement through structured self-assessment and evaluation, helping organisations identify their gaps and develop a strategy to bridge these.
“Geek Design introduced order and clarity to our data strategy, revolutionising the way we approach email marketing at EFQM. Their structured, insight-driven approach enabled us to communicate more effectively and target the right audiences with accuracy. They have been a valuable partner in enhancing our email marketing efforts.”
EFQM’s training courses, assessments, and consultancies are not a sudden or quick purchase; they are a thought-led decision and long-term investment that requires thorough consideration before making a buying decision. With this buying process, we need to nurture people of interest through a consideration journey by reminding people of EFQM’s services. Their main offerings are ‘Train’, ‘Assess’, and ‘Transform’ services.
With the sales cycle taking between six to nine months, we knew email marketing was an excellent way to keep communicating information to clients and leads during the consideration stages.
The Purpose of the Partnership
EFQM needed our assistance to address several longstanding issues within their Mailchimp account. These challenges have been persistent over time, but have only recently become emphasised due to a noticeable increase in audience engagement. We adapted to their chosen software, understood these challenges and proposed improvements, as follows:
- Redesign sign-up forms to look on-brand but also capture richer, high-value data.
- Utilise the available data and market-specific events and services to create tailored content for audience segments.
- Deliver email templates with standout branding, custom visuals, and informative messaging.
- Enable strategic reporting by supporting region-specific performance tracking.
Our priority throughout this project has been to simplify the email marketing process that has become increasingly tangled over the years. We noticed inconsistencies in detail within the audience database, including variations in tag quantity and the prevalence of year-old tags over recent ones. Despite gaining more subscribers, their systems remained stagnant, meaning the increasing engagement they were shown was not being utilised to its full potential.
Untangling the Challenge
Landing Page Revision
Rather than retaining incomplete data with blank fields, we explored the benefits of using trackable landing pages that require new sign-ups to select key details such as their location, industry sector, and organisation. This approach allowed us to gather ethically valuable insights into buying behaviour and ensured future emails are more relevant and engaging.
We also focused on analysing activity by region, dividing the audience into six segments: UK, DACH, Europe (excluding DACH), Middle East, Rest of World, and Unknown. Structuring contacts in this way from the outset enables more meaningful analysis and smarter marketing decisions—particularly important for a global organisation that must closely track the performance of each region.
Email Template Design
A key observation was that EFQM’s recent rebrand had been applied across all platforms - except for email. From an audience perspective, a consistent visual identity and seamless digital presence demonstrates an attention to detail, helping communications feel more credible and engaging.
The redesigned email newsletter template was built to be easily replicated, featuring a clear main text section followed by supporting information and direct links to additional resources. This structure ensures EFQM’s emails are instantly recognisable, trustworthy, and aligned with the brand’s reputation for delivering meaningful value to its readers.
Tagging Overhaul
With the introduction of new landing pages, all new sign-ups are now accurately segmented from the outset. However, we recognised that the existing audience lacked organisation. To resolve this, we carried out a detailed manual review, identifying, where possible, why each contact first engaged, such as brochure requests or event participation, and tagging them accordingly.
For contacts added through other means, such as CSV imports, we implemented an automated tagging process that immediately detects and labels their location. If no location data is available, an ‘unknown’ tag is automatically applied. In most cases, however, another relevant service tag is present, ensuring no contact remains completely untagged. This ongoing effort helps maintain a well-organised database, even with multiple audience entry points.
Responsive Automation Set-Up
Once we had finalised the list management process, we explored the value of automation triggered by activity on the newly optimised landing pages.
We focused on creating automations linked to downloads of the EFQM brochure, as this represents a strong signal of genuine interest. Unlike a simple link click or social media interaction, requesting a brochure shows a clear intent to learn more. Failing to follow up — even with a brief thank-you email — would be a missed opportunity.
Each automation had its own entry criteria, based on the language selected on the form. Once submitted, the contact is tagged with their brochure interest and instantly receives an email containing the brochure and a confirmation of their sign-up. No delays, no manual input — just smooth, responsive communication that makes every interaction feel personal, not transactional.
This process creates a modern, seamless experience that reflects the high standards EFQM champions through its own excellence frameworks. It also empowers the marketing team to monitor performance directly in Mailchimp — tracking open rates, click-throughs, and brochure downloads with ease.
It’s a significant improvement over the previous manual process, which made tracking interest difficult and time-consuming. Now, all activity is centralised and actionable, allowing the team to identify trends, see which regions or sectors are most engaged, and target campaigns more intelligently — focusing on meaningful segments rather than the entire database.
The End Result
Through redesigned sign-up forms, intelligent tagging systems, and a refreshed, globally consistent email template, we’ve enabled EFQM to capture meaningful subscriber data and deliver tailored content to audiences across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.
By overcoming outdated processes and resolving visual inconsistencies left by successive rebrands, EFQM’s communications now project clarity, credibility, and trust — essential qualities for an organisation that invites assessors and educators into its internal network.
