AHS Training Event Email Campaigns — Nov 19 & Dec 11-12

Overview

AHS runs paid safety training events that require minimum attendance to cover venue costs (e.g., the Dec 11–12 session at the Kalahari resort). Email is the primary promotional channel. An initial blast for the November and December trainings yielded zero registrations despite healthy open rates, prompting a strategic reset heading into the campaign's second round.

The two active events as of the October 2025 review:

List Quality Issues

The AHS email list contains 1,067 contacts, but approximately 300 (~30%) bounced on the first send. The list is outdated and was originally sourced from a contact (David Schmidt) who is no longer with the organization.

Key implications:
- High bounce rate damages sender reputation and deliverability over time
- Open rates from the first blast were actually reasonable — the problem is list staleness, not subject lines or content
- MailChimp was previously used but the subscription lapsed; the list data still exists but needs cleaning

"There's 1,067 emails in this database. Of those, nearly 300 bounced." — Gina Richardson

Campaign Strategy

Round Structure

The recommended approach (per internal discussion with Chris) is three rounds of awareness per event:
1. Round 1 — Initial announcement (already sent; zero conversions)
2. Round 2 — Urgent follow-up with stronger CTA (priority action item)
3. Round 3 — Final push / last-chance reminder

Round 2 Priorities

• Asymmetric to draft and send by end of week (week of Oct 28)
• Promote both the Nov 19 Madison training and Dec 11–12 Kalahari training in the same send
• Use urgent, deadline-driven messaging given the proximity of Nov 19
• Include school-specific open rate segmentation if available
• Confirm Dec 11–12 Google Forms registration link is accessible before sending (retrieve from Gina if missing)

Tone & Framing

• The Nov 19 training is free to attendees; the Dec Kalahari event has a cost
• Messaging should reflect the professional development value and AHS's role as a licensed provider
• Avoid generic "testing" language — AHS performs inspections and evaluations, not testing

School Contact Acquisition (WI DPI)

The existing list skews toward general contacts and is degrading. Gina identified a potential source for refreshing and expanding the school-focused segment:

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) website — may contain school-level contacts that can be used to build a maintenance/facilities worker outreach list.

Target persona: school maintenance workers and facilities managers (not principals), as they are the decision-makers for asbestos-related compliance training.

"Obviously we want the maintenance-type worker more so than the principal. But they could at least forward it to the maintenance-type worker." — Gina Richardson

Action

Sebastian to research DPI contact availability and assess whether a list pull is feasible. If viable, use to supplement the existing 1,067-contact database ahead of future training campaigns.

Platform Notes

Email sends are currently handled by Asymmetric as part of the existing engagement — no additional cost to AHS.

Compliance Note

Any marketing text messages (and likely bulk email) must include a clear opt-in/opt-out mechanism. AHS already uses opt-in checkboxes on some forms. This requirement applies if mass texting is added as a future channel for training promotion.

Related

• ^[1] — AHS client overview
• ^[2] — General guidance on list maintenance
• ^[3] — PPC context from same meeting
• ^[4] — DR30 initiative approved in same meeting