Aviary Nurture Campaign — HubSpot List, Orbit/SES Bulk Email Setup

Overview

With Aviary's contract at risk due to missed lead targets, the team designed a bulk email nurture campaign to activate a large segment of contacts sitting outside the active sales and ABM pipelines. The campaign targets approximately 40,000 contacts and runs through Orbit/SES on a separate sending domain, distinct from the ABM sequences already in flight.

This is one prong of a broader ^[1] rescue strategy that also includes LinkedIn outreach, Google Ads optimization, and a potential website rebuild.

Context & Problem

Aviary's finance industry targets use email security bots that inflate open rates, making it difficult to measure genuine human engagement. The existing ABM pipeline covers a subset of contacts; a large pool of contacts remains unworked. The nurture campaign is designed to generate incremental lead volume from this dormant segment without interfering with active sales motions.

Audience Segmentation Logic

The nurture list is defined by exclusion:

Exclude: Contacts currently in the active ABM sequence
Exclude: Contacts actively in the sales pipeline (e.g., flagged as Sales Qualified Leads or placed in a HubSpot deal pipeline)
Include: Everyone else in the Aviary contact database (~40k contacts)

Note: Pipeline status must be verified in Aviary's HubSpot before finalizing the list. The team does not currently have direct HubSpot access and needs to confirm the exact pipeline stage flags Aaron's team is using.

Implementation Plan

1. HubSpot List Build

Build a HubSpot list using the exclusion logic above
Confirm pipeline stage criteria with Aaron/Aviary before finalizing
Estimated list size: ~40,000 contacts

2. Sending Infrastructure

Send via Orbit connected to Amazon SES
Use a separate sending domain from the primary Aviary domain — critical given the volume (~40–60k sends) and the risk of domain reputation damage
Configure send limits to throttle volume and protect deliverability

3. Email Content

Content for the nurture sequence was provided by Karly to Mark
Sequence structure and cadence to be finalized during setup

Key Risks & Considerations

Risk	Mitigation
Bot-inflated open rates obscuring real engagement	Use click-through and reply rates as primary engagement signals; do not rely on opens
Domain reputation damage from bulk sends	Separate sending domain + SES send limits
Overlap with active pipeline contacts	Strict exclusion list logic; verify HubSpot pipeline flags before launch
No direct HubSpot access	Coordinate with Aaron/Aviary to confirm segmentation criteria

Action Items

[ ] Mark Hope — Build HubSpot exclusion list (~40k contacts), configure Orbit/SES, set send limits, begin sends
[ ] Mark Hope — Confirm sending domain setup (separate from primary Aviary domain)
[ ] Mark Hope / Aaron — Verify HubSpot pipeline stage flags used to define "actively in pipeline" before list is finalized

^[2]
^[3]
^[4]
^[5]