The Cordwainer Email Marketing & CRM Strategy

Overview

The Cordwainer's email marketing operation is functional but underdeveloped. Their CRM (Eldermark) holds lead data but has not been effectively integrated with outbound email campaigns. Previous agencies have worked around Eldermark's limitations by deploying emails through Constant Contact or MailChimp. The active, marketable list is small — under 500 contacts — leaving significant room for list growth and automation improvements.

See also: ^[1] | ^[2]

Current State

CRM: Eldermark

• Eldermark serves as the primary CRM for lead and resident management.
• Leads enter Eldermark through multiple channels, including the website's virtual chat assistant (which auto-creates "inquiry" records) and manual entry by the sales director.
• Lead categorization is inconsistent: contacts are tagged as either inquiries (family members researching on behalf of a loved one) or prospects (the actual potential resident), but these have not been systematically cleaned or reconciled.
• Erica Lathrop has noted that Eldermark's email deployment capabilities are not intuitive and have not been fully utilized for digital marketing purposes.

Email Deployment

• Outbound email campaigns have historically been sent via Constant Contact or MailChimp, with the agency pulling lists from Eldermark and deploying externally.
• This creates a disconnected workflow: CRM data lives in Eldermark, but campaign execution happens in a separate tool with no native sync.
• No marketing automation sequences (drip campaigns, nurture flows) appear to be in place.

List Size & Composition

• The legacy list was used for mass mailings at or near the facility's opening and has not been actively maintained. These contacts are not regularly contacted unless they reach out first.
• The active list is small relative to the facility's marketing goals and the 6 open rooms that need to be filled.

Key Challenges

1. CRM Fragmentation: Eldermark is not natively connected to any email deployment tool, requiring manual list exports and imports. This increases friction and the risk of data being out of sync.
2. Inconsistent Lead Categorization: The inquiry/prospect distinction in Eldermark has not been systematically applied, making segmentation and targeted outreach difficult.
3. No Automation: There are no apparent drip sequences or nurture workflows for leads at different stages of the decision process.
4. Small Active List: With fewer than 500 marketable contacts, list growth is a prerequisite for email marketing to become a meaningful lead generation channel.
5. Legacy List Dormancy: The 1,000–2,000+ legacy contacts represent a potential re-engagement opportunity but carry risk (deliverability, relevance) if not handled carefully.

Opportunities

Short-Term

• Audit Eldermark access to understand what data is available, how it's structured, and what can be exported for use in campaigns. (Requires Eldermark credentials from previous agency — see ^[2] action items.)
• Standardize lead categorization in Eldermark (inquiry vs. prospect) to enable meaningful segmentation.
• Select a deployment platform — Asymmetric may use Go High Level, Constant Contact, or MailChimp depending on integration needs and workflow preferences.

Medium-Term

• Build nurture sequences tailored to the memory care decision journey, which is typically long, emotionally complex, and need-driven rather than timeline-driven.
• Promote public-facing events (e.g., Learned Environment programs open to prospects) via email to warm leads on the waitlist and inquiry list.
• Re-engagement campaign for the legacy list, with careful list hygiene and a clear opt-in/opt-out mechanism to protect deliverability.

Long-Term

• Integrate CRM and email platform more tightly, either through a native Eldermark integration or by migrating lead management to a platform with better marketing tooling (e.g., Go High Level).
• Grow the list through website form optimization, event registrations, and gated content (e.g., a guide to memory care in Massachusetts).

Notes on the Memory Care Context

Email marketing for memory care has unique characteristics that should inform strategy:

• Decision-makers are family members, not the prospective residents themselves. Messaging should address the emotional and practical concerns of adult children and spouses.
• The timeline is unpredictable. Leads may sit on a waitlist or inquiry list for months before a triggering event (health decline, caregiver burnout) prompts action. Nurture sequences need to be low-pressure and long-running.
• The Cordwainer's waitlist is not a true occupancy waitlist — it is a list of interested families who will move when need dictates, not when a bed becomes available. Email communication with this group should focus on relationship-building and facility awareness, not urgency.

Related

• ^[1]
• ^[2]
• ^[3]
• ^[4]