Lessons from automating a complex renewal series

Manual processes are the silent time-killers of email programs.

So what happens when you finally decide to automate the thing you've been doing by hand for years — even when it feels impossibly complex?

At ENCC DC this past October, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Avalon Consulting shared how they transformed a labor-intensive membership renewal series into a fully automated system using Engaging Networks — and what they learned along the way.

The problem: 12 emails, endless exports
The National Trust runs a robust membership program with a 12-email renewal series.

Each message targets a different segment: three months out, two months out, expiring, lapsed, new members renewing, and more.

Before automation, the process looked like this: every month, staff would export data from their database (ROI Solutions), import it into Engaging Networks, manually tag constituents, and send each email as a one-off broadcast.

The time cost? Roughly 10 hours per month — or about 120 hours per year. That's three full weeks of staff time, just on renewals.

The solution: date math and a lot of testing
Avalon's team saw an opportunity. National Trust already had a solid data sync between ROI and Engaging Networks.

The question was whether they could build automations triggered by membership end dates — so the right email would go to the right person at the right time, automatically.

The answer: yes, but it took some math.

Maan Sacdalan, Director of Digital Production at National Trust, worked backward from the membership end date to calculate the exact day offsets for each email in the series.

If your membership expires February 28, and you need the "two months out" email on December 28, that's 62 days before expiration.

One quirk they discovered: Engaging Networks' automation tool doesn't support date offsets over 99 days. So for the earliest renewal notice, they still schedule a broadcast manually — but everything else runs hands-free.

The results: time saved, revenue up
After six months of gradual rollout (and plenty of troubleshooting), the team reduced their manual sends from 15 per month to just 3 or 4.

Even better: in the first full fiscal year after automation, email renewal revenue was up 30%.

The team attributes most of that growth to overall program expansion — but automation didn't hurt.

Engagement metrics stayed healthy, and no one had to babysit the series anymore.

Lessons for your own automation project
A few takeaways from National Trust's experience:

Start with what you repeat. If you're doing the same thing every month and it isn’t already automated, start there!

Know your platform's limits. The 99-day cap caught them off guard — build workarounds early.

Get leadership buy-in. The first few months will be bumpy. Set expectations that you're launching to learn, not launching perfection.

Trust your data sync. Automation only works if your membership data is flowing reliably into your email platform.

The bottom line
Automation isn't just a technical upgrade — it's a strategic shift with real revenue potential.

National Trust's renewal series is now largely self-running, freeing up staff to focus on optimization, testing, and the next big idea.

Their advice? Launch now. Refine as you go. And lean on your platform partners when you hit a wall.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

'Til next time!
Sara

P.S. Your agency’s or organization’s learnings from year-end campaigns or A/B tests could help spark more wins across the sector! Reply directly to this email to share your successes.