Email marketing for big brands like Nestlé, Lidl, and Colruyt Group — insights from Jasper Van Laethem

One of the important topics of our blog is how email marketing is implemented in large brands and enterprises. We have cases on speeding up email production in Forbes and Chelsea, as well as articles in which we discuss the interaction among email marketing teams in enterprises. Today, our focus is on strategies, automation processes, data collection, and the challenges of email marketing in global brands.

We invited Jasper Van Laethem to share his views on these issues.

Jasper Van Laethem is a distinguished email marketing and CRM expert with over 12 years of experience, having collaborated with big brands like Nestlé, Lidl, and Colruyt Group. He has become a respected voice in the industry, frequently sharing his knowledge at international conferences, including the Data and Automation Summit and the eCommerce Summit. In 2023, Jasper founded The Future Funnel, an email marketing and CRM agency, positioning it as “Your in-house email & CRM experts,” dedicated to helping brands get things done effectively.

In this interview with Stripo, Jasper shares his experiences and insights on overcoming challenges in email marketing, the importance of zero-party data, and innovative strategies that have helped brands enhance their email marketing efforts.

Overcoming challenges in big brands’ email marketing

Stripo: Can you share a challenging scenario you encountered while implementing email marketing strategies for brands like Nestlé, Lidl, or Colruyt Group? How did you overcome it, and what were the key takeaways?

Jasper: Certainly. Working with big companies that have big brands often means dealing with legacy systems and tools. In most cases, these systems aren’t set up with email marketing in mind, let alone designed with input from someone with email marketing expertise.

For example, when I first started at Colruyt Group with the brand ColliShop, I encountered very complex tools and connections. It took me months just to understand half of them. Previous attempts to implement automated flows, personalization, and dynamic content had failed — and failed significantly — with a lot of resources wasted.

When discussing ideas with colleagues, I often heard comments like, “This is not possible,” “The technology doesn’t allow that,” or “We need another tool.” There were many such obstacles.

Key takeaways:

1. Strategic process: It’s crucial to conduct a thorough analysis, develop a solid email marketing strategy, prioritize effectively, and then execute. This structured approach helps navigate the complexities of large organizations.
2. Avoid the technology excuse trap: Don’t fall into the trap of blaming technology limitations. Instead, focus on finding creative solutions within existing systems to achieve your marketing goals.

S: When working with big brands like Nestlé, Lidl, and Colruyt Group, how do you balance the need for global consistency in email marketing with the need for localized content and strategies?

J: At Colruyt Group, I worked for the internal agency that served all 27 brands within the group. These brands varied greatly in size — some were huge, while others were quite small. Most engaged in email marketing, but we faced the challenge of accommodating their diverse needs while maintaining consistency and doing it cost-effectively.

To address this, we created an email design system with a wide array of modules and possibilities. This system allowed all brands to plug into a standardized framework that could be easily customized. We added specific brand layers, styling, icons, and other brand-specific elements to make each email unique while keeping the underlying structure consistent.

This approach resulted in significant savings in design, coding, and setup time. By using the right tools, we also achieved substantial cost savings in email development, effectively balancing global consistency with localized content.

S: Looking back at your work with Colruyt Group, what innovative approaches to CRM and email marketing did you implement that are now considered industry best practices?

J: One of the biggest accomplishments at Colruyt Group was the development of the email design system, as I mentioned earlier.

In the early stages at ColliShop, we undertook some pioneering projects involving AI. We worked on customer clustering (segments), predicting whether customers had a garden or not, developing a customer lifetime value model, and gathering a lot of customer feedback and zero-party data. We also performed a sentiment analysis on that data. These initiatives may not seem extraordinary now, but six or seven years ago, they were quite advanced and much more challenging to implement than they are today.

S: Tell us a little about teamwork in such large projects as Lidl and Nestlé. How are roles distributed during email production? How many people are involved in creating emails and in the approval process? What are the main challenges you see in teamwork in large projects?

J: In large projects for companies like Lidl and Nestlé, the email design process tends to be highly fragmented, with many people involved. There are those who decide on the campaigns, others who handle planning, someone who determines the email content, copywriters, designers creating images, and specialists building the email. 

This fragmentation can involve a significant number of individuals, each responsible for different aspects of the process.

The main issue with this setup is that not everyone is aligned with the overall goals of email marketing. They might not be fully aware of the different customer segments or truly understand the customers themselves. Often, there is a lack of feedback flowing back to team members, so they aren’t aware of how previous emails have performed.

Zero-party data: How to gather and use it properly

S: As brands increasingly emphasize personalization, how do you see the role of zero-party data evolving in email marketing strategies, especially in the context of privacy-conscious consumers?

J: That’s a great question. Last year, I gave several presentations on the importance of zero-party data, including examples of how to gather and use it properly. Its importance will only increase due to several shifts in digital marketing data — such as new rules and regulations, the demise or uncertainty of third-party cookies, changes in user sentiments, and the ramp up of privacy measure by companies like Apple.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as just asking. Instead of relying heavily on third-party data, which isn’t our own, we’re better off shifting toward our data — first-party and zero-party data. While first-party data involve large amounts of information that can be tricky to gather, store, and process, zero-party data are information that a user consciously and proactively shares with a brand. It’s typically small in quantity but highly actionable, allowing you to act on it immediately, which makes it extremely valuable.

People often ask whether consumers are willing to share their data. Research shows that 82% of consumers are willing to share their personal data in exchange for a more personalized experience.

Importantly, you should only ask for the data you need. Some types of information are impossible to observe or infer; in those cases, it’s better to just ask. Relying solely on click data can sometimes lead you down the wrong path.

S: What are some effective strategies in email marketing for collecting and leveraging zero-party data to create relevant email campaigns without overwhelming or alienating subscribers?

J: One of the best strategies we’ve found is to collect zero-party data during the onboarding process. When a new client or prospect signs up, you can ask a few questions to get to know them, making the experience as frictionless as possible. This could involve incorporating an onboarding questionnaire, simply asking a question in an email, or adding some gamification to your preference center.

Another effective tactic is at the top of the funnel. Instead of spending a lot of money on third-party platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Google to promote your brand or products, you can promote a competition, quiz, or game. This allows you to gather data directly from your users or prospects, and since you have their contact information and email addresses, you can reach out to them again without spending more on third-party channels.

These two tactics are very valuable for collecting and leveraging zero-party data to create personalized email campaigns without overwhelming subscribers.

How do CRM, marketing analytics, and GenAI interact?

S: CRM and marketing automation tools constantly evolve. How do you stay ahead of the curve, and what trends do you believe will define the next wave of CRM strategies?

J: I try not to focus too much on the tools themselves but rather on the marketing side of things. Tools come and go, and they change all the time, but the fundamentals of marketing remain constant.

Often, I see people focusing too much on tools and technology, especially on the limitations of their current systems, instead of concentrating on their marketing strategy and making progress with what they have.

However, I believe that once we move past the initial hype of AI and customer data platforms (CDPs), many more valuable use cases will emerge. We’ve already implemented a few and have seen how beneficial they can be for both the business and the consumer.

S: Do you use GenAI to build email marketing strategies or to produce emails? How exactly do you use it, and what do you consider to be the strengths of AI-powered tools?

J: Yes, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been using AI for quite some time for predictive analytics, sentiment analysis, and similar tasks. With GenAI, we can now achieve more personalization at scale and create more relevant content.

In the near future, AI will probably become even more significant. As we move away from one-to-many emails and toward more segmented and personalized communications, we need more creative assets — images, copy, and so on. Therefore, tools like AI and automation will be increasingly necessary.

S: In your experience, how can companies better integrate behavioral science principles into their CRM and email marketing strategies to enhance customer engagement and loyalty?

J: Integrating behavioral science and persuasion principles into campaigns is crucial. I’ve often seen people creating campaigns — whether in copywriting, concepts, or design — that look appealing but lack focus on the end goal or the consumer.

It’s important to truly know your customer and understand their “job to be done.” Think about your strategy and tactics from a behavioral science point of view to encourage them to take action. When considering loyalty and retention, focus on how to keep customers engaged and continually take action.

It’s also important to note that not all customers are the same. You need to test the persuasion principles you’re using because sometimes they can even backfire.

S: With data playing an ever-increasing role in email marketing, what are some common mistakes you see companies making when interpreting their email analytics, and how can they avoid these pitfalls?

J: One of the biggest mistakes I see is that companies lack the resources to properly analyze their email marketing efforts, or they do so superficially. Often, automated emails don’t receive much attention once they’ve been set up, even though they are usually the most valuable to optimize.

To avoid this pitfall, it’s essential to have an ongoing optimization process. This involves determining who is involved who is involved and their roles and tasks and setting up regular meetings. You also need to define when everything will be analyzed — campaigns, flows, etc. Good planning is crucial here.

However, this isn’t easy. Often, people are busy with their own tasks and don’t have the time. This is one area where we typically help — providing analysis and optimization suggestions and testing programs for automated flows because many companies or email marketing teams don’t have the capacity to do this themselves.

User-centered approach on all levels is crucial

S: User experience and conversion rate optimization (CRO) are crucial in email marketing. How do you approach optimizing the email journey from a UX perspective, particularly in complex campaigns for large organizations?

J: Several key factors come to mind when optimizing the email journey from a UX perspective:

1. Consistency: It’s important to maintain consistency throughout all your emails and ensure that your emails are consistent with other channels and the overall brand identity. 
2. Accessibility: Ensure that emails are accessible across all clients, browsers, and devices. This will ensure that all users have a positive experience regardless of how they access your emails.
3. User-centered design: Adopt a user-centered design approach and follow best practices. I often refer to Steve Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think, which emphasizes making interfaces intuitive and frictionless for the user. The goal is to make the email journey as seamless as possible, reducing any barriers to engagement or conversion.

S: Could you please elaborate a little more on your philosophy that we saw on your page?

“→ Think big, start small. 📅
  → Think analytically, proceed creatively. 📊
  → Think in terms of progress, not perfection. ⛰️”

J: This philosophy is something I try to convey to colleagues and clients, and it’s how I approach projects:

1. Think big, start small: I aim to think big strategically but approach the project pragmatically. By breaking it into smaller pieces, we avoid being paralyzed by the enormity of the tasks and are able to get started — getting started is really important.
2. Think analytically and proceed creatively: I strive to understand the actual problem at hand, the real end goals we need to achieve, and the customer and their “job to be done” very clearly. This allows us to tackle challenges in a creative way. Only by doing this can we shift from linear thinking to more lateral thinking.
3. Think in terms of progress, not perfection: It’s crucial to focus on making small amounts of progress rather than being paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection and ending up not doing anything at all.

Wrapping up

Here are some insights into big brands’ email marketing, using zero-party data, email automation, and strategies that we have obtained from this interview:

1. Balancing global consistency with localization — Jasper’s team created an adaptable email design system, enabling both global consistency and localized customization, thus saving time and resources.
2. The growing importance of zero-party data — as privacy rules change, zero-party data offer a more effective way to personalize emails and build customer trust.
3. Strategic use of AI and automation — AI is key to scaling personalization and optimizing campaigns, but human oversight is vital for strategic alignment.
4. The importance of ongoing optimization and team collaboration — large-scale email marketing campaigns often involve many stakeholders, making communication and alignment essential. Continuous optimization, regular analysis, and a feedback loop are critical to improving email performance — especially when working within complex systems and large teams.

Jasper’s experience sheds light on how large organizations can evolve their email marketing strategies, leverage data, and use AI, all while keeping the customer journey at the heart of their approach. We are grateful to Jasper Van Laethem for the interview, in which we discussed important topics in the email marketing industry.