Project Overview
For the Wharton Executive Education team, the goal was to design a flexible and scalable email nurture campaign that supports long-term engagement with prospective learners. Rather than one-off blasts, this project focused on creating a modular email system that could adapt to different content needs and audiences through Marketo — a leading marketing automation platform.
The Challenge
Wharton offers 55 unique executive education programs, each with distinct value propositions and audiences. The challenge was to develop an email framework that could:
- Serve multiple program tracks without redesigning from scratch.
- Display appropriately across devices (mobile, tablet, desktop).
- Support varied content types depending on the audience’s stage in the journey.
Design Strategy: Modular Framework
To ensure flexibility and ease of use, the campaign templates were designed using a modular component system. Each piece of content — from headers to testimonials — was built as a reusable block. This meant editors could assemble or reorganize content without altering code.
Key modular elements included:
- Header and footer blocks
- Text and intro areas
- Article sections
- Testimonials
- Multi-column layouts (2-col, 3-col)
- Lists and image-with-text components
By empowering content creators to change backgrounds, margins, and structure on the fly, the design supported dynamic storytelling tailored to each program.
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- Component: Headers
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- Component: 2 columns
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- Component: 3 Columns
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- Component: Intros
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- Component: Testimonials
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- Component: Articles
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- Component: Lists
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- Component: Column with image
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- Component: Footer
Nurture Campaign Execution
Once users completed a lead inquiry form, they were automatically placed into a five-email nurture sequence specific to the executive program they expressed interest in.
Why this approach worked:
- Personalization by program ensured higher relevance.
- The structure balanced education, insight, and conversion psychology — perfect for longer decision cycles typical in executive education.
Email sequence breakdown:
- Email #1: Text-based message — focused on welcoming and setting expectations.
- Email #2: Highlights key takeaways and unique elements of the program.
- Email #3: Another text-focused message — ideal for reinforcing value with minimal design distractions.
- Email #4: Offers logistics and format details (e.g., campus experience vs. online delivery).
- Email #5: Final message recommending related programs of interest.
Across the portfolio of 55 programs, this system produced 275 emails deployed dynamically and consistently.
Desktop versions
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- Email #1 Inquiry follow-up
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- Email #2 Program key takeaways
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- Email #3 Supervisor letter
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- Email #4A Plan your stay
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- Email #4B LIVE programs
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- Email #5 Last touch
Mobile versions
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- Email #2 Program key takeaways
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- Email #4A Plan your stay
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- Email #4B LIVE programs
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- Email #5 Last touch
UX & Marketing Impact
- The modular architecture reduced production complexity, letting editors quickly assemble campaigns without coding.
- Content matched audience expectations at each stage, a best practice in lead nurturing that builds credibility and trust over time.
- Optimizing for responsiveness ensured a quality experience regardless of user device — key for busy professionals engaging on the go.
Key Takeaways
This campaign demonstrates how thoughtful UX design — paired with modular scalability — can elevate an automated nurture strategy. By combining personalization with clear content hierarchy and flexible design, the team created a system capable of guiding prospective learners gently but effectively toward deeper engagement — a core principle of successful email nurturing.