CASE STUDY
Powering Mission-Driven Engagement
Lymphatic Education & Research Network
EMAIL ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY, INTEGRATION DEVELOPMENT
THE PROJECT
LE&RN sought to optimize its email program and automate key messages, while integrating its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Email Service Provider (ESP) for unified, data-driven nonprofit communications.
THE CHALLENGE
The organization’s critical, mission-led campaigns consistently underperformed on both clicks and retention, despite a highly engaged audience. Fragmented data across its CRM and ESP combined with limited internal capacity for complex technical optimization challenged the team’s ability to sync data.
THE RESULT
LE&RN gained a 12% click-rate lift and 26% fewer unsubscribes by implementing suggested changes, and developed clearer supporter insights and sustainable segmentation through a robust integration with their CRM and ESP.
Expert Audit Reveals Key Opportunities
The Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN) is an internationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to advancing education, research, and advocacy for lymphatic diseases worldwide. As the organization’s digital communications grew, its team sought expert support to ensure email remained a reliable, effective channel for education, fundraising, and community engagement.
Our team at 108 Degrees Digital Marketing was engaged to provide a comprehensive professional email marketing audit and coach the internal marketing team on best practices implementation. Once these new processes were in place, we were to further their capabilities by developing a custom integration between LE&RN’s CRM (Kindful) and ESP (Mailchimp) for unified, data-informed outreach.
The initial email audit revealed that LE&RN’s email program had strong, mission-driven content, but engagement metrics suggested room for improvement, particularly in click activity and subscriber retention. With multiple audiences and campaign types in play, the organization needed to refine its audience segmentation strategy and develop automations better suited to engaging its varied subscriber base which included patients, clinicians, and researchers, as well as supporters.
Working as a strategic partner alongside LE&RN’s communications team, we clarified program goals, identified high-impact opportunities, and prioritized improvements that would drive stronger engagement without overwhelming internal resources. The recommendations focused on practical changes to audience segmentation and personalization, campaign setup, template structure, and automation strategy, ensuring the organization could implement and sustain the improvements over time.
LE&RN’s communications strategy spotlighted Academy Award–winning actress and lymphedema spokesperson Kathy Bates, whose advocacy and personal connection to the disease became a cornerstone of the organization’s messaging and fundraising efforts.
To support long-term success, we needed to ensure data integrity between the now updated ESP and the internal feeder to that system, its CRM. This process required a systems review and needs assessment to align LE&RN’s CRM (Kindful) and ESP (Mailchimp) environments. This work included a review of the current systems and processes plus strategic planning around taxonomy and data mapping so that fields, tags, and segments would match how the organization actually communicates and reports.
Our team worked alongside the Operations team to develop a sustainable strategy for the data sync between the ESP and CRM. From there, we managed all custom development, QA testing, and project management to ensure a reliable, accurate integration. Once development was completed, documentation and a walkthrough of the final setup equipped LE&RN’s internal staff to maintain the integration, adjust segments, and troubleshoot as needs evolved.
LE&RN’s Communications Director reported that the collaboration led to a 12% increase in click rate and a 26% decrease in unsubscribe rate, praising the 108 team’s responsiveness and on-time delivery throughout the project. The client highlighted the strong value for cost, the flexibility around scheduling during periods of illness and time away, and the availability of nonprofit-friendly pricing as key factors in the positive experience.
Building a Connected Data Foundation
How We Did It
We audited campaigns, lists, templates, and benchmarks to pinpoint engagement opportunities across LE&RN's program. We then delivered prioritized recommendations and automation strategies for sustainable internal implementation..
