The Challenge
Time-Critical EOFY Campaign Requirements
With the Australian financial year ending on June 30, Woodward Finance faced an immovable deadline for their client communication campaign. The firm needed to reach thousands of existing clients and qualified prospects with essential information about:
- Tax planning strategies before EOFY
- Compliance deadline reminders
- Strategic financial advisory opportunities
- Year-end business consultation services
Complex Technical Infrastructure Demands
The campaign presented several technical challenges that their existing systems couldn't address:
- Email Deliverability Concerns: High-volume campaigns risk triggering spam filters and damaging sender reputation, particularly for financial services communications that often contain compliance-sensitive language.
- Domain Reputation Protection: Woodward Finance couldn't risk compromising their primary business domain's email reputation, which would impact day-to-day client communications and business operations.
- Integration Requirements: The firm had selected ActiveCampaign as their preferred email marketing platform but needed seamless integration with enterprise-grade deliverability infrastructure.
- Compliance Standards: Financial services communications require adherence to strict regulatory guidelines, demanding robust tracking and delivery confirmation capabilities.
24-Hour Implementation Window
Perhaps most critically, Woodward Finance discovered these requirements with less than 24 hours before their campaign needed to launch. Traditional email infrastructure deployment typically requires weeks of planning, configuration, and testing—time they simply didn't have.
The Solution
Rapid Deployment of Dedicated Email Infrastructure
Leveraging over 30 years of IT expertise in Australia, Microsolve immediately mobilised their email reputation management solution to meet Woodward Finance's urgent timeline. The solution centered on deploying a dedicated sub-domain infrastructure that would protect the client's primary domain while ensuring maximum deliverability.
Dedicated Sub-Domain Configuration: Within hours, Microsolve's technical team configured a dedicated sub-domain specifically for Woodward Finance's campaign. This approach provided several critical benefits:
- Complete isolation from the primary business domain
- Dedicated IP reputation management
- Specialised DNS configuration optimised for email delivery
- Independent monitoring and analytics capabilities
ActiveCampaign Integration Excellence: Understanding that Woodward Finance had already invested in ActiveCampaign as their email marketing platform, Microsolve designed the solution to seamlessly integrate with their existing choice rather than forcing a platform change.
Technical Integration Process: The integration involved:
- Custom DNS configuration linking ActiveCampaign to Microsolve's dedicated infrastructure
- Authentication protocol implementation (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
- Real-time delivery monitoring integration
- Automated reputation management activation
Deploying DMARC into an existing DNS and email environment requires care, consideration and data gathering related to other systems that may be in use. In this case, a relatively simple email environment significantly aided the rapid delivery of the solution.
The Results
Woodward Finance were able to execute their EoFY ActiveCampaign without delay or impact to the reputation of their transactional email domain. Within a 24 hour period, automated DMARC message reporting provided an expected, but nonetheless, appreciated metric of 99.7% delivery compliance.
