Latest / Marketing Automation with Fexingo: HubSpot, Marketo, and Automated Customer Journeys / Why Marketing Automation Ignores Your Kid's School Year
Transcript
- Lucas: So it's early August, and every parent I know is drowning in back to school emails. Notebooks, backpacks, sneakers, lunch boxes. But here's the thing — that flurry basically ends by Labor Day. And I think that reveals a real blind spot in how marketing automation handles the school year. Luna: You mean brands just fire off one big August campaign and then go quiet until next year? Lucas: Exactly. Most automated journeys treat the school year as a single event, not a rhythm. But if you're a parent, the school year is a sequence of moments — the first day, the September slump, parent-teacher conferences, the holiday concert, mid-year exams, spring break, state testing. Each one is a chance to be relevant. Luna: And most brands miss all of it. My sister's a teacher, and she says the only school-related email she gets after August is a random spring cleaning offer. Lucas: Right. So let's talk about why. It's not that marketers are lazy — it's that the data is hard. Most of the time, a retailer doesn't know what grade a customer's kid is in, or even if they have kids in school. They only see a transaction — a backpack purchase in August. Luna: And that's a one-time signal, not an ongoing relationship. Lucas: Exactly. So a smart marketer could use that August purchase as a starting point, then layer on behavioral cues. Did they come back in September for a lunch box? Did they open the email about rain gear? But most automation platforms don't have the school calendar built in, so you have to build the logic yourself. Luna: Let's geek out on that for a second. Can you give me a concrete example of a trigger that should fire in October but almost never does? Lucas: Sure. Parent-teacher conferences. In most districts, those happen in October and again in February or March. A clothing retailer could send a 'conference-ready outfit' email for the parents — not the kids. That's a small, thoughtful touch. But to do that you need to know the district's calendar, and that's hyper-local. National brands rarely have that data. Luna: So it's a data problem more than a strategy problem. Lucas: Partly. But there's also a mindset issue. Marketers think in seasons — back to school, holiday, spring — not in the granular events that actually drive decision-making. And the academic calendar doesn't align with the retail calendar. The back to school window starts in July, but the school year doesn't start until September. There's a mismatch. Luna: And that mismatch is a missed opportunity for someone who wants to stand out. Lucas: Absolutely. If you're the brand that shows up in October with a 'how's the semester going?' email, you're not just selling — you're building a relationship. And that's the kind of thing that makes people actually look forward to your emails. Luna: Before we go deeper into the 'how' — I want to mention something. If these marketing conversations have sparked an idea you've actually used at work, or even just made you see your own inbox differently, the reason we can keep doing that without ads is listener support. If you've gotten value from the show, you can help keep it going at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small gesture, but it genuinely matters. Lucas: Yeah, and we really do appreciate it. It's what keeps this feed clean and focused on the actual substance. Luna: Okay, back to the school year. So let's say a retailer wants to build a twelve-month lifecycle campaign. Where do they start? Lucas: First, they need to identify the moments that matter for their product. A school supply store cares about the first day, but also the mid-year restock when pencils run out and glue sticks dry up. A clothing brand cares about the growth spurts — kids outgrow jeans in February, not just August. A tutoring service cares about exam season. Luna: So it's about mapping your products to the school calendar, not the retail calendar. Lucas: Exactly. And then you have to think about triggers. What data do you already have? Maybe you know the customer's zip code, so you could infer the typical school district. Or you could simply ask — a preference center question like 'what grade is your oldest child in?' That's a goldmine. But it requires an extra step in the signup flow, and a lot of brands don't take it. Luna: Because they don't want to ask too many questions upfront. Lucas: Right. And there's a fear of creepiness. But if you frame it as 'help us send you the right things at the right time,' parents usually opt in. They actually want the reminders for picture day or spring break — it's genuinely useful. Luna: I remember reading a case study about a company that asked for pet ownership and then sent birthday emails for the pet. It boosted engagement a ton. Same principle here. Lucas: Exactly. And the school year is even richer because it's so predictable. You don't need machine learning to know that October is conference season. You just need a calendar and some basic segmentation. Luna: So why aren't more brands doing this? Are we just lazy? Lucas: I think it's a combination of short-term thinking and platform limitations. Marketing automation tools are great at handling a burst of activity — like back to school — but they're not great at maintaining a low-frequency, high-relevance drip over nine months. That requires ongoing list hygiene, dynamic content, and a willingness to not sell all the time. Luna: So it's a long-term play that most CMOs don't have patience for. Lucas: Exactly. And there's also the measurement problem. How do you attribute a sale in December to an email you sent in October? If you're only looking at immediate conversions, you'll think the campaign failed. But if you look at lifetime value, you'll see the difference. Luna: So what's a concrete example of a brand that does this well? I can think of a few that send birthday reminders, but not school-related. Lucas: One that comes to mind is a regional shoe retailer that sends a 'growing feet' reminder every six months, asking if your kid's shoes still fit. That's not tied to the school calendar, but it's the same idea — anticipating a need before the customer even realizes it. For the school year, a similar approach could be a 'mid-year check-in' asking if your child's backpack is still holding up. Luna: That's smart. It's not just selling, it's solving a problem. Lucas: And that builds trust. But here's the catch — the automation has to be flexible enough to handle exceptions. What about families who don't follow the traditional school calendar? Homeschoolers, year-round schools, families that travel. If you send a 'first day of school' email in September to a family that's been homeschooling since March, that's a disconnect. Luna: So you need to let people set their own schedule, or at least opt out of the school-year track. Lucas: Right. The best approach is to make the school-year journey a preference, not a default. Let parents choose the track that fits their family. That's respect for the customer, and it also gives you cleaner data. Luna: So what's the one action you'd recommend a marketing team take this week to start moving in this direction? Lucas: I'd say: audit your current triggers. If you have any back to school emails, look at what happens after August. If the answer is 'nothing,' you're leaving money on the table. Start by mapping out the next twelve months of school-related moments, and pick just three to build campaigns for. Maybe September's 'settling in' email, January's 'mid-year boost' email, and April's 'testing season' email. That's a manageable start. Luna: And test it with a small segment first, like new customers from last back to school. Lucas: Exactly. You don't need to build a whole lifecycle program overnight. Just one extra touch, at a moment that matters, can be the difference between a one-time buyer and a loyal customer. Luna: I think that's a great note to end on. Next time your inbox goes quiet after August, remember — it's not a coincidence, it's a missed opportunity. Lucas: And if you're a marketer, you have a chance to be the exception. Thanks for listening, everyone.