Diagnose your email program in 90 minutes. Covers list hygiene, segmentation, content strategy, and send cadence — calibrated for how HR buyers engage with email.
| Metric | Your number | Healthy range | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total list size | — | — | |
| Hard bounce rate (last 90 days) | % | Under 2% | |
| Unsubscribe rate (last 90 days) | % | Under 0.5%/send | |
| Spam complaint rate | % | Under 0.1% | |
| No engagement in 6+ months | % | Under 30% | |
| No engagement in 12+ months | % | Under 15% | |
| Missing job title | % | Under 10% | |
| Missing company name | % | Under 10% |
Contacts with no engagement in 12+ months hurt deliverability to everyone else. Gmail and Outlook use engagement signals to decide inbox vs. spam. Suppress or re-engage — don't keep emailing them.
Sending the same email to your entire list trains HR buyers to ignore you.
| Segment you should have | Why it matters for HR Tech | You have it? |
|---|---|---|
| By buyer role (CHRO vs. HR Dir vs. HRIS Mgr) | Different priorities, different content needs | Y / N |
| By company size (SMB vs. mid-market vs. enterprise) | Fundamentally different HR challenges | Y / N |
| By evaluation stage | Whitepaper downloader ≠ demo requester | Y / N |
| By engagement recency | Best content to most engaged first | Y / N |
| By current tech stack (if known) | Displacement vs. education messaging | Y / N |
Look at your last 5 sends. Were any sent to your full list? If yes, that's your first fix. Blasts train recipients to ignore you because content is only relevant to a fraction.
Count your last 20 emails by type:
| Content type | Your count | Ideal ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Product announcements | 15-20% | |
| Educational content (insights, best practices) | 35-40% | |
| Social proof (case studies, customer stories) | 15-20% | |
| Event invitations | 10-15% | |
| Direct sales (demo requests, offers) | 10-15% | |
| Company news | Under 5% |
| High-performing content | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Benchmark data and salary/benefits surveys | HR leaders are measured against benchmarks. Helps them understand where they stand. |
| Compliance and regulatory updates | When DOL or ACA rules change, HR buyers need to know immediately. Highest open rates. |
| Peer stories (not vendor case studies) | "How [company like yours] solved [problem you have]" — framed as peer, not vendor. |
| "What we're seeing" market intelligence | Anonymized aggregate trends from your customer base. Unique data you own. |
| Question | Your answer | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Full list email frequency | No more than 2x/month | |
| Engaged segment frequency | Weekly if relevant | |
| New subscriber welcome series? | Y / N | Yes — within 7 days |
| Post-demo nurture cadence? | Y / N | Yes — nurture, not sales |
| Average sends per month | 2x/month minimum | |
| Engagement trend (6 months) | Up / Stable / Down | — |
Sending too rarely is worse than too often. If HR buyers only hear from you quarterly, you're cold-emailing with extra steps. Consistent 2x/month keeps you in consideration when the buying window opens.
For contacts with no engagement in 90-365 days:
| Timing | Approach | |
|---|---|---|
| Email 1 | Day 0 | Value-forward: best content from last quarter |
| Email 2 | Day 7 | Direct: "Here's what you missed" |
| Email 3 | Day 14 | Last chance: "Stay or we'll remove you in 7 days" |
After Email 3: suppress anyone who didn't open or click. Better to have 2,000 engaged contacts than 8,000 where 6,000 never open.
| Month | Actions | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Suppress 12+ month dead contacts. Add missing titles to top 500. Create 3 segments. Define newsletter vs. nurture. | |
| Month 2 | Audit last 10 sends against content mix. Plan balanced sends. Build re-engagement campaign. Create one benchmark piece. | |
| Month 3 | Run re-engagement, suppress non-responders. Compare engagement MoM. Establish monthly reporting (deliverability, engagement, conversions). |
Need more than a template?
Fractional CMO leadership for HR Tech companies.
Email: christen@cgm-marketing.com | cazimimarketing.com/contact-me