Cambridge University
Email content at scale for Cambridge Advance Online
Cambridge Advance Online is the University of Cambridge's online learning division, offering short courses for professionals across technology, sustainability, healthcare and business.
The team needed to build two automated nurture journeys in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, personalised across 18 course programmes — a significant content production challenge that demanded both volume and design quality. mailCMS became the platform that made it possible.
Bringing a refreshed brand to life in email
Cambridge Advance Online had invested in a brand refresh, but their email output hadn't kept pace. Campaigns built in Salesforce Marketing Cloud looked dated alongside the rest of the brand experience, and the team was about to take on a significant content production challenge: two multi-step automated nurture journeys, one of which required substantial personalisation across 18 course programmes.
The scale of content needed - potentially hundreds of variations - called for more than a set of templates. It called for a structured, repeatable way to create, manage and maintain email content at a level of quality that matched the Cambridge name.
60+ components, one consistent brand
We created an extensive email design system with more than 60 bespoke components, from hero modules and editorial features to countdown timers, interactive FAQ accordions, testimonial blocks, course information cards and more.
With the design system in place, the Cambridge Advance Online team can produce high volumes of email content while maintaining complete brand consistency. Every module is pre-built, tested and ready to use, so the focus shifts from construction to content - and new campaigns start from a position of quality rather than working towards it.
Powering personalised automationat scale
The team's automated nurture programme required a large volume of modular content - a mix of globally relevant emails and course-specific content tailored to individual subscriber interests across 18 programmes.
Content is created and managed centrally in mailCMS, then exported as modular content blocks into Salesforce Marketing Cloud, where the team configures personalisation rules and assembles the automated journeys. mailCMS acts as the content layer, giving the team a single place to build, organise and update everything that feeds into their automations.
Beyond automation: the engine for everyday campaigns
While the automated journeys were the catalyst for adopting mailCMS, the platform has since become the backbone of the team’s email operation. From seasonal promotions to course launches and enrolment deadlines, every email starts in mailCMS.
The design system ensures that every send - whether it's a one-off campaign or part of a planned programme - meets the same standard. The team can move quickly, pull from their library of reusable content snippets, and get campaigns out the door without revisiting design decisions or chasing developer support.
Designed to work with Salesforce Marketing Cloud
The Cambridge Advance Online mailCMS instance works hand-in-hand with Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Finished campaigns and individual content blocks can be exported with hosted images and dropped straight into SFMC, ready for personalisation, testing and send. mailCMS handles the content; SFMC handles the data, logic and delivery.
From ambitious brief to scalable capability
What started as a content production challenge - two complex journeys, 18 courses, hundreds of content variations - became a long-term capability. Cambridge Advance Online now has a structured, repeatable way to create email content that matches their brand standards, whether they're building the next automated programme or getting a campaign out this week.
See what mailCMS can do for your email campaigns
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