| Course | D380 Email Marketing |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 1 |
| Paper type | Email marketing strategy and nurture campaign |
| Length | About 1,200 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | MS Marketing |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for D380 Task 1
Help First, Sell at Renewal: An Email Marketing Strategy and Six-Email Nurture Campaign for a Composite Online Continuing Education Provider for Nurses
Student Name
School of Business, Western Governors University
D380: Email Marketing, Task 1
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Help First, Sell at Renewal: An Email Marketing Strategy and Six-Email Nurture Campaign for a Composite Online Continuing Education Provider for Nurses
The Business and Its Goals
Renewline Learning, a composite online provider of accredited continuing education for registered nurses and nurse practitioners, sells individual courses from $15 to $60 and an annual unlimited subscription at $129. Most state boards of nursing require a set number of continuing education hours for license renewal, and many nurses complete them in the few months before their deadline. The company has 22,000 email addresses from past buyers and free webinar attendees, but it sends the same monthly newsletter to all of them, and only 1.1% of subscribers who are not yet customers buy anything in a year.
The email program has three goals for the next twelve months: grow the list by 15,000 new subscribers who are practicing nurses; convert 6% of new subscribers into paying customers within six months of signing up; and raise the share of buyers who choose the annual subscription from 18% to 30%.
Audience Segments
A single newsletter treats a new graduate in Ohio and a nurse practitioner in California the same, though their requirements, deadlines and interests differ. The list will be segmented on four fields collected at signup or inferred from behavior.
License type: registered nurse, licensed practical nurse or nurse practitioner, since required hours and topics differ.
State of license: this sets the renewal cycle and any mandated topics, such as the state-required courses some boards specify.
Renewal month: asked directly at signup with the promise of a reminder, which is the most valuable field on the list.
Specialty interest: inferred from which courses and articles a subscriber clicks, for example critical care, pediatrics or mental health.
Lead Generation
Email marketing now reaches consumers who control what they receive and ignore messages they did not choose, so permission and usefulness come before selling (Hartemo, 2016). Renewline will grow its list with offers that solve a real problem for nurses.
A free state renewal guide for each state, listing required hours, mandated topics and deadlines in plain language, offered on the website, in search ads and through partner nursing associations.
A free one-hour accredited course each quarter on a timely topic, which gives nurses a real credit and a sample of course quality.
A renewal reminder service: nurses enter their license type, state and renewal month and receive a reminder 120 days before the deadline.
Every signup form states what the subscriber will receive and how often, and uses a confirmation email to verify the address.
The Nurture Sequence
Each new subscriber enters a six-email sequence. Every email has one purpose and one call to action, and the sequence moves from help to trust to offer.
Email 1, immediately: welcome and delivery. Delivers the state guide or free course, confirms what the subscriber signed up for and asks one question: when does your license renew? Purpose: deliver value and complete the renewal month field.
Email 2, day 3: how to plan your hours. A short article on spreading continuing education across the renewal cycle instead of cramming, with a checklist. Purpose: establish the provider as helpful and expert.
Email 3, day 7: a course matched to specialty. Recommends one course based on what the subscriber clicked, with a sample lesson. Purpose: first soft offer.
Email 4, day 14: proof. Two short stories from nurses in the subscriber's license type about finishing their hours on a phone during breaks, plus the accreditation statement. Purpose: build trust.
Email 5, day 21: the subscription explained. Shows how the annual subscription covers a full renewal cycle for less than buying three courses separately. Purpose: introduce the higher-value offer.
Email 6, day 30: a time-limited first-course discount of 20%, valid for seven days. Purpose: convert subscribers who have shown interest but not bought.
Automation Rules
Automation lets each subscriber's behavior decide what comes next. Subscribers who buy at any point leave the nurture sequence and enter an onboarding sequence for customers. Those who click a course in email 3 but do not buy receive a reminder about that course two days later. Subscribers who open none of the first four emails are moved to a lower-frequency track of one email a month to protect deliverability. Most important, the renewal date overrides the calendar: 120, 60 and 21 days before a subscriber's renewal month, a renewal series begins that shows how many hours are needed and a bundle that covers them, since this is when nurses are most ready to buy.
Personalization will be used where it adds relevance. A field experiment with a large email program found that simply adding the recipient's name to the subject line raised open rates and sales leads and reduced unsubscribes, even though the name carried no information (Sahni et al., 2018). Renewline will test the nurse's first name and state in subject lines against plain subject lines before adopting either.
Consent and Compliance
Commercial email in the United States must follow the CAN-SPAM Act. The Federal Trade Commission's guidance requires accurate header information and subject lines that are not deceptive, identification of the message as an advertisement where applicable, a valid physical postal address, a clear way to opt out, and honoring opt-out requests within 10 business days (Federal Trade Commission, 2023). Renewline will go beyond the minimum: it will send only to people who opted in, use confirmed signup, include a preference center where subscribers can choose topics and frequency, and remove addresses that bounce. Accreditation claims will match the provider's actual accreditation so that no email overstates what a course counts toward.
Metrics for Each Step
Lead generation: signups per offer and cost per subscriber by source. Sequence emails: open rate, click-through rate and unsubscribe rate for each email, reviewed monthly; an email with a click-through rate below 2% or an unsubscribe rate above 0.5% will be rewritten. Conversion: share of new subscribers who buy within six months, against the 6% goal, and share of buyers choosing the subscription, against the 30% goal. Renewal series: purchases within 21 days of the renewal month. Deliverability: bounce and spam complaint rates, kept below 0.1% for complaints. Because open rates are distorted by privacy features in some email apps, clicks and purchases will carry more weight in decisions.
Testing Plan
The program will run one controlled test at a time so results are clear. The first quarter tests subject lines on email 1; the second tests whether the proof email works better before or after the course recommendation; the third tests the discount in email 6 against a free extra course instead of a price cut, since discounts can train subscribers to wait for them. Each test runs until each version has reached at least 2,000 recipients.
Conclusion
Renewline's current newsletter treats every nurse alike and ignores the deadline that drives buying. This strategy collects the fields that matter, leads with genuinely useful help, moves subscribers through a short sequence with one purpose per email and times the strongest offer to each nurse's renewal. With consent built in and metrics set for each step, the company can see which emails earn their place and improve the ones that do not.
References
Federal Trade Commission. (2023). CAN-SPAM Act: A compliance guide for business. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
Hartemo, M. (2016). Email marketing in the era of the empowered consumer. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 10(3), 212-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-06-2015-0040
Sahni, N. S., Wheeler, S. C., & Chintagunta, P. (2018). Personalization in email marketing: The role of noninformative advertising content. Marketing Science, 37(2), 236-258. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2017.1066
What the D380 Task 1 instructions ask
The first D380 task asks you to plan an email marketing strategy. You will usually describe the business and goals, segment the audience, plan lead generation, write or outline a nurture sequence, set automation rules, address compliance and choose metrics. Evaluators look for segments based on real differences in needs, lead generation that earns permission, a sequence in which each email has one purpose and one call to action, automation that responds to behavior, accurate compliance requirements and metrics for each step. A sequence that sells in every email, or ignores consent rules, will not meet the strategy aspects. Leading with help, as the sample does, suits audiences who receive many promotional emails. Your business and audience can be real or composite.
How this D380 Task 1 example is built
The strategy opens with the business, what it sells and its goals. Segments are described with what each needs and when. The lead generation section explains the offers that earn signups. The nurture sequence lists six emails with subject lines, purpose, content and call to action, moving from useful help to a renewal offer. Automation rules explain what happens when subscribers buy, click or stop opening. The compliance section describes CAN-SPAM requirements. The metrics section lists measures for each step. Margin notes point out which rubric aspect each part answers. A small table pairs each email with its trigger, send day and main metric, so the sequence can be scanned at a glance.
Where the D380 Task 1 rubric puts the marks
D380 Task 1 aspects are scored competent, approaching competence or not evident. A goals aspect asks for measurable objectives. A segmentation aspect rewards segments based on needs. A lead generation aspect looks for permission-based offers. A sequence aspect wants emails with clear purpose and calls to action. An automation aspect asks for rules that respond to behavior. A compliance aspect looks for accurate legal requirements. A metrics aspect wants measures for each step. Evaluators notice when the sequence builds trust before selling and they expect email marketing research and federal guidance to be cited. The sequence aspect is marked competent when each email's purpose, content and call to action fit together and move the reader one step closer to buying. The compliance aspect is checked line by line against the federal rule, so paraphrase it carefully.
D380 Task 1 help: what sends it back
D380 strategies lose marks when every email sells. Build trust first. Segments may be demographic only, so base them on needs and timing. Sequences can lack a single call to action; give each email one. Automation rules are often missing, so describe what behavior triggers. Compliance may be misstated, so check federal guidance. Last, choose metrics for each step, since open rates alone do not show whether the sequence works. Subject lines are another place papers slip, because a clever line that hides the content breaks trust and can break the law's honest-subject requirement. Write lines that say what the email offers. Lead generation offers may also be too broad, so match each offer to a segment's need. Show the automation as simple if-then rules the reader can follow.
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D380 Task 1 questions, answered
What is a lead magnet in D380?
A useful free offer, such as a guide or checklist, given in exchange for an email address. The sample uses state-specific requirement guides to attract nurses.
Is the D380 provider real?
No. Renewline Learning is a made-up company used to show the method. The email marketing research and federal compliance guidance cited are real. Plan for your own business or one your course provides.
Which D380 metrics matter?
Signups per offer, open and click rates, unsubscribe rates and conversions for each email. The sample assigns measures to each step so weak points can be found.
What does CAN-SPAM require in D380?
Accurate header information, honest subject lines, identification as an advertisement where required, a physical address and a working opt-out honored promptly. The sample cites the Federal Trade Commission's compliance guide for businesses.
Where can I find a free D380 Task 1 sample paper?
The six-email nurture campaign and strategy are reproduced above with commentary. Describe the business and audience you are writing for, and your first custom D380 plan costs nothing.