Kicking Off an Email Account

Owned by Kelly Gitre (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 26, 2024 by Addam Litts
5 min read

Here are just a few things to remember when kicking off an account. These are not in any specific order. Depending on the client, some of these you won’t have to do. (Ex: not a Bluetent site, no sharing).

 

Kick-off Call Checklist

Just a general list of questions. You may come up with more, or some of these have already been answered.

  • Prior to call: review setup and recurring projects. Review other Bluetent projects they have (website, SEO, PPC, etc).

  • Make sure to run over a little bit of information about you.

  • Review what setup will include and what recurring projects they’ve purchased.

  • Ask the client to give them a rundown of who they are and their business. Any specific pain points they're looking to address with their new email program?

  • Have you been doing emails? What have you been doing?

    • if you have? can we get the credentials to log in and check it out? MailChimp, constant contact, etc.

    • Stay-Cycle Emails?

  • Authentication: Get this into their minds and remind them that we do this to verify you are who you are with Yahoo and Gmail and is white labeling the software - who do we send that to?

    • Where is your website hosted? (if I joined your team and you needed to get me a new email address, who would you send me to?)

    • We'll send over the files we need placed on their server but we're happy to add these if they supply their server creds.

    • For more information about Authentication, go here.

  • Go over the opt-in process, getting a form on their site, welcome message, etc.

  • Lists: email lists, last two years of past guests, owner list (SEND ALL INFORMATION THEY HAVE)

    • Is the client going to provide or would they prefer we export these lists from their previous ESP (if creds are provided)?

    • Ask for "do not mail" lists (unsubs, bounces, spam complaints) to ensure we're not contacting anyone we shouldn't

    • Review how we'll verify their emails.

  • Ask about preferred level of engagement:

    • We'll reach out to you every month unless you'd like to reach out on your own when ready.

    • Do you want to have a recurring review call? - review previous email performance, and review the direction for the next email.

    • How would you prefer to handle content?

      • Do you want to give me a direction and I can create content

      • Do you want to provide content?

      • Would you prefer I create and send out emails on your behalf with no/little involvement?

  • Anything specific you would like to see in the email template?

  • Goals for sending out emails?

  • How often would you like to see emails go out?

  • Anything specific you would like to see in every email? (events, featured properties, etc.)

  • Google analytics: check for GA access. If no, Add bluetentmarketing@gmail.com as an admin that has edit rights.

  • Who is going to need access to Campaign Monitor?

  • Anything else…..

Misc Items

  1. Kick Off Calls with the Client.

    1. Explaining what we will be doing and getting to know the client and their goals.

    2. Sometimes sales will set up an introductory call, if not be sure to reach out to them CC’ing the salesperson.

    3. If you need some ideas of what to say on a kick-off call, go here.

  2. Adding an Email Marketing Google Analytics Dashboard

    1. For more information on how to add a GA Dashboard, go here.

    2. Make sure to set up both the board and the monthly notification.

  3. Client Training

    1. For more information on what you’ll want to cover in a Client Training call, go here.

  4. Netsuite - Turning on Subscription

    1. Make sure to turn their Subscription to Active so that the monthly billing will start.

    2. To do this, head to:

      1. The Customer Profile in Netsuite

      2. Under the first set of nav options, with the nav blue background, look for Subscriptions;

      3. Find the Email Monthly - Recurring (or whatever project you are turning on) and click the Edit option
        In the third column, find the SUBSCRIPTION ACTIVE checkbox, check it and press the blue SAVE at the top of the screen.

Campaign Monitor Only



  1. Authentication

    1. For more information on Authentication, go here.

  2. Creating the Client template

    1. Even if the client is a Managed Account, and you might be building the emails in code, it’s still a good idea to create a client template in case they decide to send one off emails or switch to a ROP, you already have a template ready.

    2. Make sure to test all layouts in Campaign Monitor.

    3. Make sure to test all layouts in Litmus.

      1. Sometimes Litmus will cut off emails if they are too long, so you may want to test the layouts in Campaign Monitor and Litmus in sections.

    4. For more information on how to build/update the basic bluetent template, go here.

  3. Email Subscriber Lists

    1. If the client has been doing email somewhere else, make sure to get their active subscribers and unsubscribers.

    2. Be sure to get their guest list from the last 2 years.

    3. Always remember to run your list through Kickbox.

    4. For more information on Kickbox, go here.

  4. Stay-Cycle emails.

    1. Are they utilizing LSI? Only emails out of their PMS? GTHY?

    2. Something you may want to cover just in case. Another way you can push more budget or more work for yourself.

    3. A couple of different stay-cycle emails you can think about:

      1. Reservation Confirmation (see #13 below)

      2. Travel Insurance

      3. Concierge

      4. Add-Ons

      5. Pre-Arrival

      6. Post-Departure

      7. Booking Anniversary

      8. Any others?

  5. Preference Center

    1. Even if you aren’t using the “Preference Center” link in your emails, it might still be good to update this in case you do any Airbnb campaigns, re-engagement campaigns, etc. 

Website/Campaign Monitor



  1. Newsletter Sign Up

    1. Make sure to build your Welcome Email Automated Journey whenever a subscriber joins your list.

    2. Bluetent Website:

      1. Make sure that this is built as an Entity Form and an ESP integration is synced to a list.

        1. For more information on how to set up an Entity Form, go here.

      2. Turn off client notifications for newsletter sign ups, they don’t need to be receiving those.

        1. For more information on how to turn these off, go here.

    3. Non-Bluetent Website: Work with either the client directly or their developer to add a Campaign Monitor form to their site.

      1. For more information on Campaign Monitor Forms, go here.

    4. Facebook Sign Up: If the client wants it, this is also an easy place to gain organic subscribers.

      1. For more information on how to add a Facebook Sign Up, go here.

  2. Sharing Tool

    1. For more information on how to set up the Sharing Tool, go here.

  3. BT Leads

    1. For more information on how to set up BT Leads, go here.

  4. Booking Abandonment

    1. For more information on how to set up  Booking Abandonment, go here.

  5. Sumo

    1. For more information on how to set up Sumo in the App and on the Website, go here.

    2. For more information on how to set up Sumo Google Analytics Tracking, go here.

  6. Reservation Confirmation

    1. For more information on the task you need to send to support, go here.


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