This past week we flushed out and revised our three emails given last week’s feedback and tested them with Maheen. We made sure to balance anecdotes and conveying the ethos of Arms Wide. We also made sure to be purposeful with the language. For example, we used “we” instead of “Arms Wide” in the second and third emails to make the email feel more personal. Overall, we are confident in moving forward with our email content.

We have received eight survey responses that Arms Wide had previously sent to parents who have completed the majority of the adoption process. We have four individuals who would be willing to speak with us more. Regarding the timeline of sending out emails, the preferences were generally spread out (each varied in sending out 3 – 5 emails and the number of weeks/months between the next email). There was one more vote for the timeline with one week, one month, three months and six months follow up, but given how spread out the votes are the timeline probably does not matter as much. Content wise people wanted an FAQ and a connection to a family ambassador program. Some parents felt there was not enough emphasis on the difficulty of the process, which is something we can incorporate in the anecdote part of our emails.

We also flushed out our email automation process. First, we figured the best way to have email automation would be to create separate lists for each information session’s cohort, so they would all receive an email one month, three months, six months, etc. after their information session. It would be important that Arms Wide has someone to take people off lists if they decide to go with a different organization, do not want to continue with adopting, or have already submitted their application.

Going forward, we first want to explore other possible emailing systems to find which one is the best. We also want to consolidate all of our content development (FAQs, possible parent interview questions for anecdotes, suggestions for family ambassador program) and the email process (the emailing system and the timeline). Our report would include the insights that drive each of these results. We can also include an “other information” section, which would have our Facebook content that we had developed and they had asked for but we are not including in our final product.