Case Study 01 / ABM Programs
A regulatory checklist that booked meetings with tier-1 ship managers at zero media spend
A gated checklist built around a new IMO enclosed space entry resolution (MSC.581(110)), promoted only through the company newsletter and organic LinkedIn, and followed by a five-email nurture sequence, produced 78 downloads, a 64.1% open rate on the delivery email and meetings with three high-fit ship operators: a 4.2% download-to-meeting rate at £0 media spend.
Founder track record: this work was led by Clarafold's founder before founding Clarafold, while working as marketing manager at a maritime compliance software company. The client's name is withheld until it approves publication; every figure comes from its own systems. Clarafold client engagements are added as they complete.
- checklist downloads in 49 days
- 78
- download-to-meeting rate
- 4.2%
- open rate on the delivery email
- 64.1%
- paid media
- £0
01 · Client
Maritime compliance software company
Maritime compliance software and services company, founded by former seafarers. Name withheld until the client approves publication.
The challenge
The company sells compliance software and services into a small universe of ship owners, operators and managers. Its buyers (QHSE managers, fleet superintendents, Designated Persons Ashore) do not answer cold pitches, and sales relied almost entirely on the founders' personal relationships. A new IMO resolution on enclosed space entry, MSC.581(110), gave every operator a fresh compliance question to answer, and the company had no way to turn that moment into identified, qualified demand.
02 · System
What existed before.
- A newsletter list and a website, but no gated asset or lead capture beyond a contact form
- No automated nurture: every follow-up depended on a founder remembering to send it
- No lead scoring, so a seafarer's Gmail and a tier-1 ship manager's QHSE lead looked identical
03 · Intervention
What was built and run.
Built the asset around the regulation, not the product
A practical MSC.581(110) enclosed space entry checklist a QHSE team could use on its next vessel visit. It solved a real problem before it asked for anything.
Distributed it through owned channels only
Newsletter and organic LinkedIn. No paid media, no list purchase, no retargeting.
Designed the nurture as an angle test
Five emails over 14 days (days 0, 3, 7, 10, 14), each built on a different argument: the knowledge gap, the SIRE 2.0 inspector's view, the cost of inaction, and a final call to book a 15-minute call.
Automated it on a deterministic stack
A daily Python job reads Mailchimp tags and sends each contact the right email on the right day. AI drafted and analysed; the sending logic stayed rule-based and testable.
Scored and routed every download
Each contact was classified High, Medium or Cold fit by email domain and company type. High-fit accounts went to the founders for personal follow-up alongside the sequence.
Reported pipeline, not opens
Weekly CEO pipeline reports ranked every lead, flagged the hottest contacts and included meeting preparation for each booked account.
04 · Outcome
What changed.
78 downloads from 72 unique external contacts in 49 days, with 24 of them in the first nine days. 62 contacts (86%) received the full sequence.
The delivery email opened at 64.1% with a 28.2% click rate. Across the four nurture emails, open rates ranged from 23.7% to 50%.
Three high-fit operators from the download list booked calls, including a 400+ vessel tier-1 ship manager and a top-10 global dry bulk operator: a 4.2% download-to-meeting rate. The sequence ran alongside the founders' personal follow-up, and the combination is what converted. One further contact clicked through to the calendar twice without booking and was handed to the founders.
31% of downloads (22 contacts) came from high-fit ship operators and owners, including some of the largest carriers in the world. That list became the warm first cohort for the next campaign.
05 · Lessons
What we would tell you.
- The inspector's lens beat the cost argument. The SIRE 2.0 email had the highest nurture open rate (40%) and produced calendar clicks. The 'cost of inaction' email had the lowest (23.7%) and zero clicks. In compliance-driven markets, what the inspector will ask is more concrete than what a finding might cost.
- A high open rate with zero clicks is a CTA problem, not a subject-line problem. The final email opened at 50% and drew no clicks. The recommendation for the next campaign: a lower-friction ask, such as replying to the email instead of booking a calendar slot.
- Check every link before anything goes live. A mid-campaign edit had pointed the delivery email's button back at the form instead of the PDF. It was caught in a routine review and fixed, and a two-minute pre-send link check was added to the launch process.
Put It To Work