Case Study · Eurostar
From a single monthly send to a CRM-driven ExactTarget hub
Eurostar is one of Europe’s most recognisable travel brands. When their whole email team went on maternity leave at the same time, they needed someone who understood their legacy Silverpop setup and could guide a migration to ExactTarget that went far beyond simple newsletters.
Client background
Eurostar connects London with Paris, Brussels and other European cities using high speed rail through the Channel Tunnel. They carry millions of passengers each year and sit at the intersection of travel, convenience and sustainability.
Historically, their email program was centred on a single monthly dynamic newsletter sent from Silverpop. Creative and copy changed based on language and location, but the overall setup was simple and promotional rather than strategic and CRM-driven.
With ExactTarget in place, the ambition was to turn email into a proper CRM channel tied into Salesforce: behavioural journeys, upgrade offers, cart abandonment, service messaging and lifecycle communications, all under a single architecture.
At a glance
- Industry: Travel & Transport
- Platform: Silverpop → ExactTarget
- Focus: CRM email hub, behavioural foundations
- Role: Migration lead, architect and implementer
The challenge
Eurostar were not just swapping tools. They were trying to change the role of email inside the business at the exact moment their in house email team temporarily disappeared. What had been a simple broadcast function now needed to become a core CRM capability connected to Salesforce.
From single monthly send to multi purpose engine
They wanted to move away from a single dynamic newsletter toward a structure that could support behavioural journeys, upgrade offers, cart abandonment and more, without losing control or reliability.
From disconnected email to CRM-aligned hub
ExactTarget had to become the central hub for both marketing and transactional email, integrated cleanly with Salesforce so that it contributed to a 360 degree view of each customer rather than operating as a silo.
My approach
My approach was to treat the migration as both an education exercise and a technical rebuild. The aim was to leave Eurostar with an ExactTarget setup that was structurally correct, future ready and aligned to how Salesforce and CRM should work together.
Before
After
Part 1
Stakeholder education
I spent time showing key stakeholders what ExactTarget could do beyond monthly newsletters, including transactional messaging, behavioural triggers and how it could underpin a proper CRM contact strategy.
Part 2
Data and template architecture
I redefined the ExactTarget data structure around Salesforce, set up naming conventions, and created reusable templates that could support both marketing and future behavioural campaigns.
Part 3
Migration plus foundations
While migrating their sends from Silverpop, I also put in place the foundations for upgrade journeys, cart abandonment flows and service messaging, so they were not just copying the old world into the new one.
Behind the scenes
This project had a few unique characteristics. With the entire Eurostar email team temporarily on maternity leave, there was no internal muscle memory for how things were meant to work. That meant I had to act as strategist, architect, builder and internal guide all at once.
Silverpop was heavily optimised for a single dynamic newsletter, but the culture and processes behind it were not ready for CRM-grade journeys. A lot of the effort went into establishing the foundations: naming conventions, templates, data extension structure, Salesforce alignment and explaining why these things matter.
Eurostar were wonderfully collaborative but slightly divided on how far to take the transformation. Some teams wanted exact replication of the old world while others wanted major behavioural automation. Balancing those expectations while still delivering a scalable CRM hub was the real craft of the engagement.
Educating without an internal team
With the in-house team away, part of my role was building knowledge from scratch so that stakeholders understood the “why” behind CRM email rather than just the “how”.
Silverpop archaeology
The Silverpop setup was simple but deeply customised. I had to reverse engineer years of organic evolution to rebuild it cleanly in ExactTarget.
Balancing ambition and reality
Stakeholders were split between lifting over the old newsletter and creating a modern CRM engine. I had to steer the migration while protecting the long-term architecture.
Future-proofing quietly
Even when the immediate ask was minimal, I built the data structure, naming and templates to support behavioural journeys that Eurostar could grow into later.
What I would do today
Knowing what I know now, I would rebuild this programme using far more structured governance, modern CRM conventions and stronger up-front alignment with stakeholders. The fundamentals were solid, but today I would deliver it with much more clarity, visibility and long-term sustainability.
A fully standardised CRM email architecture
Rather than adapting Silverpop logic, I would implement a clean CRM-first architecture with standardised data extensions, naming conventions and lifecycle-ready templates.
Stakeholder alignment before any build
I would run a short discovery sprint to align expectations across marketing, CRM, digital and service teams so everyone is working toward the same end state from day one.
Real lifecycle journeys from launch
Instead of focusing on the newsletter, I would launch with cart abandonment, upgrade nudges, service messaging and onboarding to make ExactTarget a true CRM engine instantly.
Clear governance and operational playbooks
Today I would deliver reusable playbooks for segmentation, naming, testing and versioning, ensuring Eurostar could run the programme sustainably with or without an agency.
Impact
- ExactTarget migrated and configured to act as a CRM email hub rather than a simple broadcast tool.
- Data structure aligned with Salesforce, enabling a 360 degree customer view over time.
- Templates and architecture prepared for behavioural, upgrade and cart abandonment journeys.
- Stakeholders gained a clearer understanding of what modern email and CRM could deliver.
In my words
This was a fun and slightly unusual engagement. The team were lovely to work with, and the technical side of the migration went well. Appetite for full transformation varied, and in hindsight I think Eurostar might have preferred everything to be run by an external agency rather than owning more of it in house. Even so, the platform was left in a strong place and ready for modern CRM-driven email.
- Greg Staunton
Need to move from legacy sends to CRM-grade email
If you are migrating platforms or want email to behave like part of your CRM rather than a separate channel, I can help architect and deliver that change in a way that fits your team and your reality.