The Future Funnel

Senior Email Marketing & CRM Experts. 
We help marketing teams to build, accelerate and optimize Email, Marketing Automation, CRM and Loyalty Programs.

Sr. Email Marketing Strategist & Co-founder

Freelance

- Email Marketing 
- Behavioural Psychology & Persuasion in Digital Marketing
- Gamification  in Digital Marketing

Public Speaker & Educator

Colruyt Group

My responsibilities can be summed up in 4 pillars:
1. Working with different Colruyt Group business units to create strong CRM strategies with a clear and focused roadmap. From lead generation, to nurturing, retention, ... with a focus on email marketing.
2. Developing strategies for campaigns & automated flows
3. Hands-on consultancy & coaching
4. Enhancing the email marketing maturity (giving trainings, creating an email marketing community, coaching and emppowering marketers with the right processes and tools, ...)

Working on both a strategic and tactical level, to ensure the actual implementation and development with a big focus on email marketing and CRM.

Sr. CRM Strategist - Corporate Marketing

Email & CRM strategist - CCX

• Responsible for the management and success of customer retention with a focus on email marketing and different CRM activities at ColliShop. 
• Leading a 2 person team
• Focused on analyzing and better understanding our customers with AI (e.g. CLV, retention rates, churn prediction, lookalike audiences,..)
• Optimizing the email marketing process (e.g. working in sprints)
• Implemented several customer satisfaction questioning programs 
• Setting up a experimentation and testing program
• Setting up and implementing a marketing automation strategy
• Developing a roadmap for segmentation and personalization

Retention & CRM manager - Collishop

Lidl Belgium & Luxemburg

1. Leading online marketer for an email marketing & CRM project which contained:
• Developing a new strategy for email and CRM
• Coordinating the setup of new tooling: ESP, CRM and campaign management
• Designing & coordinating the development of an email preference centre
• Preparing for GDPR
2. Email & CRM coordinator for the e-commerce department
• Managing all email and CRM activities (inc. mobile notifications)
• Reporting and analysing
• Lead generation and form optimization
• Experiment design and testing
• Increase relevancy: by email, app notifications and CRM automation, segmentation and personalization
• Email design and optimization

Email & CRM coördinator -  E-commerce

• Email design, analysis and optimization
• Campaign management
• Campaign, email, app and website - analysis and optimization
• Landingpage design and optimization
• Internal search and product filtering optimization 
• Digital marketing projects

Digital Content Marketer -  E-Commerce

Online marketeer in the marketing department:
• Designing and developing emails
• Analysing and optimizing the Lidl websites & email campaigns

Online Marketer - Team digital

Living Stone

• Email marketing
• Reporting, analysing and optimizing

Social media marketing:
• Developing social media strategies
• Content management & creation
• Campaign management
• Social advertising

Online Marketing and Communication Consultant

Nestlé

A 5 month interim job for Nescafé Dolce Gusto at Nestlé.
• Email marketing strategy
• Creating and designing e-mails
• Setup and optimization of automated flows, with Eloqua
• Creating a new social media strategy, creating a content plan and content ideas
• Planning and executing the transition to a new CMS system, Magento

Online Marketing & Communication Specialist - Interim

V-Tax

Tasks:
• Social media strategy
• Creating a content plan and creating content
• Start up and optimize the various social media platforms
• Provide advice and training

Social Media Consultant

Stevens Expomat NV

During my internship of 13 week at Stevens Expomat, I was responsible for:

• Optimizing and updating the website
• Implementing Google Analytics
• Creating promotional material (business cards, brochures, price lists, product lists, product sheets, banners, stickers) with Indesign and Photoshop

Internship

Sr. Email Marketing Strategist 🚀 | CRM & Marketing Automation | Data 📊 + Marketing Psychology 🧠 | Speaker & Educator

Hey! I’m an email marketing & CRM strategist for 12+ years.

My journey:
1. Working AT some amazing companies → Nestlé, Lidl and Colruyt Group. 
2. Working WITH some amazing companies. → through our email marketing & CRM agency, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹.

We founded The Future Funnel in 2023 to help marketign teams use their martech stack to it's full potentional. 
With a pragmatic 'get-things-done' approach, and a clear focus on valuable and effective communication.

What I love about email and CRM is that it blends everything I enjoy: data and analytics, strategy and design, copywriting and UX, behavioral science and persuasion...

I also speak, teach, and train marketers. Whether it’s at conferences like Martech Festival, Artevelde Hogeschool or in hands-on workshops.

My goal:
→ create valuable emails & experiences for customers
→ help marketing teams use their martech tools to the fullest
→ help brands setup valuable email marketing, marketing automation & CRM 


My Philosophy:
→ Think big, start small. 📅
→ Think analytically, proceed creatively. 📊
→ Think in terms of progress not perfection. ⛰️

This is how you can work with The Future Funnel:

1️⃣ Email & CRM Projects: We offer a range of email and CRM projects that are designed to address specific needs and unlock potential. 

2️⃣ 6-month Program: Want higher revenue from your email campaigns? Do you want to increase customer lifetime value? Let our email & CRM team find & build the opportunities in your customer journey for the wins you want. We work in 6-month cycles designed to deliver fast, tangible results. 


Ready to build your Future Funnel? Reach out today and get in touch.

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 at The Future Funnel 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗅 

But on our terms....

Most agencies scale by hiring as many (junior) people as they can. 
They chase numbers, not quality. 

We decided to do it differently. No rush to hire. No juniors thrown into the deep end. 
𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘵. 

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 Hanna Fiszer 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺. 
→ She brings years of experience in Marketing Automation & Optimization. 
→ She shares my interest in persuasion and behavioral psychology. 
→ She has a strong agency background. 


With Hanna, we take another step toward our vision: 
𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗖𝗥𝗠 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗔-𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀. 

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁:
Our clients get direct access to real expertise. No layers. No shortcuts.
Every project gets the attention of someone who has seen it all and knows what works.

= 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 to work with when I was an email & retention manager. 

This is how we want to grow.

Not for the sake of growth, but to get better at what we do. 

I’m very excited for the road ahead and even more excited about the projects we’ll soon be able to share. ✌ 

Pieterjan Decoster & Ian Lennon 🙌

Jasper Van Laethem

Sr. Email Marketing Strategist 🚀 | CRM & Marketing Automation | Data 📊 + Marketing Psychology 🧠 | Speaker & Trainer

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀.

I’ve seen email flows and campaigns sit in drafts for weeks because someone wanted “more data” or one last design tweak.

By the time they were ready, the moment had passed and so had the opportunity.

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿 100% 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘆,
email marketers need to think in terms of a Minimum Viable Email.

𝗔𝗻 𝗠𝗩𝗘 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁:
→ Starting small
→ Testing fast
→ Learning from real customers
→ Iterating until it works

🚫 Don’t obsess over every pixel before hitting send.
🚫 Don’t focus only on the “pretty” parts people see.

✅ Make sure 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, is 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, and 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀.

𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: testing a new cart abandonment flow?
An MVE could be a single plain-text reminder email with a clear CTA. 

No fancy design, no multi-step sequence. Just enough to see if customers return before you invest in building the full automation.

𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿.

𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁:
💡The mistakes people make
💡How to solve those mistakes
💡The trap you should avoid (2nd to last slide)

Good luck & have fun! ✌️

Minimum viable email

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆?...

= 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝘆.

I’ve seen many project where 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁: insights, strategy, tactics, flowcharts, copy, wireframes.

𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 reduce friction, create a real connection with the customer and add value to the business.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿, 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻.
→ The bold ideas were “𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘𝑦.”
→ The messaging became “𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒𝑟.”
→ The concept lost all meaning and its backbone.

𝗕𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱, 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁… 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

And that’s 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: the work 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦.

It reminded me of something Rory Sutherland once said:

“𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴.”

𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲, 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀?

𝗣𝘀. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺: 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺.

1 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗼, 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘅𝗲𝘀. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁… 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗵𝗼𝗅

Apple Intelligence gave Apple Mail its biggest overhaul in years. 

𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱:
- On‑device categorization aka Tabs (Primary, Transactions, Updates, Promotions)
- AI‑generated summaries that replace traditional preview text
- Digest View that clips longer bodies behind “see more”
- Brand Message Grouping = Grouped sender view that stacks messages together

These changes fundamentally shift how users interact with email.
Especially the last change.

Emails are now grouped by brand in Tabs.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲:
👉 Instead of showing your newest email on top, 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽.

So if a subscriber didn’t open last week’s campaign, that’s what they’ll see first. Your new email is hidden behind it.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸?
- New campaigns don’t get seen
- Your latest offers go unnoticed
- Engagement drops

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 Bluecore saw:
📉 Click Loss Among iOS Users (vs. Pre-iOS 18)
→ High exposure brands (60%+ clicks from iOS): −25% CTR
→ Medium exposure (40–60%): −17% CTR
→ Low exposure (<40%): −12% CTR

It sounded like a smarter, more organized inbox. But one year later, the numbers tell a different story.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻? 
Our strategy has to adapt. What worked before won’t work now. In fact, doing the same things as always is more dangerous than ever.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼?
→ Keep emails short and punchy
→ Sharpen subject lines and preheaders
→ Test cadence and timing for freshness
→ Review and Optimize Your “Fromname”
→ Measure clicks and conversions, not opens
→ Lean into brand identity with Apple’s Branded Email
→ Build stories across campaigns instead of recycling copy

Apple Mail is a huge part consumer inbox usage.
𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. To stay visible, marketers must evolve their tactics alongside the inbox itself.

👉 What is your experience with Apple mail brand grouping? 
👉 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗢𝗦 18 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲?

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