Matilda Health
Improving endometriosis surgical outcomes through email automation
Matilda Health is a tech startup dedicated to improving the lives of people with confirmed or suspected endometriosis. It supports its community through its app and online program, which provides access to four weeks of pre-surgery education, exercises, and support to optimise people mind and body for surgery (prehabilitation), followed by four weeks of education, exercises, and support to help people return to normal life faster and with less distress (rehabilitation).
The opportunity
1 in 7 people assigned female at birth experience endometriosis. Laparoscopic surgery is a crucial part of the diagnostic and treatment journey, but there’s often no support or guidance in the lead up to, or recovery from, the surgery itself. To support people going through this process, Matilda Health co-developed a Surgery Optimisation Program with lived-experience co-designers, expert holistic clinicians, and leading endometriosis gynaecologists. The next step for the startup was to automate email communication with users as well as promote it amongst clinicians.
The result
We agreed that an automated email solution that would help clinicians recommend the app as well as an automated email flow to people with suspected endometriosis going through the program would be a great way to help Matilda Health scale its message and get more people affected by endometriosis using it. We designed a 5-step approach (including copywriting and creation of template) to transform email into a valuable business tool.
A 5-step B2B2C email solution
Making sure we set up a system that delivered the right message at the right time to the right people was critical. Health professionals are time poor and cut-through is tough. After extensive planning and co-design with the Matilda Health team, we suggested the following five steps for working together:
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Discovery: Understanding the Surgery Optimisation Program
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Mapping journeys: Creating the automation framework for audiences
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Content development: Copywriting content to match those journeys
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Implementing templates: Uploading templates to the host platform
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Handover: Providing a walkthrough of assets and documentation for go live.
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A couple of considerations we needed to factor in with our approach included the importance of not overpromising treatments and managing expectations. Content also needed to address the issue of patients blaming themselves for complications – the tone of voice and delivery of message required compassion, persistence and sensitivity.
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Understanding Matilda Health's Surgery Optimisation Program
Evidence shows a multidisciplinary approach to endometriosis improves patient outcomes. That’s why the Matilda Health app has been designed to offer valuable information and interactions with gynaecologists, anaesthesiologists, pelvic physiotherapists, psychologists, nutritionists, pain experts. Its clinician co-founders, Joanna Morris and Dr. Kevin Wernli, are committed to providing accessible and holistic support every step of the way – and their pre-and-post-surgery program is built from four key pillars (or 'roots'):
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Mental wellbeing (ease)
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Sleep (rest)
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Movement (move)
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Nutrition (feed)
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These roots form the basis of their ‘Nurture your nervous system’ approach to pre-and-post-operative support – combining technology with person-centred care.
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Mapping journeys and drafting content
Leveraging extensive program notes, Avion developed a suite of four email flows that would help people stay on track and engaged in the context of their operation:
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Sign-up: For those just entering the program
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Pre-operation: For those in the four-week prehabilitation phase
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Post-operation: For those in their four-week post-operative recovery
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Date reset: For those who've has to reschedule their operation.
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The Pre-operation and Post-operation flows had the most in-depth content. We detailed three emails for each week designed to share knowledge, encourage action, and remind users about other program features (such as weekly group check-ins).
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Templates and consulting on platform choice
Together, Avion and Matilda Health decided to stick with their chosen marketing automation and email marketing platform – Mailchimp. This choice eliminated the need for any work to migrate contacts and data or re-establish integrations. It also eliminated any risk of triggering performance bugs like issues with sender reputation.
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As the aim of the project was to provide a result the team could manage on their own, it was also helpful knowing Mailchimp has templates and flow suggestions that may help streamline any optimisations they make later down the line.​​
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A done-for-you handover
Once the copy for each flow was approved, we uploaded the content into Matilda Health’s Mailchimp account. We then debriefed with Matilda Health on how to manage the triggers of the flows we created so that the automation could roll out as intended, along with:
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A copy deck with all up-to-date content uploaded into Mailchimp
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An excel spreadsheet with all the core details of the various flows
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An explainer document tying it all together.
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“Having met Nat and the Avion Team at London Tech Week in 2023, we’ve kept in contact and have been itching to find a project to work together since.
People with confirmed or suspected endometriosis undergoing surgery are often left in the dark with no clear roadmap on how to best prepare or recover, and minimal support about what’s involved or what to expect. We always knew email communication would be a vital part of the program to ensure people felt validated, supported, and in control, as well as engage potential referrers, but as two physiotherapists, we lacked the expertise to make it happen. So, when the opportunity came up to engage Avion to execute this, we jumped at it!
From the very first call with Avion, it was clear we were working with people at the top of their game. The attention to detail and care was refreshing and the outcome they delivered clearly evidenced that the hard work Avion undertook to understand our specific needs paid off – second to none!
Kind, thorough, with clear communication and a high-quality result, we look forward to our next project together and would happily recommend Avion to any of our peers.”
Kevin and Joanna - Matilda Health Co-Founders
Contributing to a better future
From content audits and strategy through to content migrations and copyediting, we've helped tell the stories of clients across tech, health, education, finance and more. But this project was unique – our solution required technical expertise as well as a strong understanding of the impact of endometriosis. It was a pleasure helping an organisation like Matilda Health improve outcomes for an audience that has been underserved for far too long.
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If you’re looking for a content partner that specialises in complex topics, reach out to the team at Avion today.
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