Step 0: Prime From the Old Platform

Before the new sending subdomain dispatches its first email, there is one action that costs almost nothing and does more for inbox placement than any volume schedule, seed panel, or technical tweak combined: send a final broadcast from Intelligent Golf telling members the new sender is coming.

This is Step 0. It is mandatory for every migration, regardless of list size or how clean the data is. It must happen before the Trust Bridge email from GHL.

Why This Is the Highest-Leverage Move

Intelligent Golf has been sending email from that club's address for years. Members recognise it. Their mailbox providers have recorded thousands of opens, clicks, and replies against that sending identity. That trust is real — and it is currently locked to IG's infrastructure.

The new GHL subdomain (e.g. mail.highgategc.co.uk) carries zero reputation. To Gmail and Outlook it is a stranger. No matter how engaged the members are with the club as a human institution, the first emails from an unknown subdomain will be scrutinised.

Step 0 bridges that gap. By announcing from IG — while IG's infrastructure is still trusted — you ride an established reputation to prime members before the first GHL send. When they later see an email from the new address, they are already expecting it. Recognition drops complaints. Fewer complaints protect the subdomain during its critical early window.

The single greatest deliverability win in any migration is using the outgoing platform's own reputation to introduce the incoming platform. Everything else — authentication, ramp scheduling, seed panels — operates in the space this step creates.

The risk is near zero. IG's infrastructure does not change. You are not touching the new subdomain. Nothing about this step can hurt the new domain's reputation because the new domain is not involved.

The Three Priming Channels

Deploy all three in the 5–7 days before cutover. They are mutually reinforcing: the broadcast reaches active email readers; the portal notice catches members who log in but do not open every email; the signage catches those who visit the club in person but rarely read digital communications at all.

Channel	Who it reaches	When to deploy
Final IG broadcast email	Active email readers (your highest-value segment)	5–7 days before first GHL send
Member-portal login notice	Members who log in but do not open every email	Same day as broadcast; keep live until Day 14
Clubhouse / pro-shop signage	Members who visit in person; low-digital engagement members	Same day as broadcast; remove after 2 weeks

Channel 1 — Final Intelligent Golf Broadcast

Send this from IG exactly as you would a normal club communication — same From name, same From address, same send time as your usual cadence. Do not change anything about the sending identity; that consistency is the entire point.

Subject line:

Important: your [Club Name] emails are changing — please read

From name: your normal IG sender name (e.g. Highgate Golf Club)

From address: your normal IG From address (e.g. manager@highgategc.co.uk)

Body (plain text or your standard IG HTML template):

Hi [First Name],

I wanted to give you a quick heads-up before you start seeing a change to how we 
email you here at [Club Name].

We are upgrading the system we use to send member communications. The new 
platform gives us much better tools to keep you informed about everything 
happening at the club — course conditions, competitions, events, and member news.

From [go-live date], our emails will arrive from a new address:

  info@mail.[clubdomain].co.uk

The sender name will still show as [Club Name], and everything you currently 
receive from us will continue exactly as before — this is purely a 
behind-the-scenes change to our sending system.

Two things would really help us as we make this switch:

1. Keep an eye on your inbox around [go-live date] for our first email from 
   the new address.

2. If it lands in your junk or spam folder, please mark it as safe and move it 
   to your inbox — that tells your email provider we are a trusted sender.

You do not need to do anything right now. Your membership details, booking 
access, and preferences are completely unchanged.

If you have any questions, reply to this email or call us on [Phone].

Many thanks,

[General Manager Name]
[General Manager Title]
[Club Name]
[Club Address]
[Phone]
[Website]

Replace every [bracket] placeholder with the correct club-specific value before sending. Do not use GHL merge fields here — this email is sent from Intelligent Golf using IG's own personalisation syntax.

A note on format. Send this using whatever template IG normally uses for member communications. If the club typically sends a lightly branded HTML newsletter, use that. If it normally sends plain text updates from the GM, use that. Consistency with the existing sender identity is the deliverability win here — members recognise the look as well as the From name.

Add-to-contacts nudge. You may add a secondary line encouraging members to add the new address to their contacts. Keep it brief and frame it as optional:

If you would like to make sure our emails always reach your inbox, you can 
add info@mail.[clubdomain].co.uk to your contacts now.

Do not make this the main focus. The primary message is awareness, not an action demand.

Add a notice to the Intelligent Golf member-portal login page. Most IG implementations allow a banner, announcement panel, or homepage notice in the admin settings. If the specific IG instance does not support this, ask the club to add a line to any portal homepage widget they control.

Suggested wording:

Notice — Our email system is changing

From [go-live date], club emails will arrive from a new address: 
info@mail.[clubdomain].co.uk

If your first email from us lands in junk, please mark it as safe. 
Your membership access and booking details are not affected.

Keep the notice live from the broadcast date through to approximately Day 14 post-cutover, then remove it. Members who login during that window but missed the broadcast email will see it; members who have already received and opened a GHL email do not need the reminder, but seeing it again does no harm.

Channel 3 — Clubhouse and Pro-Shop Signage

Print one A4 sheet and place it at the reception desk and pro-shop counter. This reaches low-digital-engagement members — often older, often high-engagement in person — who may not read every email but whose spam complaints, if they occur, carry the same weight as anyone else's.

Suggested wording:

Member notice — our email communications are changing

From [go-live date], emails from [Club Name] will arrive from a new address:

  info@mail.[clubdomain].co.uk

If you receive an email from us and it has landed in your junk or spam folder, 
please mark it as safe and move it to your inbox. Adding the address to your 
contacts will ensure you do not miss anything.

If you have any questions, please speak to a member of staff.

[Club Name] | [Phone] | [Website]

This does not need to be designed. Plain text on club-headed notepaper is fine. Staff should be briefed to mention it if members ask about their club emails in the days around cutover.

The clubhouse QR: save our new address

Golf clubs hold a lever almost no other email sender has: members physically walk through the door every week. Use it to get the new address into members' contacts face-to-face — before the first email even sends. An address already saved in a member's contacts is the strongest individual placement signal a mailbox provider respects.

The mechanic:

Create a vCard (.vcf) contact file for the new sender — contact name = the club's name (e.g. [Club Name]), email = the new From address (e.g. info@mail.[clubdomain].co.uk)
Host the .vcf on the club's website or in the GHL media library (any stable public URL works)
Generate a QR code pointing at the .vcf URL
Place the QR on the pro-shop till, the first-tee board, and the bar

Poster copy:

Scan to save the club's new email address — so our updates always reach you

Scanning downloads the contact card; one tap adds it to the member's contacts. This works natively on iPhone and Android with no app required. Every scan is an add-to-contacts action banked for the new subdomain before it has sent a single email.

Staff script for the pro shop (one line):

We're updating the club's email system — scan this and tap save so you 
don't miss anything.

The QR turns weekly footfall into deliverability signal. No other priming channel produces an explicit add-to-contacts action; the broadcast and portal notice can only ask for it.

Rollback Insurance: 1–2 Send Tier A Overlap

Even with Step 0 executed well, keep Intelligent Golf active for the first 1–2 GHL sends to Tier A. This is a minimal overlap, not a long dual-run.

The overlap serves one purpose: if the first GHL send shows an unexpected spike in complaints or hard bounces — anything above the amber threshold — you can pause GHL and communicate via IG while you investigate. Once Day 2–3 metrics are clean and Postmaster is showing the domain being processed (even at "Low" reputation, which is normal for a brand-new domain), close the IG overlap and proceed with the GHL ramp.

Condition	Action
Day 1 GHL metrics clean (complaint <0.10%, hard bounce <0.5%)	Close IG overlap. Proceed to Tier B ramp.
Day 1 GHL complaint rate 0.10%–0.20%	Hold volume. Keep IG active. Investigate before next send.
Day 1 GHL complaint rate >0.20%	Pause GHL sends immediately. Communicate via IG while investigating.
Hard bounce >2% on first GHL send	Stop. Re-validate the segment. Do not widen to Tier B.

Do not continue running both platforms in parallel beyond Day 5 unless there is an active incident under investigation. A long dual-run creates confusion for members (two senders, two threads, inconsistent content) and does not benefit the GHL subdomain's reputation.

Pre-Cutover Checklist

Complete every item before the IG broadcast goes out. The broadcast is the public-facing start of the migration — everything below must be done first.

Once every box is checked, the IG broadcast is live, and the portal notice is in place — the migration clock starts. Proceed to the Trust Bridge send to Tier A as scheduled.

See Trust Bridge for the first GHL email template and send guidance, and Ramp Schedule for the engagement-gated 7–14 day volume ramp.

Step 0: Prime From the Old Platform

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