Mailchimp Automations Help Willful Boost Conversion Rates 18x

Making decisions about estate planning can feel like a daunting task. But Willful is turning the process into a guided experience anyone can complete from their home.

More than half of Canadian parents don’t have a will, despite 97% saying having one is important. The problem, according to Toronto-based online estate planning company Willful, is not that people avoid it out of apathy, but because the process feels expensive and emotionally draining. Willful was created to remove that friction

“A big part of our job is education and trust-building, helping customers understand that they can create a legally binding will without needing to go to a lawyer,” says Alyssa Hanson, Head of Marketing at Willful. “The process can feel intimidating, so being able to complete it from home on their own terms makes a meaningful difference.”

Accessibility shapes Willful’s business. But even with a product designed to simplify estate planning, getting people to actually finish their wills was a hurdle.

Now, Willful uses Intuit Mailchimp to help turn the experience of creating a will into an easy process.

The challenge: Closing the gap between intention and completion

Creating a will is a meaningful task, and even with a guided process, many people take time to move through decisions. Willful noticed that customers sometimes paused during key moments in the application, often because they wanted to speak with family members or reflect on their choices before continuing.

Since those pauses can interrupt momentum, Willful wanted a way to re-engage customers with timely and helpful messages without relying on manual follow-ups.

“Without automation, it can be challenging to consistently reach every customer with the right message at the right moment,” Alyssa says. “Early engagement matters, and timely support helps people maintain momentum as they work through important decisions.”

Willful needed a way to meet customers at their moments of hesitation by understanding their needs, and by providing supportive communication that encouraged them to move forward at their own pace. 

The tools: Automation, segmentation, and API integration

By building segmented, stage-based marketing automation flows in Mailchimp, Willful was able to personalize outreach at scale, sending educational emails that addressed exactly where each customer paused, from naming an executor to finalizing signatures.

Willful has focused heavily on segmentation and optimization, with hundreds of  segments and multivariate tests deployed through dozens of automation flows. 

“Mailchimp’s intuitive interface makes it easy to build powerful automation flows," Alyssa says. "When we combine that with the right data, it becomes a scalable way to drive meaningful growth.”

Automation and segmentation capabilities helped drive timely and relevant communications to customers, which was made possible thanks to the open API allowing data from Willful’s website to seamlessly flow into Mailchimp. Having the two systems connected meant the CRM team could identify opportunities and implement scalable solutions. 

The results: Smarter timing, more trust, and measurable impact

The Mailchimp-powered campaigns made it clear how much timing and tone mattered. Customers who once dropped off halfway through their wills now come back to complete them within days of receiving a follow-up, improving Willful’s conversion rate 18x for automated emails, compared to previous mass communications.

Willful said 40% of the revenue delivered by Mailchimp is coming from automated campaigns. They also found that their open rate increased by 1.7x when they started using automated campaigns vs. their overall bulk send average. And those automated campaigns delivered 18x the conversion rate vs. bulk sends.

For a brand built on accessibility and trust, it’s proof that personalization pays off.

“At Willful, our goal is to make end-of-life planning simple and approachable,” Willful CEO Erin Bury said. “Mailchimp helps us do that by making it easy to share timely, meaningful education and guidance with Canadians as they take the important step of creating their will.”

The team is continuing to invest deeper in personalization, using each new automation to plan their next iteration. Willful says every customer journey teaches something, and they’re building on it fast.