Conquering Your ESP Migration: Pro-level Email Strategies with Craig Hood

Want to scare an email marketer? Just whisper “ESP migration.”

ESP migrations are notorious for being complex—but do they really have to be? In this episode of Email After Hours, Guy and Danielle sit down with Craig Hood, Email and SMS Leader at AstraZeneca, to unpack the real-world challenges of managing ESP migrations across 20+ markets, multiple regulatory frameworks, and competing stakeholder pressures. Craig walks through the process step-by-step, sharing actionable tips to help you transform from a migration fraidy-cat to your organization’s knight in shining armor.

What you’ll learn:

• How to establish email deliverability as non-negotiable with leadership and IT
• Why ESP vendor selection should prioritize deliverability support over technology features alone
• The importance of building compliance-first infrastructure for global email programs in the age of evolving privacy laws
• How to customize IP warming strategies to account for Gmail’s algorithmic differences
• How to leverage AI for faster content production without compromising compliance standards

…and more!

Are you an email marketing expert with bold opinions on the industry? Come chat with Guy and Danielle on a future episode! Drop a comment, ping us on LinkedIn, or simply fill out this guest form.

SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• [03:53] Managing complexity across 20+ markets

• [05:53] When marketing forces an ESP migration

• [07:21] Prioritize deliverability support in ESP selection

• [09:23] Architect infrastructure for compliance first

• [13:03] Customize IP warming for Gmail performance

• [15:53] Use minimal subdomains to protect reputation

• [17:18] Leverage AI for compliance-safe content acceleration

• [19:51] Biggest deliverability challenges in 2025

• [22:08] Planning your next migration: Multi-market strategy

• [23:24] Make deliverability a non-negotiable priority