In this video customer story, Jisc, the UK’s national body for digital technology in education and research, explains how they use Adestra Professional Services to deliver secure, GDPR-compliant email communications across multiple brands and audiences. Discover how they manage complex email operations while improving governance, workflows, and engagement at scale.
The challenge
Jisc operates a complex email ecosystem spanning multiple brands, audiences, and use cases—from event marketing and newsletters to mission critical communications. Their team needed to scale email programs efficiently without compromising compliance, reliability, or internal governance.
- Managing B2B and B2C communications across multiple audiences and brands
- Maintaining GDPR compliance and data retention requirements
- Supporting internal teams with varying access, skills, and responsibilities
How Adestra professional services helped
Through a combination of hands-on support, strategic guidance, and day-to-day responsiveness, Adestra Professional Services became a trusted extension of Jisc’s team.
- Expert guidance on automation, templates, and advanced conditional content
- Realtime support via live chat and rapid help desk responses
- Confidence in secure sending, governance, and regulatory compliance
The outcome
With Adestra and its Professional Services team, Jisc achieved measurable performance improvements while simplifying internal workflows and reducing operational friction.
- Newsletter performance consistently exceeding industry benchmarks
- Faster execution through better templates, automation, and testing
- Greater confidence in delivering critical communications on time, every time
- Jisc relies on Adestra’s live chat support to resolve issues quickly, reduce delays, and maintain campaign momentum.
Here is the full transcript
My name is Richard Tatnell. I’m Head of Engagement Delivery at Jisc, the national body for digital technology in education and research.
We have a complex organisation.
We do a variety of different things—from event marketing to critical communications to a wide range of newsletters.
That means we’re working across many different audiences, including both B2B and B2C.
Scaling Communications across a Complex Organisation
We’re always looking for ways to become more efficient and effective in what we do. More often than not, Adestra has an answer that helps us improve our communications.
This might includes:
- Automating communications
- Developing more sophisticated templates
- Using complex conditional content.
Whatever we’re trying to do, Adestra usually has a solution that helps us become more effective.
Support and Real-time Help
One of the standout features for me—and the reason I recommend Adestra to peers in the sector—is the chat function.
It is incredibly useful and places Adestra ahead of other email providers.
Even after almost ten years of using the platform, you still encounter situations where you need guidance.
Being able to speak to someone instantly is invaluable. It saves time, removes delays, and helps us stay productive.
Compliance, Governance, and GDPR Confidence
In education and research, we have a responsibility to demonstrate compliance, security, and alignment with GDPR.
Using Adestra gives us confidence that this is fully covered.
We apply a two-year data retention policy, which is handled within the platform. We also ensure compliance with regulatory requirements through Adestra’s sending and governance controls.
This provides reassurance both internally and in how we support our members.
Performance and Outcomes
We manage a suite of newsletters across different audiences and seniority levels.
These newsletters consistently outperform industry benchmarks for:
- Open rates
- Click-through rates
This is important when demonstrating value to internal stakeholders.
We are always looking for ways to improve performance—whether through template optimisation, copy updates, or content strategy.
We can clearly see the impact of these changes through performance metrics.
Workspaces and Access Control
Within Jisc, we operate multiple brands, each within its own workspace.
This structure allows us to control access appropriately.
We can assign permissions for:
- Templates
- Campaigns
- Reporting
- Approvals
This ensures users only see what they need to see, improving both compliance and usability.
Reliability and conditional content
Adestra is incredibly reliable. Our critical communications always need to go out on time, and they do.
One of our favourite features is conditional content.
We use it every day to tailor messaging to different audience segments.
It allows us to deliver highly relevant content in a simple but powerful way.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Jisc manage GDPR compliance in email marketing?
Jisc uses Adestra to ensure GDPR compliance through structured data retention policies, controlled sending processes, and secure email governance.
How does a large organization manage email across multiple brands?
Jisc uses separate workspaces within Adestra, allowing each brand to operate independently while maintaining central governance and control.
What is conditional content in email marketing?
Conditional content allows marketers to tailor email content dynamically based on audience segments, improving relevance and engagement.
Learn more how Adestra helps other brand managing high volume, high importance GDPR compliant email communications across multiple audiences isn’t just about sending campaigns—it’s about reliability, governance, and having expert support when complexity increases.