How a Leading U.S. Zoo Built Personalized Visitor Journeys With Custom Integration + Marketing Automation

The Customer

This major U.S. zoo ranks among the top-attended zoological institutions in the country, welcoming millions each year and managing a complex mix of visitors, members, donors, educators, school groups, and partners. With hundreds of animals, multiple specialized departments, seasonal events, educational programs, camps, and ongoing conservation initiatives, the organization’s communication needs are vast and constantly evolving.

Like many attractions, the zoo’s audiences are emotionally connected and mission-driven. But their internal marketing tools weren’t keeping up with how today’s visitors expect to receive information — timely, relevant, and personalized.

The zoo knew their data was one of their greatest strengths. They just needed the right systems to unlock it.

The Challenge

Before Lynton stepped in, the zoo faced several intertwined challenges that prevented their marketing team from scaling, segmenting, and personalizing in meaningful ways. While the organization had a wealth of data stored inside Microsoft Dynamics, almost none of it was accessible for actual marketing use. As a result, even simple communication workflows required manual workarounds and daily exports.

Below is what the team was up against.

1. Disconnected Systems + Underutilized Data
The zoo lived in two different worlds:

A. Dynamics: where all visitor, member, and donor data lived
B. MyEmma: where all email communication happened

These systems didn’t speak to each other. That meant:

• No real-time updates
• No behavioral triggers
• No personalized segments
• No way to automate anything beyond basic sends

Despite having incredibly rich audience insights — everything from ticket usage to membership history to donation activity — the marketing team could not use any of it to shape communication.

2. Manual, Time-Consuming Processes
Every single day, staff manually:

• Exported ticket buyer lists
• Cleaned and reformatted spreadsheets
• Re-uploaded them into their email platform
• Rebuilt basic follow-up campaigns manually

Pre-visit reminders, welcome messages, thank-you notes, surveys… all required hand-built lists, risking:

• Human error
• Delayed messages
• Poor timing
• Lost opportunities

This was not sustainable for a team supporting millions in annual attendance.

3. One-Size-Fits-All Messaging
Their previous email system lacked the ability to:

• Build dynamic segments
• Personalize based on interaction history
• Target messaging by membership tier or donor level
• Trigger journeys based on real behavior

Everyone received roughly the same communication, regardless of:

• Whether they were first-time visitors or frequent attendees
• New members, renewing members, or lapsed members
• Small dollar donors or major philanthropists
• Teachers booking field trips or families attending camps

The zoo wanted deeper connection — but their tools made it impossible.

4. Limited Ability to Nurture or Convert
Because segmentation and automation were so limited, the zoo struggled to:

• Increase membership renewals
• Cultivate donor relationships
• Re-engage infrequent visitors
• Promote seasonal events to the right people
• Build long-term loyalty

The desire was there. The strategy was clear. But without the right infrastructure, none of it could come to life.

The Solution

To unlock the zoo’s full marketing potential, Lynton implemented a multi-phase solution designed to unify data, modernize communication, and operationalize personalization at scale. Our approach focused on building a strong foundation first — and then activating powerful audience experiences on top of it.

Phase 1: Build the Foundation — Unified Platforms and Data Infrastructure

A Modern Platform: Migration to HubSpot Marketing Hub

The first step was replacing the zoo’s legacy email system with a sophisticated, automation-friendly marketing platform. We guided the organization through:

• Migrating from MyEmma to HubSpot Marketing Hub

• Structuring contact records for long-term scalability

• Setting up property mapping and custom objects

• Establishing strong governance and naming conventions

• Training the team on segmentation, lists, workflows, and reporting

This ensured their new system didn’t just “work” — it accelerated what marketing could become.

Custom Microsoft Dynamics → HubSpot Integration

The centerpiece of the transformation was engineering a custom integration capable of syncing millions of records across multiple data types.

The integration now connects:

• Contacts & Leads → HubSpot Contacts

• Accounts → HubSpot Companies

• Ticket Purchases → Deals in a Purchase Pipeline

• Memberships → Custom Object

• Programs & Events → Custom Objects

• Online Orders & Donations → Deals in a Transactions Pipeline

• Opt-Out Status → Synced Both Ways for Compliance

This eliminated silos and gave the zoo a single source of marketing truth.

Historical Data Sync: Bringing Years of History Forward

Rather than starting fresh, the zoo now has:

• Years of ticketing history

• Multi-year membership patterns

• Donation behavior trends

• Event attendance

• Past online purchases

• Engagement profiles

This allows the organization to build meaningful personalization right away.

Role-Based Training & Enablement

We didn’t just train the marketing team. We trained:

• Membership staff

• Guest experience teams

• Donor engagement/development staff

• Events and education teams

Each group learned how to build automation and segmentation tailored to their goals.

Phase 2: Build the Engine — Journey Mapping and Automated Workflows

Once the foundation was in place, the next phase was architecting the zoo’s multi-audience “automation engine.”

Audience Journey Mapping

For each key group — leads, visitors, members, donors, educators, camp families, newsletter subscribers — we built detailed maps outlining:

• Entry points

• Behavioral triggers

• Required assets

• Stages of the journey

• Cross-channel opportunities

• Success metrics and reporting needs

This gave the zoo a strategic blueprint for how each audience should move from interest → engagement → conversion → loyalty.

Marketing Automation Engine Build

We worked hand-in-hand with the zoo to design and begin implementing dozens of automated workflows, such as:

Visitor Experience

• Pre-visit reminders

• On-site prompts

• Post-visit surveys

• Seasonal event promotions

• Weather-based updates

Membership Lifecycle

• New member onboarding

• Benefit awareness nudges

• Renewal sequences

• Lapsed member win-backs

Donor Stewardship

• Donation receipts

• Tiered stewardship journeys

• Impact storytelling

• Targeted appeals

Education + Camps

• School group nurture

• Camp registration sequences

• Teacher newsletters

• Field trip follow-ups

Content Engagement

• Personalized newsletter welcome series

• Interest-based tagging and segmentation

• Re-engagement campaigns

Some are fully implemented, many are in progress, and the list continues to grow.

Phase 3: Future Innovation and Scaling

The zoo is now positioned for ongoing innovation with several high-impact projects underway:

• AI-powered visitor support chatbot

• SMS marketing for real-time alerts and onsite updates

• Dynamic, personalized event landing pages

• WiFi marketing for location-based messaging

• Real-time donation platform integration

This work sets the foundation for a continuously evolving digital ecosystem.

The Results

A Transformed Marketing Operation

The zoo now operates with a level of efficiency, personalization, and strategic clarity that simply wasn’t possible before. The shift has impacted almost every team that connects with the public.

Operational Impact

• Daily manual tasks have been eliminated

• Staff gained hours back every week

• List building and cleanup is now automated

• Workflows ensure consistent visitor journeys

• Cross-department collaboration is easier

Marketing is no longer “maintaining” — it’s leading.

Data & Insight Impact

For the first time, the zoo has a complete picture of each individual’s relationship with the organization.

Teams now have visibility into:

• Ticket usage

• Visit frequency

• Membership behavior

• Donation patterns

• Program engagement

This unlocks smarter decisions and stronger segmentation.

Engagement & Revenue Impact

While KPIs continue to be tracked and optimized, the zoo has already seen meaningful improvements in:

• Visitor engagement rates

• Membership conversions and renewals

• Donor stewardship satisfaction

• Repeat visits

• Event attendance

• Overall audience communication performance

Most importantly: They can now deliver the right message at the right time — reliably, automatically, and at scale.