ApproveThis manages your Optimizely Campaign Integration approvals.

When Approval Workflows Meet Email Marketing

Let’s cut through the corporate jargon: marketing teams need to move fast, but approvals always slow everything down. You’re using Optimizely Campaign to send targeted emails, track engagement, and run campaigns that actually convert. But between legal reviews, budget sign-offs, and compliance checks, your best work gets stuck in inboxes. That’s where ApproveThis comes in – not as another tool, but as the missing link that lets your team actually use Optimizely’s power without getting bottlenecked.

Here’s the deal: connecting ApproveThis to Optimizely Campaign via Zapier turns approval roadblocks into speed bumps. We’re talking about automating the review process for bounced emails, unsubscribe requests, and recipient list updates so your team can focus on strategy instead of chasing down signatures.

Why This Combo Works (When Other Tools Don’t)

Optimizely Campaign handles the heavy lifting of email marketing – creating campaigns, segmenting audiences, tracking opens/clicks. But when something requires human judgment (like a sudden spike in bounces), teams often resort to Slack pings, forwarded emails, or worse – spreadsheet trackers. ApproveThis kills that noise with:

• Automatic request creation based on Optimizely events (bounces, unsubscribes)
• Email-based approvals that don’t require approvers to log into yet another system

Meanwhile, Optimizely keeps doing what it does best – sending the right message to the right person. Together, they’re like having a tireless intern who never forgets to follow up on pending approvals.

Real Scenarios Where This Integration Saves Jobs

1. Cleaning Up Bounced Emails Before Compliance Notices Arrive

The Problem: Your sales team uploads a new contact list to Optimizely. 12% bounce rate. Now legal needs to verify if it’s a technical issue or a GDPR violation waiting to happen.

The Fix: Set up a Zap that triggers an ApproveThis workflow every time Optimizely detects a bounce. Route it to your compliance lead with context: “Was this contact imported from a sanctioned source? Approved for retry?” Approvers click Yes/No in their email – no logins required.

Who Needs This: E-commerce companies running flash sales with new lists weekly. One denied approval could prevent a $50k GDPR fine.

2. Updating Recipient Lists Without the Spreadsheet Shuffle

The Problem: Marketing wants to remove unengaged contacts. Sales insists they’re “about to close.” Meanwhile, your Optimizely lists stay bloated.

The Fix: When ApproveThis gets a new request (like “Deactivate 90-day inactive users”), Zapier automatically updates the Optimizely recipient list post-approval. No more CSV exports at 11 PM.

Who Needs This: SaaS companies with strict churn metrics. Product-led growth teams who need clean lists for onboarding sequences.

3. Handling Unsubscribes Before They Become Legal Headaches

The Problem: Someone unsubscribes via Optimizely, but your CRM still emails them. Now you’ve violated CAN-SPAM and annoyed a customer.

The Fix: Auto-create an approval request in ApproveThis when Optimizely logs an unsubscribe. Route it to CRM admins with one-click options: “Suppress in Salesforce? Yes/No. Confirm by 5 PM.”

Who Needs This: Financial services firms with complex compliance rules. Anyone who’s ever had their domain blacklisted.

Features You’ll Actually Use (No Fluff)

ApproveThis isn’t another “approval tool” – it’s built for teams already using specialized apps like Optimizely:

• Approval Thresholds: Auto-approve bounce rates under 5% to avoid micromanagement
• Vacation Delegation: Legal out sick? Requests auto-reroute to their backup
• Calculated Fields: “If bounce rate > 15%, escalate to CMO” rules

And here’s the kicker: approvers only need email access. No Optimizely licenses required. Perfect for external counsel or finance partners who shouldn’t have campaign access.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

If you can forward an email, you can build this integration:

1. Connect Optimizely Campaign + ApproveThis via Zapier (takes 6 minutes)
2. Choose triggers: “New Bounce” or “New Unsubscribe” in Optimizely
3. Map fields to pre-built ApproveThis templates (bounce reason, contact source)
4. Test with a $0.02 Zapier plan (seriously – no budget approval needed)

Pro tip: Start with one workflow (like bounce handling) before automating unsubscribes. Most teams see ROI within 2 campaign cycles.

Who Benefits Beyond Marketing?

This integration isn’t just for email nerds:

• Legal Teams: Review high-risk unsubscribes without attending marketing standups
• Sales Ops: Keep lead lists clean without manual Optimizely updates
• Customer Support: Get alerted when VIPs unsubscribe (with approval to offer win-back deals)

Even IT wins – fewer “I can’t access Optimizely” tickets from external approvers.

Common Objections (And Why They’re Wrong)

“We already use Jira for approvals.” Cool. Does Jira auto-create tickets from Optimizely bounce events? Can non-technical approvers reply via email? Exactly.

“Zapier is too expensive.” The free plan handles 100 approval tasks/month. That’s 100 saved Slack threads.

“Our process is too complex.” ApproveThis handles multi-step flows: “First legal signs off, then finance approves budget impact.”

Bottom Line: This Isn’t About Tools

It’s about removing the crap that makes marketers hate their jobs. Every minute saved on approval busywork is a minute spent optimizing campaigns in Optimizely. Every auto-resolved bounce event is one less compliance fire drill.

If you’re using Optimizely Campaign at scale (50–5,000 employees), you need approval workflows that match your pace. ApproveThis via Zapier isn’t a “nice-to-have” – it’s how modern teams avoid growth-killing bottlenecks.

Book a 12-minute demo or start a free trial. Worst case? You’ll finally understand why your competitors ship campaigns faster.