About the client

The Princethorpe Foundation is a family of independent Catholic schools in Warwickshire, known for combining traditional values with a forward-looking approach to education and communication. Their digital channels, including newsletters, play a key role in engaging parents, alumni and the wider school community.

The challenge

After completing a full rebrand, The Princethorpe Foundation recognised that its existing email newsletter—unchanged for over eight years—no longer reflected the new identity or met modern engagement expectations.

The previous system was desktop-first, lacked mobile optimisation and offered limited analytics. The team needed a refreshed newsletter platform that looked stunning on mobile, was easy to update and provided visibility into engagement.

The solution

Hero Solutions designed and developed a new email newsletter experience that seamlessly integrates with Microsoft 365.

Working closely with Princethorpe’s communications team, we created a modern, mobile-first layout inspired by the new brand. Our UX designers produced a series of Figma prototypes, including landing pages, article listings and detailed story pages, ensuring every component worked responsively.

The newsletter creation and sending process was rebuilt with:

• Inline editing for fast content updates and layout adjustments.
• Improved navigation between newsletters and editions.
• Integration with Microsoft Graph for reliable email delivery and real-time tracking.
• Analytics tools to view open and engagement rates, helping measure audience impact.

Hero also provided migration support for previous newsletters and ensured accessibility compliance with WCAG 2.2 standards.

The impact

The Foundation now benefits from a modern, efficient newsletter platform that supports their brand identity and communication goals.

• Mobile engagement has increased: most parents now view newsletters seamlessly on phones.
• Insight has improved: with tracking and analytics providing valuable data on readership trends.
• Workflow has been simplified: staff can now create and send newsletters more quickly and confidently.