On April 7, we hosted our second all-digital Activate Live conference, the place the Dreamers, Builders, and Makers of the world’s finest buyer experiences got here collectively for a gathering of concepts and insights.
After avoiding crowds and lacking out on holidays for over a yr, attendees took a journey with us to Activate Island, an interactive expertise making networking as simple as if we have been all in individual.

Iterable’s Activate Island
The day kicked off with our keynote audio system, Bozoma Saint John, CMO at Netflix, and Sara Varni, CMO at Twilio, emphasizing the significance of empathy and adaptableness within the midst of the digital transformation introduced on by COVID.
The tales of impactful advertising and marketing continued with Iterable’s co-founder and CEO Justin Zhu and VP of Product Bela Stepanova highlighting the human facet of promoting and the way new capabilities may also help manufacturers keep up-to-date with shifting expectations and rules.
The keynotes have been solely the tip of the iceberg too! Sessions that includes audio system from DoorDash, Cars.com, Blue Bottle, and extra, have been cut up into two tracks: Making a Memorable Experience and The Customer Experience in Practice. Both tracks have been designed to convey Dreamers, Builders, and Makers of all varieties (which one are you?) collectively to study, collaborate and brainstorm new methods to convey nice experiences to their clients.
Here, we’ve compiled the highest Activate Live takeaways from these classes to offer you a peek. If you weren’t in a position to be a part of us on the island, be happy to observe the recordings.
Activate Live Top Takeaways
Keynotes: A Bird’s-Eye View of the Customer Experience
- Now, with growing quantities of buyer information, manufacturers have to ship the fitting message via the fitting channel to satisfy buyer expectations. Sara Varni famous that digital roadmaps have been accelerated over six years on account of COVID. Brands have needed to adapt and use buyer information in methods they beforehand thought have been years away.
- Make certain your advertising and marketing techniques are compliant with rules. Changes to IDFA, Apple’s privacy regulations, and Google’s third-party cookies have and can affect the way in which entrepreneurs can work together with their clients. Bela Stepanova highlighted how Iterable’s Brand Affinity, Campaign Analytics, and SMS Opt-Out disclaimer messaging give entrepreneurs deeper insights into what their clients need, whereas additionally sustaining compliance.
- True to Iterable’s clients and tradition, Justin Zhu outlined values, affect and empathy because the core pillars of empathetic advertising and marketing. Fundamentally, what issues is the model’s affect on human lives, our society and nature.
Track 1: Making A Memorable Experience
- Aim to satisfy excessive buyer expectations. Iterable’s Sr. Value Consultant, Mike Hotz, identified that buyer expectations are greater than ever on account of COVID. In truth, 50% of consumers will swap to a competitor after only one unhealthy buyer expertise. To keep away from that end result, focus your CX technique in your buyer from the skin in, quite than the within out.
- Create frequent objectives throughout groups. Common objectives will guarantee clients have a good expertise along with your model and product. Building a mutual understanding of one another’s cultures and processes will even reinforce these objectives and set up aligned intent. Adam Knight, Zoopla’s Director of Engagement, and Chris Frost, Zoopla’s Senior Product Manager, recognized clear metrics for success so each groups may share in wins.
- FOMO is a highly effective device to reactivate customers. To re-engage clients, Stitcher’s Listener Lifecycle Manager, Imelda Skinder, suggested the Activate Live viewers to maintain suggestions related to the person whereas contextualizing them to what’s occurring in present occasions. Fear of lacking out on what everybody’s speaking about may reactivate customers.
- Start conversations with clients. Be clear about potential ache factors and get their insights via surveys and polls. Be certain to make use of language that’s uplifting, not “market-y.” Boris Savoie Doyer, Head of CRM at Aspiration, stated as an alternative of “Pay $X to fight climate change,” he’d say, “Take down fossil fuels one swipe at a time.”
- Test, take a look at, and take a look at once more (and do it quick). Hipcamp’s Business Ops Manager, Christina Tran, defined how briskly experimentation helps break massive objectives into “smaller bits of progress.” The objective for hosts—customers who publish listings for campers to go to—was to assist them get their listings up on the positioning rapidly. Using Iterable and Amplitude, Hipcamp was in a position to assist hosts get their listings up sooner through a nurture marketing campaign.
Track 2: The Customer Experience In Practice
- Use the info you’ve compiled. When creating a segmentation mannequin, make certain the info that’s collected is definitely getting used. Gina Igwe, Sr. Director of CRM at DoorDash, instructed implementing an RFM mannequin. Also, the content material itself must be personalised for the end-user. Show clients actual metrics or their favorites, based mostly on historic information.
- Focus much less on the person channels, and extra on the person customers. Oriana Wen, Director of Data and Innovation at Blue Bottle, highlighted how the model switched from a channel-centric strategy to a guest-centric strategy. For instance, to enhance the shopper expertise, customers have been despatched a promotional email after opening the Blue Bottle app. As a consequence, utilizing Iterable and Segment, their group noticed a 55% enhance in open fee and 5x the everyday click-through fee.
- Give shoppers what they need, the place and when they need it. Be certain you’re staying related to the shopper by understanding their complete buyer journey. The first step is breaking down information silos. Alexandra Farrar, Senior Manager, Email and Retention Marketing at Cars.com, supplied this tip: use cross-channel information to attach shopper touchpoints.
- Send focused emails, not blasts. Indi Pollard, Email Marketing Lead at Blockchain, stated that with focused emails, their group noticed an 86% enhance in open fee, a 233% enhance in click-through fee however really had a 77% lower in email quantity.
- Balance focus between short-term and long-term objectives. Brian Balfour, CEO of Reforge, likened short-term objectives to the quick lane and long-term objectives to the gradual lane. If you place your whole vehicles within the quick lane, there’s going to be a pileup. Same for the gradual.
Be Authentic, Be Personal and Be Data-Driven
Throughout the classes, there have been frequent threads of name authenticity, buyer personalization and information administration for a holistic view of the shopper expertise. A model’s authenticity must be evident in every touchpoint with the shopper. Through genuine interactions, manufacturers can create individualized experiences for their customers. Then, by breaking down information silos, manufacturers can mix these experiences throughout channels to create a cohesive buyer journey.
This is barely the start of the dialog, although.
Whether you’re a Dreamer, Builder, Maker or some mixture of the three, we hope you be a part of the #Activate21 dialog by following Iterable on social media or contacting us instantly at activate@iterable.com. Let us understand how Activate influenced your advertising and marketing and CX methods!
Bummed you missed Activate Live? You can nonetheless watch the classes on demand.