Welcome to October, the spookiest month of the yr! If you might be available in the market to purchase a brand new home to brighten with spider webs and skeletons, then you definitely’ve positively heard of Redfin, a technology-powered actual property firm representing home-buyers and home-sellers in over 90 markets all through the United States and Canada.
Since its launch in 2006 by 2018, Redfin has helped prospects purchase or promote greater than 170,000 properties price greater than $85 billion.
For our October Customer Spotlight, we’re thrilled to introduce you to Katie Gillespie, Product Manager at Redfin.
October Customer Spotlight: Katie Gillespie
Katie Gillespie began in Marketing, first as an email marketer after which engaged on technical integrations with advertising software program, together with Iterable.
After that, she transitioned to experimentation and consumer segmentation software program at Redfin and now works on the intersection of Product and Marketing.
In this highlight, Katie shares how she transitioned from a job in Marketing to Product, what she loves about Iterable, the advertising marketing campaign she’s most pleased with, and extra!
- Name: Katie Gillespie
- Company: Redfin
- Title: Product Manager
- Location: Seattle, Washington
- Hometown: Portland, Oregon
When and the way did you get your begin in advertising?
I began in Marketing proper out of faculty. I ended up in my function, and at Redfin, largely by likelihood—I didn’t know what I needed to do after I graduated, however needed it to be each analytical and in addition business- and people-oriented.
I ended up speaking with somebody at Redfin in regards to the firm, and he or she prompt I apply for an open function as an email marketer within the Analytical Marketing division.
The staff appeared like precisely the fitting match for me. They had been data-driven and technical, and concerned in enterprise selections every single day.
I wasn’t positive if advertising was what I needed to do long-term, however Redfin has an amazing tradition of profession development: it’s sufficiently small that there are at all times tasks on different groups which persons are excited to have assistance on, even when it’s outdoors your rapid function, and it’s additionally massive sufficient that there’s considerable mentorship and construction.
I liked the possibility to strive one thing new, and in addition discover what I needed to do going ahead.
Can you inform us a bit of about your profession development at Redfin? What has the transition from Marketing to Product been like for you?
The function I began in was a reasonably simple entry-level email advertising function, constructing out new email campaigns.
Our email advertising software program earlier than Iterable required us to write down SQL queries to pick audiences and customized knowledge for every email, so SQL-writing took up most of my day—and I shortly realized that was my favourite a part of my job.
I began working with the Data Engineering staff to ingest new knowledge factors into our software program, then leveraging that to make new email campaigns that highlighted loads of private, native knowledge we didn’t have entry to earlier than.
When we determined to modify to Iterable, I took on designing our knowledge buildings for Iterable’s platform and writing the SQL to rework our SQL database into Iterable’s NoSQL format.
At the identical time as our integration, I began working with a accomplice on the Product staff to outline our technique for a brand new inside software program that permit us run sure sorts of experiments on our web site.
The mission required loads of the identical sorts of pondering because the Iterable integration: determining the best way to adapt knowledge and infrastructure we now have already to a brand new use case, and constructing it in such a manner that it could scale as our enterprise’s technique modified in unpredictable methods over time. I ultimately made the swap to the Product staff to steer the staff constructing this software program.
I’ve actually loved being on the Product staff—I like attending to design software program and work carefully with the engineers constructing it. My present function entails loads of tasks carefully associated to Marketing, too, which suggests I can use what I realized from my time on Marketing and my relationships with the individuals on that staff to construct a good collaboration between us.
What do you want most about utilizing Iterable?
My favourite a part of Iterable is the quantity of flexibility it provides in its knowledge buildings. We have loads of knowledge—on our customers’ traits and behaviors, on every distinctive residence on the market on our web site, on traits in the actual property market, and extra.
Iterable provides so many alternative methods of structuring that knowledge—resembling their User Profile, Events, and Catalog, amongst others—in addition to a strong set of APIs and different methods to get knowledge out and in of the system, which permits us to search out the fitting knowledge construction for every totally different sort of knowledge we needed to ingest.
That flexibility means we’ve been capable of create an information construction that’s simple and intuitive for entrepreneurs to make use of with no need to sacrifice any energy or complexity.
What marketing campaign are you most pleased with, and why?
My favourite marketing campaign that I labored on was our Demand Pulse email. We ship an email as soon as monthly to our customers which updates them on present housing market statistics of their space, together with modifications in median residence itemizing worth, the variety of properties on the market, and the way lengthy these properties have been in the marketplace.
We had this knowledge in our inside databases already, however after I began, the one approach to embody it in emails was for entrepreneurs to question our databases straight, clear the information in Excel, and add it manually to our outdated email software program every month.
I labored on automating this knowledge, which allowed us to scale the marketing campaign and supply Redfin customers with the wealthy, personalised knowledge they wish to see. The marketing campaign is now one of many largest campaigns we ship often.
What’s the perfect recommendation you’ve ever been given?
We typically get requested, “Where do you want to be in five years?” however that may be very summary and laborious to reply.
The greatest profession recommendation I’ve gotten is to as a substitute body it as, “Suppose you look back in five years: what would you need to have accomplished between now and then to consider that time a success?”
I discover that helps make the query concrete and permits you to replicate on what actually issues.
What is your most prized possession?
The possession that makes me happiest might be the zero-degree sleeping bag my dad gave me for Christmas after I’d simply began entering into backpacking. It’s saved me heat for a few years now, and was there for a lot of of my favourite recollections tenting.
The possession I’m most protecting of, although…we simply purchased a model new sofa for the primary time. Who knew these had been so costly?! I’m nonetheless nervous to eat or drink something inside a number of ft of it.
Learn More in Our Community
Want to study why Redfin gained Iterable’s 2019 award for Growth Marketing Team of the Year?
Ask Katie Gillespie within the Iterable Community the place Iterable prospects achieve unique entry to our thought leaders, request new options and study the most recent traits and techniques in development advertising.