For much of my career, I’ve watched marketing teams rely on batch-and-blast campaigns — mass emails sent to everyone in the database with the hope that something might land. The problem is that these campaigns are fundamentally impersonal. They follow brand schedules rather than customer needs, leaving people feeling stuck in what I described during the recent Adweek webinar as a never-ending loop of batch, blast, and hope.
But customers expect more now. They want brands to recognize their intent, respond to their behavior, and communicate in ways that actually reflect what’s happening in their lives. Traditional campaigns are episodic, manual, and very brand-centric. But consumers increasingly expect communications that are dynamic and personal in real time.
That expectation has given rise to what we at Iterable call moments-based marketing — real-time, AI-driven engagement that adapts to behavior in the moment. It’s not about sending more messages; it’s about sending the right message at the right time.
Batch-and-blast doesn’t have to own your brand.
What Redfin has accomplished is a fantastic example of this shift.
When I spoke with Country Miller, Redfin’s email marketing channel manager, she shared that her team now relies “99% on moments-based or automated journey marketing,” with just one batch-and-blast campaign still standing. That kind of transformation shows what’s possible when a company is willing to rethink its entire approach to engagement.
Our webinar, Power Smarter Cross-Channel Campaigns That Personalize in Real Time, explored how Redfin achieved this transition — and why other marketers should consider making the same move. Here’s what we covered:
Data is the foundation of dynamic engagement.
When I think about what makes moments-based marketing work, the answer always comes back to data. Without a reliable foundation, personalization and real-time engagement remain out of reach.
At Redfin, data is the backbone. They capture browsing activity on their website and app, monitor engagement across channels, and gather details homeowners share directly. This information is stored in Snowflake and integrated with Iterable’s user profiles and Catalog features. With that setup, Redfin can segment customers into groups such as “likely to buy” or “likely to sell,” ensuring messaging reflects real intent rather than generic assumptions.
“Iterable helps us rank all of these different journeys and campaigns to make sure we aren’t sending you too many emails. And of all the emails we have, we are sending you our best-performing, highest-converting emails before we start sending you those lower converting emails”
~ Country Miller, Marketing Channel Manager at Redfin
What I love about this approach is that it goes far beyond inserting a customer’s first name. Redfin tailors emails with property listings, neighborhood pricing trends, or home value updates — all drawn from first-party data. Even more powerful is how quickly they can act. Dynamic lists trigger communications when a customer schedules a tour, and custom events launch recurring emails like monthly home reports or weekly property updates based on specific preferences.
As Country explained, this strategy hits “the trifecta — it’s the right audience with the right messaging at the right time.” That alignment is exactly what turns data into meaningful engagement.
Personalization looks different at every level.
Personalization isn’t just about tweaking a subject line or swapping in a first name. Redfin applies it at multiple levels, both across the journey and within the message.
“We have so much data, and so it’s difficult to find an ESP that’s able to handle all of this for us, and Iterable can.”
~ Country Miller, Marketing Channel Manager at Redfin
At the journey level, they use a clear formula: The more a customer engages, the more communication they receive. For example, users who meet specific thresholds for clicks or sessions in a 30-day window are considered “active” and receive frequent, timely updates. Dormant users are moved into journeys with less frequent outreach, ensuring the brand respects their level of interest.
At the message level, personalization becomes highly specific. If a customer is browsing Nashville homes priced around $400,000, they see listings that fit that profile, not million-dollar properties in Seattle. Even their one remaining batch-and-blast campaign includes conditional logic, such as avoiding prompts to download the app when the customer already has it.
This layered approach ensures communications feel both respectful and relevant, meeting customers where they are in their buying or selling process.
Vanity metrics don’t drive business outcomes.
Like most marketers, I pay attention to open and click rates. But as Country and I discussed, they’re not the ultimate measure of success, especially when you’re working with high-consideration decisions like buying or selling a home.
Redfin evaluates how an email influences the broader journey. If a customer clicks an email, reads a blog post, then searches for homes and reaches out to an agent, that chain of behavior is much more valuable than a single click.
In fact, sometimes deeper analysis reveals surprising results. In one insurance campaign, shorter copy drove higher click rates, but the longer version led to stronger conversions because customers were more informed before taking action.
The lesson here is that surface-level metrics don’t always tell the story. For marketers, success should be measured by the outcomes that truly matter to the business.
Scalable change is 5 steps away.
At Iterable, we know it’s not always easy to move away from campaign calendars and batch emails. That’s why we created a five-step framework for evolving into moments-based marketing:
- Build Your Data Foundation for Intelligent Marketing
- Redesign Your Journeys for Real-Time Relevance
- Scale Contextual Personalization with Modular Content
- Put AI to Work with Human-Led Expertise
- Turn Strategy into Revenue-Critical Action
This framework isn’t just for enterprise-level teams. As I emphasized during the webinar, smaller organizations can start by collecting first-party data and replacing a handful of batch campaigns with automated journeys. From there, the framework grows with you, guiding maturity without overwhelming teams from the start.
| For those ready to take action, we’ve developed a full playbook: The New Era of Moments-Based Marketing: 5 Steps to Evolve Your Marketing Strategy. |
Transformation requires a culture of action.
Even the best frameworks and tools can stall without the right culture. One of my favorite parts of talking to Country was hearing how her team embraces action. They work in agile sprints, moving ideas forward in increments rather than waiting for the perfect plan.
Country used the analogy of building a car: You might start with a skateboard, then move to a bike, then a motorcycle, until eventually you get to the full car. That mindset allows them to test ideas, learn quickly, and keep momentum without being paralyzed by perfectionism.
They also embrace what they call “loss thresholds.” Some tests are expected to fail or even cost money, but the learnings they provide are worth it. That willingness to experiment and to accept failure as part of progress sets them apart.
Marketers should remember that transformation requires more than technology. It demands a culture that values speed, experimentation, and continuous learning.
The moment for real-time personalization is now.
Redfin’s story illustrates what’s possible when a brand moves away from batch-and-blast and commits to moments-based marketing. With Iterable’s platform, they built a strong data foundation, scaled personalization, prioritized meaningful metrics, and created a culture where testing and iteration are part of daily work.
For marketers still tied to campaign calendars, the path forward doesn’t require a massive overhaul. Start small and replace one batch campaign with an automated journey. Measure outcomes beyond opens and clicks. Keep iterating until real-time personalization becomes the default rather than the exception.
If you’d like to see how Redfin’s approach looks in practice, check out their full customer story: Redfin and Iterable: Customer Story.
