Superhuman’s Lifecycle Reinvention: How Iterable + Hightouch Unlocked Next-Level Personalization

When your mission is helping everyone unlock their ultimate potential, “good enough” doesn’t cut it—especially not for a brand like Superhuman (formerly Grammarly), whose AI productivity platform is trusted by over 40 million people and 50,000 organizations worldwide. As the company expanded from its roots in AI writing assistance into a comprehensive, organization-wide productivity platform, the pressure mounted to deliver marketing that was just as intelligent, responsive, and blazingly fast as the suite itself.

But behind the scenes, Superhuman’s marketing team faced a tangled web of tools and processes that slowed them down. Orchestration was clunky. Campaign updates required engineering support. Data wasn’t real-time, and when they did get it, it was hard to act on. “We had the talent and the ambition,” said Julie Long, Sr. Director of Lifecycle Marketing, Operations & Growth Systems at Superhuman, “but our systems just weren’t built for the speed or scale we needed.”

A New Foundation for Growth

That realization sparked a bold internal shift. Superhuman made the decision to move away from their legacy Email Service Provider and migrated to Iterable, leveraging the robust infrastructure of AWS, to support rapid experimentation and deep personalization across channels. At the same time, they adopted Hightouch, a leading Reverse ETL tool, to sync real-time data from Databricks directly into Iterable. With this powerful combination, Superhuman was no longer limited by engineering bottlenecks or stale datasets.

Instead, marketers at Superhuman could design and launch campaigns with unprecedented speed, powered by clean, current data—all without writing a single line of code.

The Evolution of Grammarly Stats Emails

One of the most visible signs of transformation came from an email that Grammarly users, Superhuman’s AI-powered writing partner and communication platform, had been receiving for years: the weekly stats email. Previously, this message was a one-size-fits-all update that highlighted things like the number of words written and tone insights. It was beloved, but it had grown stale.

With Iterable and Hightouch, Superhuman’s marketing team reimagined the campaign from the ground up. They introduced 13 dynamic personas and tailored the content based on behavioral profiles, usage data, and product tiers (like free, premium, or enterprise). Grammarly enterprise customers, for instance, now receive an Effective Communication Score, a metric developed to reflect business-specific writing goals. Thanks to Iterable’s Catalog, all this data lives inside the platform, which is easily accessible for marketers to use in content, logic, and targeting.

Driving Adoption With Dynamic Recommendations

To drive adoption across Grammarly’s suite of features, including browser extension, mobile keyboard, and desktop application, the team replaced a list of installation modules with a single dynamic recommendation tailored to each user’s existing setup. By showing users only the missing installation module they need next, the message better aligns with individual user needs while freeing up valuable email real estate for those who are fully set up. These kinds of personalized changes, which would once have taken weeks to implement, can now be tested in days.

Building Smarter Campaigns With Confidence

As their team and tools matured, so did Superhuman’s marketing strategy. They expanded from five static audience segments to over twenty dynamically generated cohorts, each receiving tailored messaging across their journey. Iterable’s experimentation and automation capabilities allowed them to run tests at scale, like adjusting subject lines based on writing behavior or re-engaging users with personalized upgrade offers.

With instant access to data and native tools like Iterable’s Catalog, the marketing team took complete control of their workflows, slashing campaign setup time from four weeks to just three days. Marketing efficiency improved across the board. And by implementing conversion use cases within Iterable, Superhuman saw a 4.1% lift in LTV through smarter value bidding and lifecycle targeting.

Looking Ahead

Superhuman’s marketing evolution is far from over. With Iterable’s flexibility and Hightouch’s real-time data flows, the team is exploring new channels and deeper AI integration. They’ve also built out a dedicated operations function to keep scaling smartly, always pushing the envelope with two hard questions: What would we try if we weren’t afraid of breaking what’s “working”? And what’s the cost of staying the same?

For Superhuman, the answer is clear. Reinvention isn’t just worth the risk; it’s essential for staying ahead.