Interview

When and how did you get your start in marketing?

My whole life I’ve gravitated towards graphic design. Even in Elementary school, I would design birthday cards and party invitations for my friends using design software(it was in a CD back then). That eventually evolved into opportunities like being editor in chief for my middle school yearbook, designing class t-shirts for my senior class in high school, and ultimately, majoring in Advertising in college where I eventually began to gravitate more towards the business side of things. After landing an internship on the Loyalty marketing team at Royal Carribean, I fell in love with 1:1 marketing which at the time was primarily email and direct mail, and that set me on the path I am still on today, now also adding SMS and mobile marketing to my 1:1 marketing toolkit.

What brings you joy in your role?

Lifecycle marketers are equal parts creative, strategic and technical. We are unicorns of sorts and that keeps every day new and exciting. Because technology is always evolving, it unlocks new ways of reaching our customers in a personalized way. Seeing campaigns through end to end and being able to measure the success of your campaign is extremely rewarding. Not to mention, the subject of my current role is so important because keeping our users informed about what’s happening in the world has a real impact on people’s lives.

What tips, tricks, or pieces of advice would give a new Iterable user?

Really think through your use cases before implementation so you can set up your schema, attributes and events in such a way that you can execute what you need and future-proof it.

What are some Iterable features that have made your job easier? Or have been game-changers for yourself and your team?

The experiments feature with the holdout functionality has really unlocked our ability to measure incrementality. In the subscription business, when looking at retention metrics, comparing KPIS from your treatment group against the holdout is really the best way to measure impact.

As a consumer, what brings you joy from a brand’s outreach/communication?

As a consumer, I appreciate recognition, especially in the form of “surprise and delight.” In this digital age, where even calling customer service can be an automated service, brands need to find ways to bring in a human element. It seems obvious, but when personalization is done right, you feel seen. Remind me how long I’ve been a customer, make me feel appreciated, surprise me with something.

How do you stay up–to–date with the latest trends and developments in marketing?

As a true email lover, I am signed up to several industry email newsletters such as, AdWeek, Litmus, INMA, Morning Brew, and Really Good Emails.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I’ve ever been given is “trust but validate.” Especially when working with big data, you always want to really confirm data is flowing through correctly. One example is when launching automations, there are so many nuances from customer to customer, you want to closely look at a handful of customers. Beyond just making sure the automation works as expected, I’ve often found bugs when doing this as well, which is really helpful in making sure your data is clean and well managed.

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

A sweet treat!