Miscellaneous
Currently the VP of Sales & Business Development for WhatCounts, an OSG company (formerly Windsor Circle), my guest Gautham Pandiyan is a scientist-turned-software expert who focuses on the retail, ESP and related markets. His team focuses on adding value to marketers’ personalization initiatives, helping them grow profitable repeat business. In this episode, we discuss: Windsor Circle’s recent acquisition by OSG and merger with WhatCounts, an email marketing provider, and what this means for the joint company’s offerings. The evolution/range of digital personalization capabilities, from Personalization 1.0 (using a customer’s name) through Personalization 4.0 (predicting buying behavior). Why personalization drives a more engaged and loyal customer base and, ultimately, a higher lifetime customer value, even in an era focused on privacy (e.g. GDPR). Personalization as a strategic imperative, not a nice-to-have, and its role in building a strong loyalty program. That email remains the most cost-effective and effective direct marketing tool, but how you can pair email strategically with social ads and other media (even direct mail) to increase impact of marketing spend. Creative ways to track and measure the impact of your marketing efforts across channels, beyond last click attribution. How WhatCounts determines which specific automated marketing actions cause conversions using randomized control groups, like in a medical trial. Busy marketers needing to carve out time to test innovative tactics – and when to use outside vendors to accelerate innovation and leverage more from your solutions. Why data and adoption are two of the biggest challenges with marketing technology. Why in 2019 we’ll see up to half of retailers/brands fail to launch personalization initiatives on their roadmap, and how big of an impact new loyalty programs have on the bottom line.