Jenna Crane 9:06
Yeah, I don’t know that we necessarily sight coming. But the same kind of underlying beliefs that shaped how Klaviyo was built are the same principles that that made that evolution happen. So we really believe that business is just a connection between two humans and ecommerce is a modern way for that business to take place. So even the even though you’re doing it, you know, at a scale that would have been otherwise impossible, for, you know, brick and mortar, one to one retail, the most successful businesses we’re seeing are the ones that really feel like a human personal one to one connection. So we’ve long believed, you know, we really want to be the platform that empowers businesses to build those personal, long lasting, authentic relationships with customers on their own terms at Internet scale. So it’s it’s exciting to see it actually play out that way.
Joshua Chin 9:57
And how exactly does Klaviyo do that? No, I know that being a kind of a, effectively a CDP, or customer data platform helps a ton. And not many other ESPs can claim that, but how exactly does Klaviyo help brands create experiences beyond the transaction?
Jenna Crane 10:19
Yeah, so um, well, first of all, we provide the infrastructure to, to have those direct owned channels with with customers. So, you know, on your website, you can build your subscriber list via email and SMS, and then that gives you the audience to talk to them, then we actually give you the messaging infrastructure to reach them via email and SMS. But But where the power really lies is in that, that data and using that data to, to create really relevant personal interaction. So because we integrate really deeply and easily with ecommerce platforms, as well as the rest of the technology that people are using, we can pull in data and store it infinitely and in an unlimited way. And then we kind of, we do this really cool thing, which is we kind of pre process it. So you can do super granular segmentations on your audience really, really quickly. And really easily. So if you wanted to say, for example, send this campaign to somebody who has visited the website three times in the past two months, and they viewed, you know, red shoes, but they haven’t bought anything and they’re likely to be, you know, a woman, then send them this campaign two weeks before we Klaviyo forecast that they are predicted to make their next purchase. So instead of just you know, that batch and blast, like one size fits all, which never really works, we give companies the data and the insights to understand what their customers might want to hear from them. And then to make it really easy to send those really personal messages that are just more engaging, more relevant, and helps build those long lifetime relationships.
Joshua Chin 12:16
I love that. I love that. And the thing about what you’ve just described is that I think not not many people understand the complexities and the work that’s necessary to reach a point where you can easily go and or, and or logic or the if this and that type of logic, there’s so much that happens behind the scenes with normalizing data, routing data through from different platforms onto a single warehouse. And, you know, without being a you know, I’m I don’t come from a coding background. So and nor data background, so I’ve absolutely no clue what’s what’s happening behind the scenes. But after experiencing of different platforms in the market, I really, truly appreciate the amount of work that enables customers and brands to really just go in and make things happen without worrying about OSHA, I have to go buy a warehouse, or I have to go subscribe to this other third party application, I’d have no idea about.
Jenna Crane 13:23
Absolutely, and that’s kind of the theme behind a lot of what we do is taking the complexity and the hard work off of Brad’s plate so that they can just focus on building relationships with their customers and, you know, developing great products and offering them you know, whether it’s like SMS, you know, you don’t have to worry about compliance and deliverability and all, you know, all the intricacies of setting up an SMS channel, we do all of that for you. So you can just focus on communicating with your customers. So that’s, that’s exactly right.
Joshua Chin 13:59
I love a broad SMS. So email plus SMS, with at the agency have seen this super incredibly well. With tons of different clients in different industries. What makes Klaviyo SMS successful especially in relation to Klaviyo email.
Jenna Crane 14:21
Yeah, so SMS is successful through Klaviyo based on a lot of the things that make email successful as well you know, our, our data infrastructure, the really best in class kind of segmentation, data analytics, personalization. All of that is incredibly important with email for sure, but especially with SMS because it is a more personal and intimate channel. So you really want to make sure that you’re sending the right message at the right time to the right people. The other thing that that makes Klaviyo SMS really compelling is that it is combined in the same platform as email. So you know, for companies I know a lot of brands are using, you know, either custom kind of third party solutions or, or just an SMS provider that they add to Klaviyo email. And the issue with that is, is really it comes down to attribution. So it’s very difficult to report on which channel, which campaign is actually driving revenue. And sometimes you see over retribution, and that makes it really hard to understand what’s performing well, and where you should invest more in. So you can actually make kind of some core investment decisions there. And then, of course, from the customer experience, you know, so if you’re, if you don’t have your multi channel flows managed from the same place, then you know, we see a lot of issues with customers getting over notified or getting, you know, the same message on email and SMS, which has a really poor customer experience that can hurt brands and also lead to opt out. So it is much easier to have it in one place, which is why we’re so excited to add SMS and MMS to our offerings.
Joshua Chin 16:04
So you touched a little bit on customer experience. And I like to think of Klaviyo as an experience optimization tool than anything. Right, that’s, that’s the way to look at looking at it. Now. What do you think is the future of customer experience from the perspective of like, marketers like myself? Do you see us moving to a more conversational route? Where brands are having like live conversations with customers? Or do you see more data coming into play?
Jenna Crane 16:41
Yeah, I think it’s both. Um, you know, from my time at Drift, I definitely believe in conversational marketing. But, you know, I think just the overall theme there is, um, you know, people are now so used to super personalized on demand experiences, um, you know, think about like Netflix or, you know, Uber, Uber Eats anything like that, like, you’re used to being able to get exactly what you want, in the touch of a button. So that transition to doing that, in a digital world is, is not easy. I think brands that that are going to be really successful and building great customer experiences, deeply understand their customers and know kind of what, what experience they want to have, with that brand, whether that’s what kind of communication channels they prefer, what kind of actual content they prefer, and then being able to dynamically personalize that so they can do it at scale. You know, that might look like, you know, dynamic website personalization tools, or definitely, you know, flows into email and SMS and the other channels that you’re using to communicate. But I think, you know, also tools that help you have conversations with your customers are going to be really important too. Because, you know, a lot of that in store business is moving online. And the thing you missed there, it’s being able to talk to someone and say, Well, you know, is this gonna look okay? Or, you know, do you have this in another color? And, and those conversations are now increasingly happening online, too. So if that’s, that’s going to be a big investment area, I think for a lot of brands.
Joshua Chin 18:24
Post pandemic, what do you think about how the ecommerce landscape is going to shift or change? What’s your prediction?
Jenna Crane 18:34
Um, well, I mean, I feel like I’m a broken record with personalization. But I think, you know, that trend is only going to continue with, you know, we’re calling it hyper personalization, especially given that, you know, we’re seeing so, so much more consumer purchasing right now, this is kind of open season for buying again. So brands are competing with more noise than ever, and, you know, those kind of batch and blast, one size fits all communications are just going to increasingly fall flat. So it’s going to be more and more important to be relevant and personalized, and really understand what to send on what channel and to whom, and, and when I think the other big trends that we’re going to see is around the privacy, privacy changes and how that affects the marketing mix and marketing investment area. So it’s going to be increasingly important to build direct relationships with customers, targeting them on ad platforms, it’s going to be increasingly difficult and expensive. And so I, I predict the brands that are going to be really successful are the ones that, that invest in building those direct relationships with customers on their own channels. So they have complete control over how they communicate with them and when and, and can really learn also from their, their engagement and their behavior to continue to optimize not only what they’re sending, but what they’re Building and delivering and offering.
Joshua Chin 20:02
Love that. And what are some of your personal favorites? What are some of your personal favorite brands that you feel does a great job at own marketing and building that amazing experience online?
Jenna Crane 20:16
Yeah, um, so I have two that come to mind. So one of them is a brand I love actually, it’s called NakedPoppy. They’re a clean beauty startup. And they’re entirely based on personalized recommendations. So they, they believe that, you know, everyone should have great clean beauty options that are not compromised to to non clean options. So they’ve curated this entire marketplace, and they actually started developing their own products, which are fantastic. So you go on there, and you you take this quiz, which is actually backed by data science, it’s really cool how they do it. And it just from online, it can identify your skin tone, and you know, all the things that go into choosing makeup, which is, you know, something that before a couple years ago, we wouldn’t even think to do online because it’s shade matching, and you got to try things on. But they’ve developed this amazingly accurate, personalized survey, and then they serve you recommendations in each category. And it’s completely customized, it’s, it’s entirely personalized, and then they do a great job of offering content that helps you understand how to use those products best and what other products you might need, and it’s very much adding value, you know, instead of just trying to sell like, here’s what you need to think about skin, summer skincare, and you know, even when when we were all wearing masks like how to how to manage your skin on your mask. So they’ve done an amazing job pivoting to this online business and they’re the core of their business is about personalization, which I really think is wonderful. The other one that comes to mind is Native, the deodorant company so I also am a big fan of them they I remember when I first started ordering from them their order confirmation email was so different than anything else you would see it was like it started with you know, I think it was like “Oh my god Kristen in our office just screamed at her computer and yelled oh my god Jenna bought deodorant” or something like that. It’s like this whole story that they craft with dynamic personalization and it really you know, catches your eye and and makes you develop a you know, a more of a relationship with with that brand. But what they did that was super smart, I think was they have this quiz where you can build your own kind of custom deodorant scent. And then they ship it to you and it literally says like Jenna’s deodorant, and then you can reorder it and it you know if you like the science or you can change it but you can literally develop a custom formulation and then and then keep ordering that it has your name on it. I think that was really smart.
Joshua Chin 23:17
So NakedPoppy and Native Deodorant and I love I’m definitely gonna check them out. Native, I’m pretty familiar with that. They they have done such an amazing job in the DTC space. And I think that that email that idea actually if I’m not wrong, actually comes from Derek Sivers and CD Baby. Really. So CD Baby is a they are one of the earliest the of old school internet marketing company. It’s digital mills, music distribution. Ah, okay. Pretty cool. They were founded like before the 2000s. And they kind of started the whole funny post purchase email thing, and it was kind of written out. And in his in his book, I think it’s called a Anything You Want by Derek Sivers. So it’s such a good book. super short, super easy to read. And I got so much out of that book. And yeah, we at at our agency, we actually use that same angle, that same idea with a ton of different brands, especially the cosmetics and beauty space, where the personal touch is so valuable. It works like a charm. That’s great. Especially if you put your own flair to it, and it’s just super fun. And a kickstart a really cool conversation that we then have the customer success team prepared for, and a lot of that selling can organically happen on the back end as well. That’s interesting. Um, so Jenna, what’s, what’s next for Klaviyo?
Jenna Crane 25:09
Yeah, we’ve got a lot of really exciting things in store. I can’t sure exactly what they are, but I can tell you some of the themes. So, um, we were going to continue to work on a few areas. So making Klaviyo the most intuitive and easy to use platform, you know, we, we hear over and over again, that that is something that our customers really value and is one of our differentiators. So not, that’s not going anywhere. And it’s only going to get stronger, especially in how you connect your other technology and unlock all your data, bringing in data from from everywhere else. And how you use that data to create really powerful campaigns and automation and segmentations. And also how you get insights on your customers your performance and where to optimize. So we have a huge data science team that’s doing really amazing things. Taking, like I said earlier, taking the work off of customers plates so they can focus on on running their business. The other theme that we’re working on is making multi channel marketing really easy. With continued work on SMS, we have a lot of great features and functionality in store for SMS product. And then the last theme, I would say is helping you send smarter marketing without doing extra work. So that data science piece is incredibly important. We launched benchmarks earlier this year, as you know, one of our big moments, there, allowing you to see how your different campaigns and flows are performing compared to not just industry averages but peers that are like yours. So we have this huge database of communication communications that we can pull from to really identify what are the most impactful and high performing aspects of of emails and SMS and how do we surface that to our customers to make their lives easier to help them optimize? We have a lot of great things planned with AV testing and making that super intuitive and easy. So just generally, you know, helping you do better work without the better without the additional time and effort.
Joshua Chin 27:18
I love that that’s always music to my ears. Jenna, thank you so much and if listeners are interested to connect with you and learn more about what you do and learn more about Klaviyo where should they go to?
Jenna Crane 27:32
Yes, for Klaviyo, definitely check out our website klaviyo.com, Klaviyo. Oh, and then feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. You should find me under Jenna Crane.
Joshua Chin 27:45
Awesome. And in the show notes, we’ll link we’ll have all these linked up in the show notes as well how you can sign up for Klaviyo and all that good stuff. Jenna, thank you so much for your time, and it’s been a pleasure having you on the show.
Jenna Crane 27:57
It was such a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much.
Intro 28:03
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