The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

Episode: Intuit Mailchimp's Diana Williams on Moving from Fragmentation to Holiday Sales Success
Guest: Diana Williams, VP of Product Management, Intuit Mailchimp
Date: November 3, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Greg Kihlström is joined by Diana Williams, VP of Product Management at Intuit Mailchimp, to explore how small and mid-sized retailers can transform fragmented customer data into effective, personalized holiday marketing strategies. The conversation delves into unifying multichannel data, leveraging automation, using advanced analytics and AI, and how businesses can position themselves for sustainable growth—both during the holiday rush and beyond.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge of Fragmented Data and the First Step Toward Unification

• Modern Realities: Small and mid-market retailers typically use between 7 to 25 different apps, leading to data silos and an incomplete view of customers. (04:37)
  • Quote: “Most small and mid market businesses I talk to, they use anywhere from like 7 to 25 different apps. Now talk about data fragmentation.” — Diana Williams [04:37]
• Lean Teams, Big Challenges: Even mid-market companies often have only 10 or fewer marketing employees, yet dedicate significant resources to marketing.
  • Quote: “Over half of even mid market departments, about 51% have 10 or fewer employees...they’re working hard.” — Diana Williams [04:37]
• First Actionable Step: Don’t buy more tools; instead, integrate existing sources into a central customer data platform for a unified customer profile—the foundation for smart, automated, personalized marketing.
  • Quote: “The critical first step is bringing the data together, not buying more tools.” — Diana Williams [06:16]

2. Shifting from Pure Acquisition to Lifetime Value

• Beyond the Single Sale: The goal isn’t just immediate customer acquisition, but maximizing customer lifetime value through personalized retention and repeat purchases, especially during the holidays.
  • Quote: “You do want to get customer acquisition, but you really want to start thinking about how do I make sure the people who have already bought from me also come back again and again.” — Diana Williams [07:48]
• Personalizing Holiday Campaigns: Use existing data to give VIPs early access, follow up with thank-yous and rewards for recent buyers, and cut through the holiday noise with small, thoughtful touches.
  • Quote: “All of those small touches cut through all of that holiday noise and they make, you know, customers feel more seen and more valued.” — Diana Williams [08:29]
• Multi-Channel Engagement: Combining email, SMS, and transactional notifications increases effectiveness and builds long-term loyalty (e.g., Mailchimp clients noted 16.5x ROI with SMS launches).
  • Quote: “Once you start even using on Mailchimp, we started seeing like…16 and a half ROI multiplier right after launching their first SMS campaign.” — Diana Williams [09:37]

3. Tactics for Omnichannel Personalization

• Turning Rich Data Into Action: Purchase history, frequency, browsing behavior, and viewed-but-not-bought products are goldmines for personalization.
  • Separate campaigns for first-time vs. repeat buyers.
  • Trigger SMS “we saved this for you” after cart abandonment.
  • Retarget based on browser or prior engagement behavior.
• Case Study: Swedish retailer using Mailchimp’s automation and segmentation saw a 30x increase in revenue from email, with a 315%+ increase above industry click-through benchmarks.
  • Quote: “Segmentation tools…allowed them to scale from B2C and B2B and they started seeing 30 times the ROI when it comes to revenue from email.” — Diana Williams [12:06]

4. Going Beyond Basic Cart Abandonment

• Nuanced Triggers: Move from generic “you left something behind” emails to tailoring by product type, engagement level, or loyal customer status—reaching buyers where and how they prefer (e.g., SMS for mobile shoppers).
  • Quote: “You can use a lot more richer data like which products customers recently viewed…tailor your recovery messages…Because the automations work across email and sms.” — Diana Williams [14:04]
• Channel Preference Matters: E.g., late-night mobile shoppers may respond better to SMS than email.

5. Closing the Loop: Connecting Online and Offline Results

• Unified Ecosystem Approach: Treat online and offline data as part of one customer journey to see additive effects.
  • Quote: “The first thing is to just approach your data as one connected ecosystem.” — Diana Williams [16:07]
• Real-World Example: Toronto restaurant group used unified online and offline marketing to drive in-store visits; email now drives two-thirds of their online revenue, with 77% open rates. [16:35]
  • Quote: “Their welcome journeys and their win back campaigns, they boosted sales and actually drove people back into the restaurants and shops too.” — Diana Williams [16:19]

6. Smarter Resource Allocation With Analytics & AI

• Making Every Dollar Count: Advanced reporting and AI insights in Mailchimp allow real-time optimization of campaigns for maximum ROI and conversion.
  • Quote: “With our mailchimp's new advanced reporting feature, AI powered insights, you can now optimize like more real time Trends across email, SMS + behavioral patterns optimizing for ROI, you know, and faster campaigns.” — Diana Williams [18:23]
• AI Agents for Marketing: Intuit’s platform is developing AI agents to automate audience management, campaign execution, and content creation, letting small teams operate at ‘enterprise’ scale.

7. Building for Sustained Growth, Not Just Q4

• Set the Foundation Now: Begin integrations and automation during the holidays so data and personalizations can be leveraged year-round.
  • Quote: “It's not just about winning in Q4, right. It's about creating that foundational understanding so you become smarter. It is tracking your results, understanding your customer loyalties over time that becomes the most valuable asset.” — Diana Williams [20:53]
• Iterate and Test: Early testing of messages, channels, and automations compounds advantages and supports future campaigns.
  • Quote: “Every campaign, every click feeds back into your longer strategy. So my recommendation is begin this holiday, don't wait. It's not that hard.” — Diana Williams [22:12]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI as an Equalizer:
  “AI is going to change the dynamics. I actually think it's going to become the equalizer. So, you know, smaller leaner teams are going to be able to operate at greater scale.”
  — Diana Williams [23:25]

• On Remaining Agile:
  “I love learning and so I think if you're one of those people who just love to consume and learn and nothing feels scary, the idea of what you can do with that really energizes you.”
  — Diana Williams [24:39]

• On Data-Driven Personalization:
  “Personalization works. And once you start building those automations and you have those events as a marketer too, it doesn't become one offs. You can create that scaled system.”
  — Diana Williams [12:55]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:20] — Diana Williams on her background and Mailchimp’s expanded capabilities
• [04:37] — The scale and sources of data fragmentation for SMB marketing teams
• [07:48] — Shifting focus to customer lifetime value and retention over acquisition
• [10:49] — Practical use of unified data for effective, multi-channel holiday campaigns
• [13:13] — Advanced tactics for cart abandonment and contextual outreach
• [15:54] — Bridging the online and offline revenue gap with connected analytics
• [18:19] — Leveraging analytics/AI to optimize budgets and marketing ROI
• [20:30] — Preparing for year-round growth by laying a data foundation during holidays
• [23:25] — Predicting the role of AI in marketing one year from now
• [24:37] — Diana's habits for staying agile and energized as a leader

Conclusion & Takeaways

• Unify Customer Data: Start where you are; get all possible sources into a single system for actionable insights.
• Prioritize Retention: Lean into data-driven personalization to nurture long-term customer value, rather than only chasing new buyers.
• Embrace Multichannel Marketing: Use both email and SMS, leveraging behavior and engagement data to trigger contextual and personalized outreach.
• Connect All Touchpoints: Treat online, offline, email, SMS, and even in-store touchpoints as parts of one unified customer journey.
• Leverage AI for Scale and Smarts: Automation and AI are lowering barriers for smaller teams to compete with enterprise giants.
• Lay the Foundation Now: Use the holiday period to gather data and build automations that will power continuous engagement and growth throughout the year.

For more content and insights, visit theagilebrand.com.

Guest Bio:
Diana Williams is the VP of Product Management at Intuit Mailchimp. She has previously held leadership roles at Meta and eBay and is passionate about enabling businesses to blend marketing, commerce, and customer insight into growth.