#THEBIGLIFT Webtrends Optimize

This month's podcast guest is Justin Hobbs, Vice President of Partnership and Demand at Webtrends Optimize. He discusses his role and why he is passionate about partnerships, and how they help businesses to grow. He says, 'They lend themselves brilliantly to the partner model, there is so much value added to take to a client.' As well as expanding your offerings, partnerships can also take you into different markets, territories and geographical regions, introduce you to new clients, provide marketing opportunities, and more! So the benefits for both sides are endless. But, as Justin points out, this is particularly key at a time when so many businesses and agencies are looking for a new experimentation partner to replace Google Optimize.

This week's podcast guest is Shiva Manjunath, Experimentation Manager at Solo Brands. Shiva is passionate about CRO, and is one of the most enthusiastic CRO experts we've had. He says part of his love for it is down to the mystery of experimentation; when you test with live people, you never quite know what the result will be. Shiva also describes the appeal of CRO to most people in the industry, saying 'I think all of us are generally just curious people who all want to continue to learn. I just find it incredibly fascinating.' The idea of testing to learn and not just testing to win is also explored, focusing on the importance of the process to ultimately get the most effective results

Eden Bidani, Head of Strategy and Copy at CAPE Agency, is this week’s #thebiglift podcast guest. Eden talks about her background in sociology and anthropology, and how this first piqued her interest in building a connection through marketing and sales. She says, ‘I think what a lot of people in the industry will emphasise is that marketers need to understand psychology; how we respond to different triggers and how you can position products to appeal to people more.’ Therefore, you need to understand how consumers feel and what they need, to then market to them effectively. Eden also discusses how ChatGPT can be a useful tool for marketing teams or content writers, particularly to generate some idea’s or use it to brainstorm, but you still must know how use it to get the most out of it.

This week’s podcast guest is Matt Turner, CEO at The Creative Group. Over the last 16 years, Matt has developed an organisation of 6 companies, all based around different aspects of marketing which compliment each other.
Matt discusses his view that motivation is a team thing, and each member has a different part to play, so they all need to be treated differently and with their own motivations in mind. He says, ‘Some people are motivated by money, some by freedom, some by recognition… and it’s really important to remember everyone needs to know their own end goal and what that direction looks like. But also, everyone needs to be rowing at the same speed, even if that means some people row slower.’

Matt Smith has been CEO of Webtrends Optimize for 4 and a half years now, and a lot of this time has been dictated by Covid and an economic crisis. But, he argues that the future of CRO is bright, as more and more businesses move online. The key is driving users to your site and getting them to convert. He says, ‘‘A lot of people don't realise that just having a website from Shopify or somewhere similar isn't the best for actually converting. You need to look at data, understand user data and then optimise that experience.''

Is customer experience still a priority in the current economic climate? This is the topic we cover today on #theBigLift podcast. We interview Tim Williams, Planning Director at London based agency Four Forty, which focuses on customer-focused behavioural change. Tim explains that an important part of his job is to help brands improve customer experience both in digital and in real world.
"The customers are messy and not linear" says Tim, "and we should not forget that we do not only operate in the online world, but dip in and out of it many times a day".