Statements of Intent David Mannheim

In this episode of Statements of Intent, host David Mannheim talks to Johnny Longden, Group Digital Director at Boohoo, about the pressures faced by eCommerce companies and how a myopic focus on metrics can undermine the customer experience. They discuss the need to balance short-term business goals with long-term customer needs and nurturing loyalty beyond just conversion rates.
Jonny has years of experience building and scaling experimentation strategies from scratch for large businesses like Visa Europe, Sky, and Journey Further. He has practiced innovation in analytics and testing/experimentation, and knows all about how to marry this with KPI performance.
Topics Covered:
The difference in pressures between agency and client-side rolesShort-term business pressures vs building long-term customer loyaltyThe pitfalls of over-relying on metrics like conversion ratesUnderstanding and optimising for the customer's intent and experienceMoving beyond metrics to a more holistic view of customer behaviourKey Quotes:
“I’m not a toilet seat addict.”"Conversion rate is a good example where you can do something to increase conversion rate and you would successfully increase conversion rate, but that would have a detrimental impact on your entire business and you would never know.""We need to move to understanding more of the total systems that govern how people behave and interact.”"Imagine if you try to sort of optimise your friendship with one of your friends through metrics, you know, you wouldn't do it, would you? It just would be really, really weird."Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction00:49 Guest Intro: Johnny Longden03:23 The Pressure In Retail vs. Agency05:55 Short-Term Pressures vs. Long-Term Customer Needs08:54 Stop Over-Relying on Metrics17:18 Customer Intent and Experience21:35 Jonny's Statement of Intent: Data and Tech vs Customers22:43 Outro
Social Media
Jonny's LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonnylongden/Made With Intent LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithintent/?viewAsMember=trueYouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@madewithintent

In this episode, David Mannheim chats to Tim Ryan, Director of Digital at Seasalt, about his thoughts on how eCommerce has evolved over the past 15 years - both the good and the bad. He emphasises the importance of driving relevance over pure personalisation and making online shopping experiences as frictionless as possible for customers.
Tim has over 16 years experience working in eCommerce for brands like The Walt Disney Company, Direct Line Group, Lidl GB, Karen Millen… The list goes on! Tim has a wealth of skills from digital marketing and SEO to product strategy. If anyone knows how to maximise sales onsite, it’s him.
Topics Covered:
How eCommerce has changed, from a lack of personalisation to assumptions based on limited dataThe balance between personalisation and allowing customer choiceUsing data to become a customer-led businessThe limitations of broad customer personasKey Quotes:
"Personalisation is only as good as the on-site journey the relevance that you're actually pushing through, so it can't just be personalising a bit of content or product offering.”"You want the customer to be able to choose things, otherwise everyone would just push all their money through PMAX driving customers to a random product.”"It's about making the journey as frictionless and relevant as possible. It's not just about purchase, it's about understanding the customer's drivers.”Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction01:09 Guest Intro: Tim Ryan04:25 How eCommerce Has Changed Over 15 Years09:56 Pro or Anti Personalisation?13:24 Tim's Statement: Driving Relevance Over Personalisation19:07 Tim's Personalisation Experience And Advice22:37 Outro
Social Media
Tim's LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tryan1/Made With Intent LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithintent/?viewAsMember=trueYouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@madewithintent

In this episode, David Mannheim sits down with Martin Sheerin, Director of Digital Product at N Brown Group.
Martin explains how brands will gain more reward by prioritising decisions based on customer needs rather than lagging metrics like conversion.
After working for brands like Moneysupermarket, The Co-operative Bank, and Phones4u, Martin has over 16 years of expertise in eCommerce, user experience, and conversion rate optimisation. In this time, he has not only transformed businesses but also fostered teams to excel in creating innovative digital products and touchpoints that significantly improve customer journeys.
Topics Covered:
Martin’s role as a Director of Digital Products at N Brown GroupUnderstanding the difference between leading and lagging metricsThe importance of customer-centric testing and optimisationN Brown's "Run, Grow, Transform" model for balancing short and long-term goalsAdvice for how to keep the customer at the heart of business decisionsKey Quotes:
"If you think about customers as numbers, you'll drive the number up now, but it's very short-lived.""We're not only looking at the sale, but the whole loop - before you come to our websites through to how do I make you want to make a second purchase with us?""If you just do conversion optimisation, you'd minimise the content and push people through. What we found was by making it a slightly longer process and helping people understand the product, we got more sign-ups and retained more customers."Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction01:06 Guest Introduction: Martin Sheeran01:43 The Role of a Director of Digital Products03:36 Understanding Leading vs. Lagging Metrics06:41 The Importance of Customer-Centric Testing17:15 The Three-Speed Model: Run, Grow, Transform24:20 Martin's Advice For Other eComm Leaders28:18 Outro
Resources
‘A Brief History of Netflix Personalization’ by Gibson Biddle → https://gibsonbiddle.medium.com/a-brief-history-of-netflix-personalization-1f2debf010a1

In this episode, David is joined by Matthew Gratze, Director of Customer at Signet Jewellers.
Matthew shares his perspective on the importance of being relevant to each customer's unique shopping journey and how to deliver personalised, contextual experiences.
Matthew holds experience across several sectors from baby & child to jewellery. His leadership in driving major business transformations and digital strategies for brands like Halfords, Ann Summers, and Mothercare has earned him a spot on The Retail Week Etail Power List 2016 top 50.
Topics Covered:
The lessons Matthew learned about customer-centricity during his time at AppleBalancing the pressures of new customer acquisition versus retention strategiesMaking experiences relevant and appropriate to each unique customer journey and missionWhy relevance trumps one-size-fits-all marketingKey Quotes:
"If you can design a journey or a product or a mission perfectly with the customer in mind, it's very difficult to go wrong from that stance.""How do you become more relevant for each of those shopping journeys or shopping missions? That's where retailers could really win.""Being relevant is about how we become more relevant for that shopping experience there and then based on signals, browsing intents, etc.”"We get stuck with short-term views and try to fix very small things rather than looking at the bigger picture."Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction01:16 Guest Introduction: Matthew Gratze03:21 Matthew's Lessons In Selling13:18 Balancing Acquisition vs. Retention17:38 Matthew's Statement: Be Relevant23:12 Matthew's Last Words23:46 Outro
Social Media
Matthew’s LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgratze/Made With Intent LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithintent/?viewAsMember=trueYouTube → www.youtube.com/@madewithintent

In this episode, host David Mannheim talks to Richard Chappell, Chief Growth Officer & Co-founder of The Growth Foundation, about the importance of replicating the in-store experience online. They discuss Richard's career journey from working on the shop floor to becoming a retail consultant, and why brands need to "walk the store" digitally to better connect with customers.
As former Head of Marketing at play.com, Founder & CEO at THG Ingenuity and CMO at Gymshark, Richard helped grow all three into unicorn companies. With 20 years of experience in DTC eCommerce, he is an expert at unlocking huge, profitable and sustainable growth for start-ups, scale-ups and established businesses.
Topics Covered:
Richard's background working at major retailers like Sainsbury's Homebase, Play.com, and GymsharkTranslating physical retail strategies to the online environmentUsing AI and personalisation to recreate two-way communicationOvercoming barriers like living in the CMS and not "shopping the store"Why eCommerce brands need to stay close to their customersKey Quotes:
"I think often people just live in the kind of eCommerce CMS in the background and actually never shop their stores.""It's thinking about…testing things like arriving on homepages and saying 'are you a new or returning customer?' Almost like signposting as you would do in a physical store.""Actually reaching out to those top customers...getting founders, owners, and team members to talk to their customers directly...the amount of insight you can gain is phenomenal."Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction01:11 Introducing Richard Chappell: A Retail and eCommerce Veteran01:26 Richard's Statement: Act Like a Physical Retailer04:58 Richard's Career Path06:42 Bringing Physical Retail Strategies to Online Stores17:11 Overcoming Barriers to eCommerce Success22:46 Richard's Final Advice23:47 Outro
Social Media
Richard's LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardchapple/Made With Intent LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithintent/?viewAsMember=trueYouTube → http://www.youtube.com/@madewithintent

In this episode, host David Mannheim sits down with Janis Thomas, Managing Director of Look Fabulous Forever.
Janis has 25 years experience in delivering multi-million pound marketing and eCommerce projects in high-growth businesses. She has grown diverse brands from The Times Educational Supplement to Playboy.
Janis discusses how eCommerce often neglects a significant portion of society—those over 50 years old, who make up 40% of the population. Janis shares her perspective on the importance of truly understanding and catering to customers, regardless of their age or demographic.
Topics Covered:
Janis' diverse career journey, from marketing at Playboy to building eCommerce brandsHer statement: eCommerce neglects 40% of society.The need for diversity in organisations to better represent and understand customersWhy we shouldn’t assume customer preferences and behavioursLook Fabulous Forever's approach to building long-term relationships and trust with customersKey Quotes:
"If we concentrate our organisations with people in that 25 to 39 age group, how can we possibly ever hope to understand and fully represent the remaining 80% of the population?""We can't just put a picture of our blusher on Google search. You are never gonna buy our product. You need to understand about it and why we exist."“Over time, we'll build a relationship, we'll build trust.”Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction01:02 Guest Introduction: Janis Thomas05:18 Janis' Statement: eCommerce Neglects 40% of Society12:00 Get to Know Your Customers18:19 The Long Journey to Purchase: Building Trust and Engagement21:47 Janis' Final Advice22:22 Outro
Social Media
Janis' LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/janisthomas/Made With Intent LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithintent/?viewAsMember=trueYouTube → www.youtube.com/@madewithintent