At A Glance

Jennifer Yoder has been driving CX excellence since before she even had a word for it. Her multifaceted approach to customer engagement focuses on delivering data-driven insights into omnichannel strategies. 

Who is Jennifer Yoder?

Meet Jennifer, a CX leader with decades of experience!

Jennifer’s CX Journey

Jennifer’s journey in customer experience began long before she knew it had a name. Starting in luxury retail, she quickly became a leader who focused on empowering CX teams, driving revenue, and solving brand-wide problems. “I became the go-to person in the field,” she says, often finding solutions when others were hesitant to ask questions. Her early initiatives mirrored E-Commerce strategies, pushing her beyond traditional store management roles as early as 2008.

By 2009, Jennifer was independently running email marketing campaigns and building custom marketing calendars tailored to her business. Despite limited tools, she excelled, often using makeshift solutions like Microsoft programs unsuited for marketing tasks. Jennifer’s resourcefulness led her to create her own A/B testing scripts and macros, demonstrating her commitment to enhancing customer engagement, even without the ideal resources.

Jennifer’s Career Evolution

Jennifer’s approach to customer experience has evolved significantly over the years, shaped by her deep understanding of long-term customer engagement. In luxury retail, she mastered retention strategies, creating activation events that gave customers “an excuse to buy,” even when purchasing wasn’t a necessity. “I was with every brand through multiple seasons,” Jennifer explains, “reactivating people after 18, 24, 36 months.” This long-term view set her apart in an industry often defined by fleeting tenures.

As technology advanced, Jennifer adapted quickly, implementing innovative solutions such as video appointment selling via Skype as early as 2017. She leveraged whatever tools were available, often mimicking e-commerce practices without the platforms typically required. Her commitment to understanding her customers on a deeper level meant she continually refined her strategies, prioritizing meaningful interactions over generic outreach. “It’s about starting with the customer and really figuring out what was going to be impactful,” Jennifer says.

The Scalability of CX

Jennifer’s understanding of customer experience has evolved from simply managing touchpoints to scaling personalized interactions that truly resonate. Throughout her career, she has grappled with the challenge of balancing human engagement with the limitations of individual capacity. “Humans have a finite amount of attention and sympathy,” Jennifer notes, highlighting the importance of thoughtful automation. She sees AI as an opportunity to let CX professionals focus on meaningful interactions while offloading repetitive tasks, allowing them to better address specific customer needs.

For Jennifer, the future of CX isn’t just about identifying high-value customers but also keeping those relationships robust over time. “People pass away, go through cycles of activation and dormancy,” she says, stressing that brands must do more than simply categorize customers as active or inactive. 

She advocates for nuanced segmentation that offers customers choice and relevance, tailoring communication frequency and content to their preferences. “Every person that calls in with something that has gone wrong has the potential to be VIP,” she explains, underscoring her belief in the power of personalized recovery and proactive engagement to create lasting emotional connections with the brand.

Omnichannel E-Commerce

Jennifer emphasizes the importance of leveraging omnichannel strategies to bridge the gap between digital and physical customer experiences. She points out that integrating insights across various touchpoints can drive significant improvements in customer lifetime value (LTV) and overall profitability. 

“What you measure and emphasize becomes your reality,” she notes, stressing that focusing on key performance indicators like LTV, purchase frequency, and segmentation can yield better results regardless of the channel. 

Jennifer sees value in connecting customer experience teams across digital and physical spaces, allowing them to learn from one another and utilize their tech stacks more effectively. This integration helps brands operate from the customer’s perspective, tailoring their approach to meet specific needs and enhance the overall journey.

Jennifer also highlights how some brands have successfully implemented omnichannel experiences, using examples like Amazon's ventures into physical stores and FabLetics' ability to track in-store interactions. 

“FabLetics, for instance, sends abandoned cart emails about physical carts left in the store, which is really excellent,” she says, demonstrating how data can be used innovatively to bridge the physical-digital divide. 

However, she acknowledges the challenges many brands face, particularly those without their own retail locations. Jennifer believes the future lies in creating mutually beneficial data-sharing arrangements between brands and their retail partners, making it more attractive for both sides to collaborate and elevate the customer experience.

Jennifer’s Future Plans

Jennifer is eager to find her next opportunity in a full-time role within customer success, merchant success, or client success, particularly with a company that prioritizes using their product to drive revenue, retention, and profitability. 

Since her last role was eliminated, she’s been immersing herself in the intricacies of technologies that shape customer experience, networking extensively with founders and CEOs. 

“I’ve spent most of the last year getting into the weeds and exploring what can make a difference for brands,” she shares, highlighting her dedication to finding impactful solutions. 

Jennifer sees herself not just as a problem solver but also as someone keen to connect with her next great mentor and employer, aiming to contribute significantly to their growth in post-sale engagement.

In addition to her search, Jennifer recently had the opportunity to work with an e-commerce agency focused on enhancing customer experience, loyalty, and retention.

 This role allowed her to leverage her client success skills, working closely with direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands across various sectors like personal goods and apparel. 

She enjoyed diving deep into tech stacks and developing strong opinions on what tools best suit different business verticals. “I love matching people with great solutions,” Jennifer says, reflecting her passion for the industry. 

Her current work with small brands further emphasizes her commitment to helping businesses scale, but her primary focus remains on returning to a dedicated success role where she can make a broader impact.

“It’s about starting with the customer and really figuring out what was going to be impactful,”