What Attentive Gets Right About Actually Knowing Your Customer With Keri McGhee

This week on Above the Fold, I sat down with Keri McGhee who is the CMO at Attentive and a longtime CX + lifecycle powerhouse who’s worked across travel, real estate, tech, and now one of the biggest players in mobile marketing. 

Let’s be real, if your idea of personalization is still “Hi, [First Name],” we’ve got work to do. In this convo, we broke down what personalization actually means in 2025. Spoiler: it’s not a name merge tag. It’s about context. It’s about sending the right message, at the right time, on the right channel, featuring the right product, in a voice that actually sounds like you. That’s modern customer engagement. That’s lifecycle marketing that works.

Stop Hoarding Data. Start Using It Strategically

Your brand probably collects more data than it knows what to do with. Sound familiar? We talked about how to stop drowning in information and start activating it with intention. Strategy over storage. Because if your customer has interacted with you ten times and you're still sending generic promos, they won’t just scroll past, you’ll lose them. Forever.

Orchestration Beats Omnichannel. Just Ask UGG and Olly.

Orchestration is the new omnichannel. It's not about showing up everywhere, it’s about showing up smart. Olly is using in-store data to power digital flows. UGG built an SMS list with over a million subscribers and saw a 46 percent lift in revenue per message by tailoring outreach based on behavior. That’s not magic. That’s orchestration working hard behind the scenes.

AI Isn’t Ruining Your Brand Voice. It’s Helping You Find It.

There’s a myth that AI can’t write “on-brand.” But when Attentive ran human versus AI tests, the bots came out on top with more engagement, stronger copy, and zero cringe. The best part? You don’t need perfect data to start. AI tools today can help with everything from send-time optimization to predictive product recommendations. Even if your backend is messy, you can still make moves.

The Real Growth Hack Is Actually Caring.

Here’s the kicker. The brands that win aren’t always the most advanced. They’re the ones that care the most. They care about timing. They care about tone. They care enough to stop doing things that don’t work. That care shows up in every touchpoint, every message, every decision.

If you’re ready to move from mass marketing to meaningful engagement, this episode is your roadmap. We’re talking real strategies, real examples, and real results that can help you finally level up your lifecycle marketing before Q4 hits.

This episode is brought to you by Attentive.