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It’s Data Habibi – Episode 1 With Lisa Brightwell and David Egerton

In the launch episode of our podcast, "It's Data Habibi", we explored why the birthday email is lazy and what brands could and should be doing to nurture their customers. Our guests, Lisa Brightwell of Bright Insights Consulting and David Egerton of McGettigan's Group, broke the birthday email down and built it back up in the most meaningful ways and took us through how data is your biggest asset to connecting with your customers, if you get the foundations right.

Birthday emails aren’t loyalty, they’re a broadcast. Real loyalty in 2025 looks like context, timing, and usefulness, powered by clean data, progressive profiling, channel preference, and service recovery. Points are just a mechanism; the strategy is relationship. In the launch episode of our podcast, “It’s Data Habibi”, we explored why the birthday email is lazy and what brands could and should be doing to nurture their customers.

Our guests, Lisa Brightwell of Bright Insights Consulting and David Egerton of McGettigan’s Group, broke the birthday email down and built it back up in the most meaningful ways and took us through how data is your biggest asset to connecting with your customers, if you get the foundations right.

Why the Birthday Email Is the Beige Cardigan of CRM

“A birthday email is not personalization. It’s a broadcast. If you can send the same thing to 10,000 people by changing one field, that’s not loyalty.” — David

We’ve all received it: “Hi [First Name], here’s 10% off for your birthday.” We know it’s noise, especially when:

  • You haven’t heard from the brand for months
  • The offer doesn’t match your behavior (10% off a product you’ve never bought)
  • It lands on a day you’re already flooded with messages

Fix the premise: the message should say “we know you”, not “we know your date of birth.”

From Membership to Relationship

Customers expect value for the data they share, not just a coupon.

  • Points ≠ strategy. They’re one tool in a larger system.
  • Emotion matters: recognition, access, and feeling known beat % off.
  • Status signals: upgrades, a reserved table, the right pillow—these pull the right heartstrings.

Dustyn’s example: Marriott Bonvoy earns his loyalty through valuable experiences and consistent recognition

“I feel like royalty when I arrive.” – Dustyn

Data Foundations First (Or: Garbage In, Garbage Out)

“You can’t build a stable house on a rocky foundation.” — Lisa

Must-haves to make loyalty work:

  • Data hygiene: dedupe, unify identities, fix broken capture flows
  • Single Customer View: behavioral + transactional + engagement + digital journey data
  • Preferences & psychographics: don’t guess…ask (and keep it fresh)
  • Channel consent & timing: defaulting to SMS/Email because it “might” be easier or cheaper ≠ strategy

Five Practical Moves to Make This Week

  1. Kill the blanket birthday blast. Replace with a timed, contextual offer.
  2. Audit your channels and tech stacks. Where do customers actually respond?
  3. Ask for preferences. In-app micro-surveys; make it fun, not form-fill.
  4. Fix your unsubscribe. Frictionless opt-out builds trust (and deliverability).
  5. Add one service-recovery play. Use reviews/sentiment triggers to surprise with care.

Want to listen to the podcast on Spotify instead?

Stay tuned to our podcast for Episode 2!

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