How Rue Gilt Groupe Increased Marketing Experimentation Speed by 6x

Breanna Lawlor: If you’re a CMO right now, chances are your team is spending a significant part of their week on work that was never supposed to be their job. But what if the bottleneck isn’t bandwidth, it’s the infrastructure underneath it? And right now, with AI promising to unlock capacity across marketing organizations, the teams pulling ahead aren’t the ones adding more tools. They’re consolidating, moving faster, and giving people time back to do the strategic work.

Today, I’m joined by Molly Patterson, Senior Director of Growth and Lifecycle at Rue Gilt Groupe, who oversees marketing technology, operations, and communication strategy across Rue La and Gilt, where five flash sales launch every single day.

In this episode, we talk about how consolidating four platforms into one changed the pace at which her team can move and experiment; why the smartest AI investments right now aren’t customer facing, they’re internal, and what this looks like in practice; and lastly, what a six-time improvement in testing speed taught her about where marketing organizations are losing time.

I’m Breanna Lawlor, and this is The CMO Club Podcast.

Molly, welcome!

Well, thank you so much for meeting with me here as we’re at the Activate Summit hosted by Iterable. You were just sharing that you’ve been a few years ago, now you’re in a different phase with the organization. Can you share a little bit about who you are, the company you work for, and who they serve?

Molly Patterson: Yeah, sure. So I work for Rue Gilt Groupe. We are an off-price luxury e-commerce retailer. So we have three businesses, Rue La, Gilt, and ShopSimon. I primarily work on Rue La and Gilt, and yeah, we sell a lot of different types of products, you know, from anything from really high-end European luxury fashion, purses, wallets, accessories.

We sell home goods, so furniture, and we launch flash sales. So we launch different sales five times a day, all different types, so different brands, different price points, everything like that. So you can imagine launching sales five times a day, there’s a lot of content to send out to our customers, and my role specifically focuses on marketing technology, marketing operations, and then communication strategy.

So it really is about that entire life cycle of marketing in terms of enabling the technology to operationalizing our campaigns, both, you know, we have our everyday campaigns, we have triggers- Right … we have loyalty, win-back, and then communication strategy really focused on our different channels and how do we improve channel performance across email, SMS, push, app, on site.

So it’s a really exciting role to help enable the technology, see it come to life with our operations team, and then also help build and execute the strategy.

Breanna Lawlor: Just a little bit there.

Molly Patterson: Just a little bit. Yeah. But it’s really fun. I recently, about a year ago, took over the marketing technology side- Okay and it’s been really fun for me, so.

Breanna Lawlor: I can imagine. It sounds like automation is kind of an anchor point for a lot of the work that your company’s doing, that you’re doing in your role, and you are a senior director of growth and life cycles- Yeah … correct? So I imagine this role has also evolved over the years.

Yes. Are you finding that you’re operating with a lot of first-party data to help inform your decisions for making these changes, or are you, is there a bit of guesswork involved? Like, how are you finding this experience of automation, AI, and stuff that you’re doing?

Molly Patterson: Yeah. Yeah, so Rue and Gilt are a bit different because we are a fully gated website.

Ah. So you have to be a member. Anyone can sign up. You have to be a member in order to shop our site. Okay. So we are very lucky, I was just in, in a meeting, we were talking about it, that we have the benefit of having very rich first-party data. So we know a lot about members’ shopping preferences, what, you know, what brands they like to shop, where they more like to browse, what categories they like to shop.

That really does help power not only what they see on site in terms of all the different sales we have to offer and the order of them, what products we show them, but also kind of what comes to life for them across our communications channels.

Breanna Lawlor: Completely. Yeah. There’s a lot there. Yeah. And fascinating. I haven’t encountered too many people who operate from this way of working.

Molly Patterson: It’s a very different way of operating. Yeah. I- Feel, feel very lucky sometimes.

Breanna Lawlor: Yes, totally, and I’m glad to hear that you’re making good use of that data, too. You were also sharing that you were part of the customer advisory board for Iterable, and you were participating in a workshop yesterday. I imagine your expertise and your insights probably might be different from some of your peers.

But I’d love to hear if there were any themes or things that came up as far as the challenges people were facing- Yeah … and if you had any insights of your own that you shared or that you gained- Yeah … from those conversations.

Molly Patterson: Yeah, I mean, I think obviously the big topic was really on how do you kind of enable AI in this new world.

Breanna Lawlor: Big time.

Molly Patterson: Yeah, big time. And so I think there were definitely a lot of themes, like how do you make it, you know, it’s obviously got a lot of support from everyone’s executive team. Sure. And that’s great. We want the buy-in. They want us to be using it. But, you know, we talked a lot about how do we really find those use cases from our teams- Yes

that are doing the work that, you know, there’s repetitive tasks in marketing. Then how do we really pull out those use cases and show our teams what is possible and get them excited about, hey, like, what we want to use AI for in everyday work is, like, letting you spend more time on the stuff that excites you rather than- Exactly

the reporting readouts and putting together all these presentations and analyzing the data. And so there was just a lot of conversations and different ways that teams have gone about getting those use cases. And one of the people talked about, they basically built within Claude an entire report out on all their experiments that basically builds the presentation, shares it out, you know, like you look over it and everything like that.

Right. But you know how much time people are spending- Oh … doing that, and that just helps people get to spend more time doing things that are a bit more exciting. So.

Breanna Lawlor: And then you can adjust the experiment that you put forth. You get some returns, you get some insights, and you can change and pivot from that.

Right. You’re not operating as like, “Oh, we’re trying this out-” Yeah … “’cause it’ll be guesswork.” Like, you’re formalizing the process.

Molly Patterson: Yeah. I think for a lot of people it’s about- How can we more quickly test? How can we more quickly get the insights- Yes … so we can iterate and learn quicker? And how can really AI enable that on the operations side?

Breanna Lawlor: I’m noticing this as a theme, too. Like, I’ve been chatting with marketing leaders for the past few months, and there’s some consistencies there. Like, experimentation and the curiosity mindset is absolutely valuable and vital in this instance. And going forward, you wanna have a certain amount of intuition.

You wanna get buy-in from your team, both people who are below you and above you. And then as soon as you have those insights, you need to work quickly. But there’s this paradox. There’s the opportunity to move quickly, to build quality processes, or to have this lens of experimentation. And if you had to pick sort of one theme or philosophy to approach how you’re navigating AI in the year ahead, what would you pick?

Yeah. What are you choosing?

Molly Patterson: Yeah. I think for us, where we have really leaned in is on the speed of experimentation. Yeah. So one of the reasons we switched over to Iterable- Right … is really to have a more modernized tech stack. But something that would enable not only our operations team to build campaigns quicker- Right

but for us to be able to experiment. Yeah. Learn quicker and everything. And, you know, we spent … We had a relatively complex ecosystem, so it took us a bit of time last year- Right … to migrate, so the first half of last year. So, and then we moved into the wonderful Q4 in retail. Yes. And so Q1 was really the first time that we were able to be like, “Let’s go, and let’s experiment.”

Yes. And, like, the … I think we improved the speed of testing by, like, 6X. We launched-

Breanna Lawlor: Wow …

Molly Patterson: a ton of different tests. And it really, we’ve been starting to get some really interesting insights about what our members respond- … best to. So that’s kind of been our theme for the first quarter, and is likely con- and is continuing into the second quarter.

Breanna Lawlor: That’s great. I love how you answered. You responded with, like, it’s two-part. It’s the speed of experimentation. Yeah. Yeah. No, this is really, like, quality. This is foundational because- Yeah … there’s some things to be said for being flexible. Yep. You have to take the information that comes your way, and then integrate it into what you’re gonna do next.

And I feel like that’s a skill that marketers have always had. It’s just now that the pace that we’re operating in is so much faster.

Molly Patterson: So much faster.

Breanna Lawlor: Do you have any sort of guidance or advice for people who are at various stages in their AI adoption journey? And whether you have this philosophy or curiosity embedded in your approach that really serves you well.

Any suggestions for folks that- Maybe they’re a leader, they’re tasked with using AI.

Molly Patterson: Yeah.

Breanna Lawlor: But, like, what would you say do first?

Molly Patterson: Yeah, I mean, I think there’s two parts. So I think there’s the how do you know, just better operationalize- Yes … your team? That’s one part, and I think that’s really, like, talk to your team, figure out what the pain points are, and also, like, ask AI how it can help you, you know?

Like, you can go in there and be like, “This is what I do every day. What would you recommend?” Yeah. It’s like I think that is a really good starting point, and really working with your team that is in there executing every day and learning their pain points. Yeah. And then I think on, you know, the actual how do we bring AI into what we do for our customers?

Yeah. How do we improve the relevance? For us, it’s just, again, been about trying to solve different problems and really leaning into, you know, we’re gonna give it a go. Yeah. Like, if it doesn’t work, you gotta turn it off really quickly. So really making sure we have those experiments set up to get that data really quickly.

And what we’ve seen is, like, we get really quick responses. We’ll know really- Do … really quickly whether something is working, something that’s not working. And I think there’s also things you can start small, like, you know, with an interval leveraging or send time optimization, which is a relatively I’m not gonna oversimplify it, but straightforward application of AI.

It sends the message at the time that the member’s most likely to engage. So give it a go, see how it works as you move through, like some more complex use cases.

Breanna Lawlor: Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s a really sound way to look at things. I wonder if there’s a certain luxury element to having, like you have this known cohort of customers that are loyal, and in the absence of that, do you feel like you would be as confident with this whole mindset of experimentation?

Molly Patterson: I think we would. Like- You would? Yeah. Nice. I think for us, having customers that are so loyal and being the flashlight, like people come and visit our site often. Absolutely. And so there is inherently some risk to doing some of the bigger experiments. Sure. Because we have a group of people that are very loyal, and they like to receive our communications.

And so sometimes I feel like there might even be a little bit more risk with some of our loyal customers in terms of what we’re experimenting with in marketing.

Breanna Lawlor: It’s a delicate dance.

Molly Patterson: Yes.

Breanna Lawlor: And I think fear, like there’s the excitement and then there’s the fear, and you have to find your place within an organization, whether you’re in the role you’ Iterable in or another role, just to see what you’re comfortable with, but also push the edge a little bit.

Yeah. And then once you get those insights back, that’s gonna be where the gold nuggets of wisdom are. Yeah. Absolutely.

Molly Patterson: Yeah. And Rue Gilt Groupe is definitely a very, we are very test-and-learn data driven company, and so I think there’s a lot of support at the enterprise level for experimentation. So they’re like, “What are you learning?

Like, everything’s not gonna be a win.” No. Like, but turn it off. Like you gave it a go. So-

Breanna Lawlor: Yeah. You have to try.

Molly Patterson: Yeah.

Breanna Lawlor: To know. Coming away from Activate, what do you hope to take with you, take home? Any sort of actions or takeaways or even your approach to how you’re doing the work?

Molly Patterson: Yeah.

Breanna Lawlor: What’s something that you hope is gonna be a standout?

Molly Patterson: Yeah, so super excited. They just, you know, revealed some of the new features that are launching later this summer, which is obviously always a highlight of Activate. You know, now that we are, like I said, when we first came to Iterable two years ago, we were still in the sales process, so we were here and it all looked super exciting.

But I think what I’m excited about, and I have my MarTech team here, is just really understanding how other people are leveraging the platform. Yeah. And how we could potentially do things differently or push the envelope now that we know what we’re working with in Iterable. So, and also really excited to talk to the partners.

Iterable has a great partner network, and just kind of understand how they can also help us in our marketing journey.

Breanna Lawlor: That’s a valuable asset. Hey, having the partner network.

Molly Patterson: Yep.

Breanna Lawlor: So you can leverage folks who have more familiarity with the tool and figure out how to apply it for your unique use case.

Savvy. I was speaking with Bria yesterday, and she shared that she looks to Iterables customers not so much as users, but as partners. Do you feel that in your relationship with the brand?

Molly Patterson: Yeah, definitely. Like, one, another reason when we were going through kind of our, don’t, if you ask the sales team, very long process with Iterables.

Breanna Lawlor: As it can be.

Molly Patterson: As it can be. But o- one of the things, like capabilities were super important to us. You know, innovation was super important to us. But really having a true partner and a team that we work with week in and week out- … has been incredibly beneficial. They’re bringing use cases to us of like, “Hey, we just launched this feature.

This is how you should be using it.” You know, we can go to them with like, “You know, we can’t exactly figure out how to solve this problem we’re having.” Yeah. And we have, you know, solutions architects that will help us through it, which was, you know, as when we first got on the platform, it was like, you know, we were talking to the poor solutions architect all the time.

Breanna Lawlor: That’s their job, though.

Molly Patterson: Yeah, it is their job. We’re, I mean, we’re self-sufficient now, but- Yes … no, it is truly a partnership, and we have great relationships, like, across the org. They are very open to all of our feedback on all the features that, you know, everyone has feedback and what we need, and really how it will benefit our business.

So I think at every level of the org, I feel like we have great partners, and it’s just been a great experience for us.

Breanna Lawlor: It’s also a lesson for other organizations that want to capture the attention of marketing leaders, like, here’s how you support us in this time. Yep. So it almost feels like Murder is at the forefront of AI.

You’re like building the plane as you fly it, and it can be very overwhelming unless you have the support system in place. Right. And whether that’s your MarTech stack, or it happens to be peers, or someone else that you can kinda lean on that’s a trusted advisor to help you navigate this with scale and confidence and maintaining that level of curiosity.

One of the things I wanted to ask just tangentially is whether or not you’ve been able to reduce some tool redundancy as a result of taking over marketing operations and embedding Iterable in your tech stack?

Molly Patterson: Yep. When we migrated over, we were on four different platforms. Oh, wow. And we actually moved everything into Iterable basically all at once.

So, yeah, it was- That was- But no, it’s been… You know, that was another thing we wanted to do. We had systems that kind of talked to each other, but, you know, everyone has an integration, but it didn’t work seamlessly. And so that’s been just amazing for us to really build out some of the cross-channel journeys, leveraging channel optimization within Iterable, which actually helps pick the right channel- that’s awesome … a member should receive a communication on. So instead of, you know, blasting people with the same message across all channels, you can build a journey that’s really tailored to the member. So the tool redundancy has been great. Our speed of getting campaigns out is much quicker, and our marketing operations team is definitely more self-sufficient, which is part of, you know, the reason we switched, so.

Breanna Lawlor: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing all that too, and like what a fun time to be in marketing, also be in your role. Like, you’re right in all the thick of it.

Molly Patterson: In the thick of it. Yeah.

Breanna Lawlor: Yes. In the thick of it. To kinda wrap it up, what’s something that you’re either really excited about or really proud of as far as impact and the influence that you’ve had?

Over the past six months, and then looking forward, what you think will happen as a result of the work that you’re doing now that you’re really excited about?

Molly Patterson: Yeah. So I think one of the things I’m most really proud of and is really just how much we’ve improved, like I said, our operations-

Breanna Lawlor: Yes

Molly Patterson: process, how much we’ve enabled our marketing operations team, and how much our marketing technology team has been able to build in short order. So- Great … we launched so many tests in Q1, and we built them quickly, but also in a way that was scalable and efficiently and really didn’t put a big burden on our marketing operations team, where they’re doing a ton of manual things to support- Right

these tests. So I think that has been, you know, just really exciting to see, especially even in the past three months. What I’m most looking forward to in the next six months is we are spending a lot of time trying to really hone in on kind of the optimal email cadence- Yeah … for our members and doing it more at a member level based on how they’re interacting with our brand.

And like I said, we launch sales five times a day. So there’s a lot of content for us to push out there, and we’re really honed in on, how do we get the right content out there that’s both relevant to our members, but also making sure we’re still surprising and delighting them and encouraging them to explore what else we have to offer on our website?

Yeah. But to not overwhelm them. And so we want them to stick around longer and get more communications from us that are relevant. So we’re doing a lot of work there. We launched a bunch of testing at the end of March, and I’m just … The results are really promising, so I’m very excited about that.

Breanna Lawlor: It seems like trust is also really at the center of what you’re experimenting with. As long as you have that and you maintain it, everything else is fair game.

Molly Patterson: Yep.

Breanna Lawlor: And that’s how you build brand longevity- Yeah … and loyalty.

Molly Patterson: For sure.

Breanna Lawlor: Yeah. Molly, this was a pleasure. Thank you for sharing so much.

Molly Patterson: Thanks so much, Breanna.

Breanna Lawlor: It was awesome to be out with you. Great. Thanks for coming on to speak at the podcast.

Molly Patterson: First podcast in the books.

Breanna Lawlor: Way to go. So yeah.

Well, it’s awesome, and I hope you enjoy the rest of Activate. Yes. A stacked schedule and stacked schedule, so.

Molly Patterson: Yeah. Gonna take my team. I have someone on my team who’s never been to California, so we’re going to In-N-Out for lunch.

Breanna Lawlor: Yes, you are. We have to. Right on.

Molly Patterson: Yeah.

Breanna Lawlor: Cool. Thank you.

Molly Patterson: Thanks.