Drew Pion

Former Director, Lifecycle Marketing Wild Alaskan Company

Drew Pion is a lifecycle marketing leader with decades of experience driving customer acquisition, loyalty, referral, and winback programs across DTC and B2C b…Drew Pion is a lifecycle marketing leader with decades of experience driving customer acquisition, loyalty, referral, and winback programs across DTC and B2C brands. Known for pushing the boundaries of email, SMS, and app push, he turns owned channels into engines for growth, from the first touchpoint to long-term retention.

Monday, August 10: Summit Day

2:50 PM Loyalty: Retailer Led Loyalty Roundtables

Roundtable 1: Designing a Loyalty Program To Move the Metrics That Matter

Dimple Rao, Executive Director, Growth & Loyalty, Akira

Roundtable 2: Making the Case for Retention Budget When Acquisition Gets All the Air Time

Bliss Pierce, VP, Marketing, Feast & Fettle

Roundtable 3: Post-Purchase is the New Acquisition: Designing the First 90 Days After the Sale

Laura Cantor, VP, Marketing & eCommerce, New York & Co.

Roundtable 4: Email and SMS Deliverability, Suppression, and the Inbox Problem Nobody Talks About

Drew Pion, Director of Email/SMS, formerly Wild Alaskan Company

Roundtable 5: Beyond the Follow: Using Social Media to Build Loyalty, Community, and Lifetime Value

Angela Stephens, CEO, RE-FOCUS THE CREATIVE OFFICE

4:10 PM Loyalty: Fireside Chat: Cracking the Code on Declining Email Open Rates: Navigating Privacy Changes, Deliverability Challenges, and Engaging Your Audience

Email open rates are plummeting as privacy regulations tighten, inboxes overflow, and savvy subscribers grow weary of generic blasts that fail to spark interest. Marketers must now master deliverability hurdles, zero-party data strategies, and hyper-personalized content to cut through the noise and re-engage fatigued audiences. In this case study, our speaker will reveal battle-tested tactics for cracking the code—from authentic subject lines and smart segmentation to compliance-friendly engagement loops that revive campaigns and rebuild trust.

Responding to privacy changes and stricter filtering by optimizing for click-through rates and user engagement over traditional open metrics
Segmenting audiences and regularly cleaning lists to improve deliverability and reduce bulk email filtering issues
Implementing authentication best practices, personalizing subject lines and messaging
Experimenting with interactive formats, adaptive timing, and real-time testing to overcome reporting gaps