Brand Story
The origin story for our brand. Questions? Talk to Khari at khari@customer.io.
Last updated
The origin story for our brand. Questions? Talk to Khari at khari@customer.io.
Last updated
Our customers are smart and capable marketers. There's no shortage of workflow ideas or tests to run. Yet at some point, they'll encounter this conflict. They'll have an idea for a campaign and rush to implement it. Only to find their current tool is limiting. As they push the boundaries of the tool, they realize it doesn't offer enough flexibility or control to make it happen.
They know there has to be another way. They're willing to explore workarounds or hack something together to build their ideal workflow. They can leverage their technical skills to overcome most obstacles in their tools. And if they're not currently technical, that doesn't stop them. They're willing to dive into technical concepts and learn in order to make it happen. They know if they can push through and build their idea, their messaging will be stronger for it.
"Dream it, do it" is all about aligning with the experience our customers have implementing their messaging ideas. Customer.io's power and flexibility encourages customers to push the boundaries. While not always pretty, it's most likely possible.
For our customers, it all starts with an idea. It comes to you and you immediately look for the nearest whiteboard to sketch it out. You start with a few messages, add some logic, further refining and personalizing your workflow as you go. You erase a section there. Draw up another branch and then another decision point over there. The whiteboard is your open canvas to tinker and experiment as you look for ways to iterate and improve. Eventually, you take a step back and see your ideal campaign all drawn up. All that's left is turning this idea into a reality.
Hi Customer.io team, is there any way to change email workflow based on a click in an email? I'd like to implement an email workflow similar to the attached image [below]. I'd really love to keep all of our email stuff in cio - just need a way to change workflow based on a click.
Visually, we have an opportunity to mirror these experiences our customers have. We can replicate elements of a whiteboard and workflows to help reinforce the flexibility, control, and power of Customer.io. Our visual representation should feel familiar to customers and website visitors. We don't need to use metaphors for power or flexibility, we can show it.
At a foundational level, our illustration style is representative of a whiteboard marker. Both icons and illustrations have that hand-drawn aspect we see from customers drawing up their own campaigns. While these ideas start with a sketch, they end as a built workflow. By embracing both the hand-drawn whiteboard marker and product screenshots, we can directly mirror the dream (sketch) and the do (Customer.io).
Beyond creating messaging workflows, you're looking for additional power, flexibility, and control. As we embrace the hand-drawn style, we'll need to be cautious of over-simplifying concepts or adding superfluous elements to our illustrations. Instead, we should be willing to show technical elements like code blocks. We strive for our visual design to be in service of the product experience: An automated messaging platform for tech-savvy marketers who want more control and flexibility.
Our visual style isn't limited to illustrations and images. Often, words can be the most clear way to communicate an idea. To emphasize key words or phrases, we can use a highlight or underline that is reminiscent of a whiteboard marker. This will be incredibly helpful in situations where we can add visual interest in a purposeful way and without needing to rely on an illustration.
Our brand narrative is even stronger when it aligns with our customers and our team. We’re not all tech-savvy marketers, but we have had moments of realizing there’s a better way to do something. We’ve hacked together a new way just as our customers do in CIO. Hopefully this brand story is energizing because it is uniquely us - not just our product but our team.
A special thanks to Agata Celmerowski of Velocity by Design for helping our team realize this story and Ramy Wafaa of Roundicons.com and Dann Petty's That Marker Pack for helping us bring that story to life!
