This article was based on the interview with Muqtadaa Miandara, Principal Digital Growth at Upbound Group by Greg Kihlström, AI and MarTech keynote speaker for The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Listen to the original episode here:
In today’s ever-shifting marketing landscape, brands face the constant challenge of keeping pace with their customers’ evolving needs and preferences. The ability to adapt quickly, experiment, and personalize experiences is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for survival. While many organizations recognize the importance of agility, the path to achieving it can be fraught with obstacles, from internal silos to outdated technologies. In this installment of “Expert Mode”, we explore the insights of Muqtadaa Miandara, Principal Digital Growth at Upbound Group, on how to build an agile brand through testing and personalization. Upbound Group’s innovative approach, powered by Optimizely, has earned them recognition in the industry and provides a valuable case study for marketing leaders seeking to transform their organizations.
Miandara’s journey at Upbound Group began amidst the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. His willingness to learn and adapt, coupled with a strong foundation in UX design and front-end development, quickly propelled him into the world of testing and optimization. He joined the company during the initial stages of their Optimizely onboarding and played a pivotal role in scaling their testing program. This experience underscores the importance of embracing continuous learning and being open to new opportunities, even in unfamiliar territory.
Overcoming the Challenge of Organizational Embeddedness:
One of the key takeaways from Miandara’s experience is the importance of integrating testing and personalization into the fabric of the organization. It’s not enough to simply implement new tools and technologies; true agility requires a cultural shift where experimentation is embraced as part of the normal workflow.
“Embeddedness within the organization, that’s a challenge. Building that and finding the right way to do it to where people are not only supporting testing and test-and-learn processes as part and parcel of the way we work, but actively advocating for it themselves or asking for things to be tested – that was an evolution that we had to go through.”
This quote highlights the need for buy-in across all levels of the organization, from C-suite executives to frontline employees. Miandara emphasizes the importance of building rapport, educating stakeholders, and demonstrating the value of testing through tangible results.
Aligning Testing with Business Objectives:
Another crucial element of Upbound Group’s success is the alignment of testing efforts with strategic business goals. This ensures that experimentation is not conducted in isolation but rather serves a larger purpose.
“If the business says the top of funnel is bleeding, we have to fix it, these are our key inflection points and we need to raise these numbers by X percentage, all of a sudden you’ve got a plan and you can say, ‘Well, now I know a project. Everything on a product page, we have to bump start order clicks by 12%. Okay, I know tactics for that, and I can build a series of tests, and we can look at the cumulative effect over time.’”
By connecting testing to specific business outcomes, Miandara and his team were able to demonstrate the value of their work in a language that resonated with key stakeholders, fostering greater support and collaboration.
Embracing the Power of Strategic Constraints:
While resources, tools, and technical expertise are undoubtedly important, Miandara’s experience demonstrates the unexpected benefits of constraints. During a period of organizational restructuring and limited resources, his team achieved remarkable results, highlighting the power of focus and prioritization.
“In 2024, our team successfully managed to be like one of the number one win rates in Optimizely globally… We didn’t intend to do it. We were down ahead, I had one less testing resource, we had been through a massive reorg, and so we were just like, ‘Okay, if we’re going to work on anything, it has to be the most important thing. We can’t be working on anything spurious.’ So somehow that sort of conscious constraint of the macro situation led us to the best outcomes we had as a program ever."
This anecdote reveals how limitations can drive innovation and efficiency. By focusing solely on the most critical initiatives, Upbound Group was able to maximize their impact and achieve a level of success that might have eluded them in less constrained circumstances.
The Importance of Partnership and Continuous Improvement:
Upbound Group’s success wasn’t solely a result of internal efforts. Miandara emphasizes the importance of partnerships, both internally with other teams and externally with technology vendors like Optimizely. These partnerships provide access to expertise, resources, and a broader community of practice, enabling continuous improvement and innovation.
“Optimizely has been kind of like less just a tool or vendor and more of a partner from the beginning.”
The key to successful testing and personalization lies not only in the technology itself, but also in the people and processes that support it. Upbound Group’s journey demonstrates that agility is not a destination, but a continuous process of learning, adapting, and evolving.
Building an agile brand requires more than just implementing the latest technology. It requires a cultural shift where experimentation is embraced, failures are viewed as learning opportunities, and continuous improvement is ingrained in the DNA of the organization. By aligning testing efforts with strategic business objectives, fostering strong partnerships, and embracing constraints as catalysts for innovation, brands can navigate the complexities of the modern marketing landscape and truly keep pace with their customers. The insights shared by Muqtadaa Miandara provide a valuable roadmap for marketing leaders seeking to embark on this transformative journey.
