Guy Horowitz
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

It’s official. DTCP is investing in Dynamic Yield.

Not often does a company’s name capture so well the essence of its technology, product and business model. In the case of Dynamic Yield, the name says it all. In a world that’s being digitally transformed, where customer journeys are crossing platforms, locations and contexts, being “dynamic” (as opposed to static) while increasing “yield” (e.g conversion, revenue or NPS) is of utmost importance.


There’s a company that does that almost impeccably. You know it — but not as well as it knows you. It’s Amazon. On top of being a super-power in commerce, infrastructure, and nowadays even entertainment — it is aspiring for perfection in knowing the individual customer and customizing the experience to fit her or his needs, habits and preferences. It’s not just knowing me by name and remembering what I was looking for last time. It’s guessing what I will want next, and offering it at the right moment. Amazon is the compass for anyone trying to personalize and optimize customer journeys, but it remains unique and better then other platforms and brands.


Why is Amazon so unique? Why haven’t others been able to replicate this dynamic, yield-optimizing approach? Maybe because it’s very hard to do. It’s not enough to know that I prefer to be addressed in a certain manner, using specific words, with a specific mix of visuals and text, at specific moments during my interaction (or after it’s over) — this personalized and optimized experience needs to be served to millions of individuals, thousands or tens of thousands of concurrent interactions, each of which is unique, each of them measured and monitored, and all feeding back into the intricate algorithms that optimize the experience even further.


This is exactly where Dynamic Yield gets into the picture. Its machine-learning-based technology allows for almost any brand or retailer to offer a slightly different (or majorly different) experience to different people, based on data available to the brand or platform, as well as information collected from partners and via publicly available sources. Brands and online players such as Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Sears Canada, Hallmark, Liverpool FC, Under Armour, HelloFresh, Zalora and many others, are now able to create a meaningful personal connection with each user or customer.


How is the Dynamic Yield platform different from other approaches? For one, it’s a “full stack” solution. Not just A/B testing or Email Personalization — one platform to meet all personalization needs of a brand or store. On top of that, it’s about deep tech. As mentioned, this stack is hard to build and even harder to perfect. And it needs to be perfect. 100% ready for prime-time. That’s where DY shines — at scale, helping its customers serve millions of consumers over thousands of websites, apps and even brick-and-mortar locations.


The $31m round we are part of will help DY take the next step forward — even more aggressive on new capabilities, new markets and additional verticals. We are excited to be joining this journey, and we are even happier to hear that across Europe, historically slower to adopt technology delivered by startups, DY’s solution is more relevant than ever.


Oh, one more thing. DY’s first ever European Personalization Pioneers Summit will take place in Berlin on September 5th 2017. Interested in coming? Let me know.

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Guy Horowitz

Written by

Partner @ Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners. Investor @ FireGlass, Replay, AppsFlyer, Morphisec, SafeBreach, Fornova, Dynamic Yield + Siemplify Craft.io, Utilis

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