Heather Roach is the Director of Marketing at Original Footwear Company, a leading manufacturer of tactical footwear for military personnel, first responders, and outdoor enthusiasts. In her role, Heather has worked to evolve the company's approach to SMS from a basic, automated setup to a more hands-on, test-driven strategy centered on personalization and audience segmentation. Her approach emphasizes balancing promotional messaging with meaningful, human communication to strengthen customer relationships and drive performance.

In this episode…

SMS marketing has often been treated as an afterthought, with many brands plugging in basic flows and hoping for the best. But what happens when a company decides to truly invest in SMS as a core growth channel, making it a personalized, hands-on tool for customer engagement? Could a more thoughtful approach to SMS be the key to unlocking exponential returns for ecommerce businesses?

Heather Roach, an ecommerce growth strategist, explains that success with SMS entails intentional, hands-on optimization. Heather emphasizes A/B testing messaging tone, timing, and format to understand what resonates. She highlights the importance of building diverse flows, including abandoned carts, product recommendations, and review requests, while balancing promotional texts with meaningful, human communication. By segmenting audiences, personalizing outreach, and actively managing responses (instead of relying solely on automation), brands can increase ROI, loyalty, and long-term engagement.

In this episode of Minds of Ecommerce, Raphael Paulin-Daigle interviews Heather Roach, Director of Marketing at Original Footwear Company, about leveraging SMS for ecommerce growth. Heather unpacks segmentation strategies, balancing promotions with brand voice, and optimizing automated flows for higher conversions.