2023: Our year of momentous growth

A look back on 2023

Cordial had an extraordinary year of momentum and growth in 2023—134% new business growth in Q3, record-high engagement on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, being named on the Deloitte Fast 500 list for the second consecutive year, winning awards for Best CEO, Best Company Culture, and Best Companies for Women, and launching groundbreaking AI innovations for marketers. Our rapid pace of innovation in areas like AI, identity resolution, and multi-channel messaging has enabled us to drive revenue for leading companies. 

2023 by the numbers: 

• Cordial received a score of 86.8 out of 90 for Best Places to Work.
• Cordial delivered 369% ROI for a composite organization of Cordial clients, according to a Total Economic Impact™ study.
• We launched 175 new product releases and enhancements.
• 90+ Cordialites gathered for our annual Team Recharge.
• We closed a record-breaking quarter with 134% new business growth. 
• Cordial was named a fastest-growing company in North America on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ list for a 2nd consecutive year.
• We celebrated Cordial’s 9th birthday with an annual tradition.
• On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Cordial sent the highest number of messages in company history. YoY channel increases include 21.43% for email, 32.58% for SMS, and 66.98% for push notifications.
• The Comparably Awards recognized Cordial with placements in 3 categories: Best CEO, Best Company Culture, and Best Companies for Women.
• G2 awarded Cordial as a winner of 17 badges across 4 categories in their Winter 2024 reports.

In January, we announced our partnership with Snowflake to provide joint clients increased data agility to seamlessly access valuable first-party customer data from Cordial directly into their Snowflake Data Cloud through bi-directional data sharing. 

After nearly six years as a strategic advisor, Matt Howland joined the Cordial executive leadership team as Chief Product & Engineering Officer. With more than a decade of leadership experience with organizations like CSC Generation, Loyalty Lab, Tibco, and Carta, Howland brings a deep understanding of scaling technology in step with customers and unlocking the value of data and messaging to transform brand loyalty. 

We started February off strong at our annual Team Kickoff in San Diego, California. In Cordial’s remote work environment, it’s important that we come together in person and celebrate all our hard work from the past year, and share goals and aspirations for the upcoming year. This year, our theme was “No Fear” as we set out to fearlessly embrace challenges as a team.

In March, Cordial was awarded Best Places to Work by The Business Intelligence Group. By prioritizing employee engagement and promoting innovation and collaboration, we secured a nomination score of 86.8 out of 90 with feedback like, “Cordial is a fantastic place to work – best culture I have seen in over 15 years working. It doesn’t feel like a remote workplace because of the connectivity fostered from the top down.”

Cordial hosted an innovative “anti-booth” at Shoptalk, the ultimate gathering of retail’s top 10,000+ executives. We created an inviting and low-pressure space for attendees to sit and relax, play games, or connect.

In April, Cordial commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ study based on a composite organization of Cordial clients to examine the potential return on investment for enterprise businesses. The study found that Cordial delivered 369% ROI and a total benefit of $8.79 million over three years.

With more than 30 years of go-to-market (GTM) strategy and execution experience with leading organizations like Contentsquare, Percolate, and Tibco, Matt Elders joined Cordial in May, as Executive Vice President of Revenue. With expertise in building and leading world-class revenue teams, Elders has a proven track record of driving exceptional results for global software and services companies.

In June, we launched our Client Strategy Webinar Series featuring strategies and innovative ways to use the Cordial platform. Our first webinar was about acquiring more contacts and driving stronger initial engagements.

In July, we unveiled Identity+ to allow marketers to identify anonymous browsers across devices by matching them with a known customer profile. Once connected to a profile, marketers can leverage enriched data for more effective targeting, increased personalization, and improved ROI. 

With how many of our team members wear their Cordial swag on Zoom calls and at events, we knew we had something special—so in August, we launched the Cordial Brand Store. Each item is a fun and unique way for our team to choose how they represent the Cordial brand.

We began unveiling our AI roadmap—transforming the future of marketing. Cordial AI is a set of tools providing marketers with generative, predictive, and prescriptive AI capabilities. This announcement marked the start of a series of groundbreaking AI innovations, each designed to drive outcomes and efficiencies for marketers. 

To help manage our significant customer growth, Amy Jerusalmi joined Cordial as Chief Customer Officer. With more than 20 years of experience working for world-class companies such as Quattro Wireless, Apple, SessionM (a Mastercard company), and Reachdesk, Jerusalmi brings big-name credentials and a unique vision of how product and customer teams can collaborate to achieve a winning balance of company goals and client needs. 

In September, 90+ Cordialites gathered for our annual Team Recharge in San Diego, California. It was inspiring to see our team connect and remind ourselves why Cordialites are truly second to none. We walked away feeling recharged, reenergized, and ready for 2024!

We released a modern refresh to the Cordial marketing platform. The new look introduced a fresh visual design that’s inviting and approachable for marketers to truly be creative and innovative—all without changing workflows that Cordial’s clients know and love. With the refresh, we aimed to inspire marketers to create fresh concepts and foster deeper, more meaningful connections with their customers. 

We closed a record-breaking quarter with 134% new business growth. “Our unparalleled accomplishments in 2023 make one thing clear: We’re meeting the moment for marketers,” said Jeremy Swift, CEO and co-founder of Cordial. “While legacy marketing clouds have failed to innovate — requiring expensive add-ons for essentials like personalization, email triggers, SMS, testing, and identity resolution — our comprehensive, AI-enabled platform consolidates these critical capabilities, reducing complexity and costs and lifting revenue. And we’re not slowing down. For Cordial and the ambitious clients we serve, the best is yet to come.”

In November, Cordial was named one of the fastest-growing companies in North America on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ list for a second consecutive year. We attribute this success to our rapid pace of innovation and the launch of intelligent products such as Cordial AI and Identity+: “Marketing clouds have hit a point of stagnation, leaving marketers to augment their tech stacks with multiple point solutions,” said Swift. “Our focus on innovation has been the driving factor to our success in helping companies deliver outsized results.”

In November, we celebrated Cordial’s 9th birthday with an annual tradition—each year we release a limited-edition tee. The artwork, created by a different independent artist for each birthday, embodies our brand and unites us all under one annual theme.

On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Cordial sent the highest number of messages in company history. We saw some incredible year-over-year increases across multiple channels: 

• Email: 21.43%
• SMS: 32.58%
• Push: 66.98%

In December, Cordial received 3 coveted awards from Comparably recognizing our executive leadership, company culture, and support for women in the workplace for companies with 500 employees or fewer.

• Best CEO: Jeremy Swift was ranked 48th among the top 100 CEOs. 
• Best Company Culture: Cordial placed 33rd in the company culture category.
• Best Company for Women: Cordial placed 31st among the best companies for women. 

In their winter reports, G2 awarded Cordial as a winner of 17 badges across 4 categories: Marketing Automation, Mobile Marketing, Push Notifications, and Personalization Engines. Notable Winter 2024 badges were Momentum Leader, High Performer, Highest User Adoption, and Best Support.

Heading into 2024, we’re not slowing down and are well-positioned to help future-thinking organizations achieve outsized results. We are deeply grateful for the trust our clients place in us to drive meaningful business impact. By continuously innovating with products like Cordial AI, we will push boundaries to enable future-thinking companies to thrive. Our success is thanks to our talented team, partners, and clients. Stay tuned for continued record growth and innovations that redefine marketing.