Welcome to the Deeto Hub

The Agentic Singularity Summit brought together respected CMOs and revenue leaders to explore how AI is reshaping go to market models at a pace that most organizations are struggling to match. The conversations made it clear that 2026 will require a different operating rhythm for marketing and sales. Teams will need connected intelligence, continuous orchestration, and a deeper understanding of customer reality.

Across the full discussion several consistent predictions emerged. Each one signals not only where the market is headed but also what capabilities organizations need to begin building now.

Prediction 1: GTM Engineering Becomes a Marketing Discipline

The panel repeatedly emphasized the rise of GTM engineering. This is the blending of creative marketing, systems thinking, and the ability to understand and design technical workflows. For years, marketing teams relied on RevOps or specialized counterparts to operationalize ideas. In 2026, that separation will no longer work.

Marketing leaders will need to understand how AI agents operate, how data moves across systems, and how to translate customer signals into structured intelligence that can drive action.

This shift does not require every marketer to learn traditional engineering skills. Instead, it requires marketing teams to understand enough about AI and workflow design to turn insights into execution.

Platforms that unify customer understanding, including voice, sentiment, and direct lived experience, will shorten the distance between strategy and action. This type of customer intelligence foundation gives teams the clarity needed to build effective GTM workflows at speed.

Prediction 2: Buyer Agents Reshape the First Half of the Buying Cycle

Panelists agreed that buyer side AI agents will soon perform much of the early evaluation work that humans used to handle. Before a prospect reaches a sales team, the agent will already have reviewed the company’s website, evaluated claims against public proof, scanned customer sentiment, and aligned all of this against internal buyer criteria.

This shift means the early stage influence that once came from top of funnel marketing will instead come from the truth of the business itself.

To succeed in this environment, organizations will need structured, machine readable evidence of customer experience. Not simply testimonials, but real insight into outcomes, patterns, and sentiment. Businesses that already invest in systems that gather and unify authentic customer voice will be far better positioned for this agent mediated buying landscape.

Prediction 3: ChatGPT Ads and AEO Reshape Content Strategy

Another major shift expected in 2026 is the introduction of ad placements within ChatGPT and similar environments. This will create a new paid channel and a new form of organic discoverability known as Answer Engine Optimization.

Marketing teams will need content that is engineered for both human readers and AI interpreters. This content must be factual, structured, authoritative, and consistent.

This shift reinforces the growing importance of high quality customer intelligence. AI systems will prioritize clarity, accuracy, and information that reflects real customer outcomes. Organizations that already capture structured customer insight will be able to supply the depth of information that AI systems look for when evaluating vendors or surfacing answers.

Prediction 4: Trust and Connected Data Become Prerequisites for AI Scale

The panel spent considerable time discussing trust. The greatest barrier to AI adoption is not tool availability. It is employee confidence in the accuracy, quality, and privacy of the underlying data. With most employees expressing concerns in these areas, organizations must first create clarity and alignment around data before AI can operate effectively.

Connected data is also essential. Most customer knowledge lives across surveys, call recordings, CRM notes, advocacy programs, review sites, and product usage systems. If AI agents operate from fragmented information, they cannot act with confidence or accuracy.

Organizations that succeed in 2026 will be those that create a shared customer intelligence foundation. This type of structure increases internal trust, reduces shadow AI usage, and allows teams to adopt AI responsibly. Platforms that consolidate and structure customer insight play an important supporting role in creating this foundation.

Prediction 5: The Funnel Gives Way to Continuous Customer Orchestration

A recurring theme was the recognition that the traditional funnel is no longer a reliable operating model. Buyer journeys are nonlinear. New signals appear constantly. Team behaviors shift as quickly as market behavior. AI makes it possible to move away from episodic GTM models and toward a continuous customer orchestration loop.

In this model, organizations treat customer signals as a living stream. These signals include conversations, sentiment, feedback, product usage patterns, objections, preferences, and outcomes.

Instead of marketing performing its part and passing the baton to sales, and then sales passing it to customer success, organizations will operate from a unified understanding of the customer.

Customer voice becomes a type of infrastructure. It flows throughout the business and informs sales, marketing, product, and executive decisions in real time. Platforms that enable continuous insight capture and distribution will support this shift by ensuring that the entire GTM engine works from the same source of truth.

Prediction 6: Authenticity Becomes the Most Valuable Currency

The panel was clear that authenticity will gain value as AI generated content becomes commonplace. When everything sounds polished, buyers begin searching for what feels real. Trust is increasingly built around actual customer experience and the consistency with which a company delivers value.

This reality means organizations will need more than generic messaging. They will need credible evidence. Authentic customer voice, captured in natural language and grounded in lived experience, will carry more influence than synthetic content.

Companies that already have systems for capturing real customer insight in a structured way will be better equipped to stand out in a crowded digital market where polished messaging is no longer a differentiator.

Prediction 7: Agentic Workflows Multiply and Must Be Orchestrated

Organizations are preparing for a future in which teams will operate with hundreds of AI agents rather than dozens of tools. Each agent will take on small tasks related to research, personalization, sequencing, analysis, customer feedback, or deal support.

The true challenge is not volume. It is alignment. Agents only operate effectively when they share context and guardrails. If they work from inconsistent or incomplete data, the risk of misaligned actions increases quickly.

Organizations will need shared semantic layers, business guardrails, unified customer intelligence, and careful orchestration. Platforms that supply high quality customer context will play an important role in grounding these agents so they can support marketing and sales without creating unintended outcomes.

The Talent Reality: You Cannot Hire Your Way Into Certainty

Every panelist emphasized that CMOs cannot hire for stable AI skills because the field changes too quickly. Instead, organizations should focus on qualities that support adaptability. These include curiosity, systems thinking, the ability to work across functions, and comfort with change.

Tools will continue to evolve at a rapid pace. What will matter most is whether teams can learn quickly and whether organizations have systems that make customer insight available in a way that accelerates decision making and alignment.

What Will Not Change

Despite the rapid evolution ahead, several fundamentals remain constant.

Human connection still matters.
Customer experience still defines brand strength.
Real stories still outperform synthetic claims.
Teams still need a clear understanding of the end user.
Marketing still requires listening, curiosity, and truth.

AI accelerates the work but does not replace the core responsibility of marketing which is to understand people and communicate value in a way that builds trust.

Final Thought

The organizations that lead in 2026 will not be the ones with the most technology. They will be the ones that can integrate intelligence across teams, operate with shared clarity, and build trust through authentic customer understanding.

‍

Every company says they are customer-led, but at Deeto, our customers show us what that truly means. They help shape our strategy, challenge our ideas, and inspire the next generation of innovation. Each partnership deepens our understanding of what it means to listen, to learn, and to lead with authenticity. This Thanksgiving, we are celebrating them—the voices that make our community extraordinary.

The customers we highlight here remind us that advocacy is not a single act or department. It is a shared language built on trust and collaboration. When customers share their experiences, they create confidence for others and drive progress for everyone. The companies featured below represent how far advocacy has come and how much more powerful it becomes when it is connected to feedback, intelligence, and measurable impact. These are the voices that inspire us every day to build technology worthy of their belief.

Voices That Inspire

The customers in this category have redefined what advocacy means in modern marketing. They have built communities that celebrate authentic experiences and turned their customers into teachers, mentors, and champions for others. Their programs prove that advocacy is not only about recognition but about empowerment—the ability to share success in a way that fuels connection and creativity. These organizations have shown that when advocacy is treated as a living, breathing system of engagement, it can inspire entire industries to move forward together.

Knak

“Building Knak Nation has been an incredible journey for our team. We started from the ground up and, within 90 days, created a customer-knowledge program that connects and celebrates our most passionate users. In the first month alone, we generated dozens of authentic stories and quotes that highlight the creativity and success of our community.”
Jeff Coveney, Brand Evangelist, Knak

6sense 

“Most teams treat customer marketing as an advocacy program. Those are great outcomes, but they are byproducts of realized value, not the mechanism that creates it. Customer marketing is far more powerful when it is treated as a usage engine, a system designed to drive adoption, expansion, and long-term growth.”
Latane Conant, Chief Marketing Officer, 6sense

Wrike

“Revamping our customer program has been a complete game changer. We went from managing everything in one chaotic spreadsheet to a streamlined, organized system where customer advocates are easy to find and ready to support at any moment. It’s created efficiency, clarity, and a stronger connection between our teams and our customers.”
Karilla Dyer, Senior Customer Advocacy and References Manager, Wrike

Atlassian

“Our focus has always been on empowering customers to tell their own stories in their own words. We believe the best proof of value comes directly from their experiences, and our role is to make sure those voices are heard, celebrated, and shared in ways that inspire others.”
Kristen Smith, Head of Global Customer Marketing, Atlassian

Sales Assembly 

“Customer voice is everything to us. Our entire community is built on the idea that people learn best from the experiences of their peers. By elevating those voices, we create resources that educate, influence, and inspire the next generation of revenue leaders.”
Matt Green, Chief Revenue Officer, Sales Assembly

Beekeeper

“Our process for collecting and sharing customer stories has come a long way. We’re now able to spotlight the incredible success our customers are seeing, make those stories easily accessible to sales, and recognize our advocates for the impact they’ve made. It’s created a stronger connection between our teams and the customers who inspire us.”
Sid Khaitan, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Beekeeper

Voices That Build

The companies in this group believe that growth is built through listening. They view feedback not as a checkbox but as a catalyst for innovation. Each has designed processes that bring customers into the center of their decision-making. They use insights to refine products, improve experiences, and strengthen relationships across teams. Their stories show that when feedback and data are combined with empathy, the result is progress that lasts. These are the builders who treat customer voice as a shared foundation for collaboration and continuous improvement.

Vimeo 

“Our customers shape everything we create. Their feedback, ideas, and experiences influence how we innovate, how we communicate, and how we grow. By capturing and sharing those insights across our teams, we can build stronger relationships and tell even more authentic stories.”
Sheryn Anthes, Director of Customer Marketing, Vimeo

ParentSquare

“Bringing everything together in one place has completely changed how we work. Our teams can collaborate more easily, share insights faster, and stay focused on what really matters—supporting our customers and the communities they serve. It’s helped us strengthen relationships and create more meaningful impact every day.”
Amber Heffner, Director of Customer Advocacy, ParentSquare

Acumatica

“Customer proof is one of the most important ways we learn, evolve, and communicate our value. By capturing real outcomes and connecting those insights across teams, we can align product, marketing, and sales around a shared goal—helping our customers succeed. Every launch, every story, and every conversation starts with their voice.”
David De Rego, VP of Product Marketing, Acumatica

Pigment

“Customer feedback is one of our most valuable growth signals. By capturing and sharing customer stories across our teams, we can highlight their success, learn from their experiences, and make smarter decisions together. It allows us to continuously evolve and showcase the real value our customers achieve in partnership with Pigment.”
Karin O’Grady, Global Customer Marketing Manager, Pigment

Cymulate

“Listening to our customers and understanding their experiences is at the heart of how we grow. By gathering feedback and turning it into meaningful insights, we can highlight their success and the impact they’ve achieved. Sharing those stories across our teams helps us engage prospects authentically, and ensure our customers’ voices guide how we communicate.”
Aviva Spotts, Customer Marketing Manager, Cymulate

Datarails 

“Customer proof has become a powerful driver of our sales motion. Our teams can identify references, activate referrals, and connect the right stories to the right opportunities faster than ever. What once took days now happens in minutes, creating real momentum and visibility across the business.”
Aviv Canaani, Chief Revenue Officer, Datarails 

Voices That Prove

Trust has always been the foundation of strong brands, but today it has become a measurable advantage. The organizations in this category understand that proof is not a static asset but a living, evolving story. They use Deeto to capture authentic evidence of customer success and make it visible to everyone who needs to see it—marketers, sellers, and decision-makers alike. They show how advocacy becomes even more powerful when it is paired with data and automation that help the right proof reach the right audience at the right moment. Their work reminds us that credibility is not given; it is earned through the consistent, authentic voices of satisfied customers.

Drata 

“Customer proof has become a key part of how our revenue team builds trust with prospects. Our sellers can access verified references instantly, giving them the ability to answer questions with evidence instead of promises. That level of visibility saves time, strengthens credibility, and helps us close business faster.”
Kristen Howard, Director, Customer and Community Marketing, Drata

Made4Net 

“Our customers are at the center of how we grow. By building a structured advocacy program, we’ve been able to connect their success directly to our brand and sales efforts. Their stories strengthen credibility with new buyers, accelerate deals, and remind our teams every day why customer partnerships matter.”
Renee Truttmann, Chief Marketing Officer, Made4Net

Dropbox 

“Our customers’ experiences are the most powerful proof of our impact. We’ve built greater visibility into where advocacy lives and how those relationships can help others make informed decisions. What was once a manual process is now a thoughtful, connected way to highlight customer success and empower every seller to lead with authenticity.”
Mariah Lincoln, Head of Integrated Campaigns, Dropbox

Klaviyo 

“Customer marketers are constantly navigating new tools, shifting priorities, and competing metrics of success. What matters most is staying focused on impact—creating programs that genuinely help customers succeed and amplify their stories in ways that drive growth. The noise will always change, but the voice of the customer remains the signal.”
Ciana Abdollahian, Head of Customer Marketing, Klaviyo

DailyPay

“The best partnerships are built on understanding. Working with a team that truly anticipates our needs and supports our vision has made all the difference. It’s helped us strengthen relationships with our customers and turn every interaction into an opportunity to build trust.”
Maria Braune, Director of Client Advocacy, DailyPay

Voices That Begin

Every success story has a beginning, and these customers represent the next generation of organizations investing in customer voice as a core growth strategy. They are building their advocacy and feedback systems with intention, ensuring that intelligence, insight, and authenticity are connected from day one. These early adopters remind us that customer marketing is no longer a supporting role; it is a growth function that links value creation with storytelling. Their journeys mark the start of a new chapter for their companies and for the Deeto community.

HP  

“Our customers are our strongest proof of innovation. We are creating a more intelligent, scalable way to connect those customer experiences directly to our go-to-market teams. It gives us real visibility into where advocacy lives, and helps us turn that trust into momentum for the business.”
Richa Pande, Global Head of Marketing, Industrial Print

G-P (Globalization Partners)  

“At G-P, our customers are the foundation of our global story. We want to bring those voices together across markets and languages, making it easier for every region to share proof of value in a consistent and authentic way. It’s how we scale trust globally.”
Jen Anderson, Director of Customer and Lifecycle Marketing

Bizzabo

“Bizzabo has always believed that customer insight is the foundation of meaningful innovation. We are building programs that connect real customer experiences to how we position, launch, and evolve our products. It reflects our commitment to staying ahead of the market, listening with intention, and creating value that grows with our customers.”
‍Gabrielle Scott, Director of Product Marketing, Bizzabo

Qualys  

“Our customers are at the center of everything we do. We want to showcase their success in the most authentic and transparent way possible. By capturing real proof of value from across our portfolio and sharing it thoughtfully with prospects and partners, we help others see how our customers achieve meaningful outcomes with Qualys.”
Tami Casey, Senior Director, Global Corporate Communications

Five9 

“Deeto gives us visibility into the customer relationships that drive our business forward. It helps our teams identify strong advocates, connect them with sellers who need proof, and recognize the customers who make our success possible. It’s bringing our advocacy strategy to life.”
Jennifer Edwards, VP of Customer Experience

Webflow  

“Our customers are creators by nature, and their success stories are what inspire others to build. We want to make it easy for those stories to be seen and celebrated, connecting them to new opportunities and inspiring even more creativity across our community.”
Veronica Hsiao, Director, Customer Marketing & Community

In Closing

Every organization featured here shares one belief: that customers are the truest reflection of growth. Advocacy, feedback, and proof all begin with real experiences and genuine partnership. These customers have shown what it looks like when companies turn that belief into action, treating customer voice as the foundation of how they build, sell, and grow.

To our customers, thank you for your partnership, your creativity, and your trust. You are the proof that authenticity works. You are the inspiration behind every innovation we make. Here’s to the voices that continue to inspire, build, prove, and begin the next chapter of customer-led growth.

‍

The insurance and InsurTech landscape is transforming at record speed. From AI-driven underwriting to automated claims and digital customer experiences, new technology vendors are reshaping one of the world’s oldest industries. But as innovation accelerates, so does skepticism.

Insurance buyers are cautious, risk-sensitive, and highly regulated, which means new vendors must earn trust long before they earn business. In this world, one factor consistently drives confidence and conversion: the authentic voice of the customer.

At InsureTech Connect (ITC) Vegas 2025, Deeto sat down with leaders from Egnyte, Infosys, Smart Communications, Carpe Data, Neutrinos, Optimity, GhostDraft, Proof, Retarus, and Canidium to ask three simple questions:

• Why does customer proof matter so much in insurance tech?
• What makes capturing it harder here than in other industries?
• How can InsurTech marketers get more advocates to share their success?

Their answers reveal a universal truth: in insurance, proof is the product.

‍

‍

Why Customer Voice Matters More Than Ever

The first insight was unanimous. In InsurTech, buyers don’t believe marketing; they believe other insurers.

Matt Sodnicar, Product Marketing Manager at Canidium, explained:

“It’s absolutely huge because it’s social proof. The customer wants to feel like you know their industry. You’ve got experience in their industry, and it helps accelerate the sales process because nobody wants to be your test pilot.”

Chris Schmitt, Senior Director of Industry Marketing at Egnyte, agreed:

“The people we talk to demand social proof. They don’t want to hear from us; they want to hear from our customers about what they solved for and why we’re important to their business.”

In a regulated, risk-averse space, this dynamic carries even greater weight. Insurance executives aren’t buying software; they’re buying proof that a partner can deliver securely, compliantly, and with measurable business results.

Jose Suarez, Marketing Manager at Retarus, described the impact clearly:

“There’s no better way to tell your story than the stories you’ve already completed. Customer stories and success stories are some of our most visited pages. They hit SEO-quality keywords and show proof of the problems we’ve solved.”

In InsurTech, the most effective marketing asset isn’t your demo. It’s the real outcomes your customers have achieved.

The Unique Challenge of Customer Proof in Insurance Tech

If customer proof is so powerful, why is it so rare?

Capturing and publishing stories in insurance is uniquely difficult. Legal, regulatory, and competitive constraints make advocacy programs slow and complex, even for the happiest clients.

Ben Offringa, VP of Marketing at Carpe Data, summarized the challenge:

“You have insurers that view your solution as a strategic advantage. They don’t want competitors to know what they’re using, so they won’t always come forward publicly as customers.”

Anshul Agarwal, VP Marketing at Infosys, described the internal bottlenecks:

“Once we get an advocacy piece, it has to be vetted through legal, marketing, sales, and project teams. The entire company reviews it first. The timelines are long, and even a single tweak can take a week.”

Ashish Jha, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Neutrinos, pointed to another barrier:

“When you go back later to find the data, teams say, ‘We never captured it.’ Getting delivery and customer success teams to track the right metrics early on is the hardest part.”

Even when approvals are granted, motivation can fade. Matt Sodnicar noted that many customers see little reason to participate once their project is live:

“They’ve already gone live and moved on. There’s nothing in it for them, and strict NDAs mean some amazing success stories never see the light of day.”

Four Ways to Get More Customer Advocates in InsurTech

Despite the challenges, InsurTech marketers shared clear, practical strategies for capturing and activating customer voice while respecting industry constraints.

1. Capture Proof Early

Brenly McCulloch, Head of Demand Generation at Smart Communications, said timing is everything:

“As soon as that deal closes, that’s when everyone’s most excited. That’s the perfect time to get a customer testimonial—right there, before the moment passes.”

2. Partner with Customer Success

Holly Monroe, Content Marketing Manager at AgentSync, emphasized collaboration:

“You need a strong relationship with your customer success team. Marketing, CS, and the customer have to move together. And don’t just publish proof once. Repurpose it into different formats and share it everywhere.”

Customer success teams are closest to the stories. Working together ensures valuable feedback is never lost.

3. Make Storytelling Easy

Jane Wang, CEO of Optimity, shared a simple approach:

“We make it easy. We prep reports with real metrics and business results, and let customers put it in their own words. It’s faster, more authentic, and brings the case study to life.”

4. Create Safe Advocacy Spaces

Kelley Pidhirsky, VP of Solutions Consulting at Proof, offered a collaborative idea:

“Pull your best customers together under NDA to talk openly about challenges. It’s valuable for everyone because they’re in the same industry and facing the same problems.”

Private advocacy groups allow for candid discussion while still giving vendors a powerful, compliant way to collect insight and social proof.

Proof Is About Trust, Not Just Marketing

The conversations ended with a shared truth: in insurance, proof isn’t a campaign. It’s a measure of trust.

Every customer story, testimonial, or quote represents a relationship built on results. When companies make it easy for customers to share their experiences authentically and safely, they do more than generate leads—they strengthen credibility across the industry.

As the closing statement of the video reminds us:

In insurance tech, proof isn’t just about marketing. It’s about building trust in a competitive, regulated space.

What This Means for InsurTech Vendors

For InsurTech leaders, the implications are clear:

• Design advocacy around compliance. Anticipate approvals and offer anonymized or gated proof options.
• Capture stories early. Don’t wait until renewal. Start at onboarding or after the first measurable win.
• Make advocacy mutually valuable. Spotlight your customers’ success, not just your own.
• Use events as catalysts. Industry gatherings like ITC Vegas are perfect for collecting authentic stories.
• Automate where possible. AI-powered platforms such as Deeto help teams collect, manage, and share proof without the manual work.

The Deeto Perspective

At Deeto, we believe the future of InsurTech growth depends on authentic, scalable proof.

Our platform helps insurance and InsurTech companies:

• Collect customer stories and feedback automatically using AI-led interviews.
• Manage them in a secure, governed hub with built-in consent and compliance workflows.
• Distribute proof across sales, marketing, and partner channels—from reference calls to microsites and embedded widgets.

With Deeto, customer voice becomes a continuous signal that drives confidence and measurable growth.

Conclusion

Insurance has always been an industry built on trust. Today, that trust extends beyond policies and premiums. It lives in every customer story.

By investing in authentic advocacy, empowering customers to speak safely, and using AI to scale the process, InsurTech companies can turn proof into their strongest competitive advantage.

Because in insurance—just like in every trust-driven industry—proof doesn’t just beat promises. It is the promise.

‍

Overview:

AI has changed how we work, but not what buyers believe. People still trust people. Teams that win today are finding ways to pair automation with authenticity, using real customer voices to build confidence and open doors.

In this session, Deeto and Samplead will show how leading marketing and sales teams are balancing technology with trust to create outreach that actually converts. We’ll share what’s working in the field, how to bring customer proof into personalized outreach, and simple ways to make every interaction feel more human.

You’ll learn:

• Why authenticity drives action in modern sales and marketing
• How to blend AI and human touch for real buyer impact
• Examples of trust-led campaigns that created real results

Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Time: 9:00 AM PT / 12:00 PM ET

Location: Live Virtual Event (Zoom link sent upon registration)

Speakers: 

Gedaliah Freund, Head of GTM, Samplead

Gabi Sayah, Head of Growth, Deeto

‍

Featuring:

The HR technology industry is booming. From talent acquisition to employee experience, new platforms are reshaping how organizations attract, retain, and empower their people. At the same time, the market has never been more competitive. Vendors are racing to stand out, HR buyers are bombarded with options, and decision-making committees are larger and more risk-averse than ever.

In this environment, one factor consistently tips the scales: the authentic voice of the customer.

At the 2025 HR Technology Conference, Deeto sat down with leaders from WEX, SeekOut, Pebl, Fountain, Eightfold.ai, Phenom, Checkr, Awardco, Employ, and Healthee to ask a simple set of questions:

Their answers paint a vivid picture of why proof beats promises and how HR tech vendors can better capture and activate customer voice to drive trust, sales, and long-term relationships.

‍

Why Customer Voice Matters More Than Ever

The first theme that emerged is simple but powerful: trust does not come from the vendor, it comes from peers.

As Eric Wendt, Growth Marketing Manager at WEX, put it:

“Building trust with prospects and clients is everything. We can say we’re great, but showing real testimonials and quotes from our customers is what convinces people to choose us.”

In HR technology, where buyers are tasked with managing sensitive employee data and shaping the employee experience, trust carries extra weight. These are not just software tools, they are systems that touch every person in the organization.

Lauren Heffran, Client Director at SeekOut, highlighted the role of word of mouth:

“Word of mouth is everything. Case studies and testimonials let prospects see themselves in someone else’s shoes — it’s the ultimate way to build trust.”

And Fatima Afzal, Head of Customer Marketing & Communications at Pebl, underscored the human element:

“HR leaders want to hear from their peers. It’s not about the brand telling the story — it’s about other people validating the value proposition.”

The takeaway: in HR tech, proof is personal. Buyers are not just evaluating features; they are looking for peers who have already solved the problems they face.

The Unique Challenges of Proof in HR Tech

If customer voice is so valuable, why don’t we see more HR tech testimonials in the wild? The leaders we interviewed pointed to a consistent set of challenges.

Internal Politics and Approvals

Bastien Botella, Head of Growth & Marketing at Fountain, described the uphill battle many vendors face:

“Internal politics. You can have sponsors who love your product, but to go on record you need approvals from a whole chain of people inside their company.”

Even the happiest customer may be blocked by corporate marketing or compliance teams.

Carlos Tobon, Senior Director of Demand Generation at Eightfold.ai, added:

“Enterprise approvals. Even happy users have to go through legal, corporate marketing, and multiple layers to tell their story publicly.”

The result: advocacy opportunities stall or die in red tape.

Hidden Stories

John Deal, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Phenom, pointed to another problem:

“The biggest challenge is knowing what stories are out there. Often they’re happening in conversations with customer success, but marketing doesn’t know unless it’s surfaced.”

Too often, proof gets trapped in silos. CS teams hear the praise, but it never reaches marketing or sales in a form that can be shared.

These barriers are especially acute in HR tech because of the sensitivity of employee data. Public case studies are harder to approve, and companies are more protective of their HR systems than almost any other part of the tech stack.

Four Tips for Getting More Advocates

Despite the challenges, leaders offered clear and practical advice for capturing more proof.

1. Make It Valuable for Customers

Kiri Wire, Senior Partner Marketing Manager at Checkr, stressed the importance of reciprocity:

“Make it valuable for the customer too. Promote them as a brand, not just yourself — tell their story holistically.”

Instead of treating a testimonial as a favor, vendors should frame it as an opportunity for customers to showcase their own innovation, culture, and leadership.

2. Recognize and Appreciate

Paige Bennett, Director of Experimental Marketing at Awardco, highlighted recognition:

“Recognize your clients. When customers feel seen and appreciated, they’re far more willing to partner with you to share their story.”

Recognition can be as simple as a thank you, or as formal as an awards program or industry showcase.

3. Create Memorable Experiences

Megan Ferenz, Senior Customer Marketing Advocacy Manager at Employ, emphasized experiences:

“Create memorable experiences. Hosting customer events and bringing people together at conferences sparks relationships and content.”

Events not only deepen relationships but also create natural opportunities to capture stories on video, in writing, or through peer-to-peer conversations.

4. Be Authentic

Finally, Omer Maman, VP of Marketing at Healthee, urged authenticity:

“Be authentic. Don’t over-polish testimonials — share the real story, even the tough parts. People believe it more.”

The most powerful proof is not scripted or overly polished. It is real, relatable, and sometimes even imperfect.

Proof Is About People, Not Just Marketing

The conversations closed with a powerful insight: in HR tech, proof is not just about marketing assets, it is about human connection.

When companies empower their customers to share stories in ways that feel safe, authentic, and valuable, they not only create stronger proof for the market, they also build deeper trust with the customers themselves.

As the closing statement of the video says: In HR tech, proof isn’t just about marketing – it’s about putting human connection first. And that is earned by empowering your customers while amplifying their success.

What This Means for HR Tech Vendors

For HR technology companies, the implications are clear:

• Start with empathy. Recognize the barriers your customers face and design advocacy programs that respect their constraints.
• Offer flexible formats. Not every story has to be a public case study. Private reference calls, anonymized quotes, and gated microsites can still deliver immense value.
• Build advocacy into the customer journey. Don’t wait until renewal; capture proof at onboarding, first wins, and key milestones.
• Invest in experiences. Events, community programs, and recognition initiatives create natural advocacy opportunities.
• Automate the process. Use platforms like Deeto to eliminate manual work, streamline approvals, and activate customer voice across channels.

The Deeto Perspective

At Deeto, we believe the future of HR tech marketing is not about louder promises. It is about smarter proof.

That is why our platform helps vendors:

• Collect authentic testimonials, references, and stories seamlessly throughout the customer lifecycle.
• Manage them in a centralized, AI-organized hub with built-in governance and consent controls.
• Distribute them dynamically across sales, marketing, and customer success channels, from microsites to proof widgets to reference calls.

Instead of chasing logos and PDFs, HR tech companies can create a living, breathing library of customer voice – always current, always accessible, and always authentic.

Conclusion

The HR technology space is at a turning point. As AI reshapes the workplace, as employee expectations evolve, and as new vendors flood the market, buyers will rely more than ever on the voices of their peers.

For vendors, this is not a challenge. It is an opportunity. By embracing authentic advocacy, recognizing customer contributions, and investing in platforms that make proof dynamic and scalable, HR tech companies can build the trust that accelerates growth.

Because in HR tech, just like in every human-first industry, proof beats promises every time.

Something fundamental is happening in B2B business. The organizations that win aren't just those with the best products or biggest budgets – they're the ones who can harness the voice of their customers most effectively across every team.

But here's the problem: most companies are sitting on a goldmine of customer intelligence and don't even know it.

The Hidden Cost of Scattered Customer Knowledge

Right now, your most valuable customer insights are probably scattered across departments. Your product team's user feedback is isolated from customer success health data. Your marketing collateral is disconnected from sales needs. Your customer feedback  isn't informing product roadmaps.

This isn't just an organizational problem – it's a strategic disadvantage. Every team is optimizing based on their slice of siloed customer knowledge, whilst missing the bigger picture that could transform how you serve customers and grow your business.

When your product team prioritizes features, what information are they using to guide those critical decisions? Are they analyzing comprehensive patterns from customer success stories, quotes, and personalized interviews to understand real user needs? Or are they working with incomplete data and making educated guesses?

When your customer success team is identifying at-risk accounts, what signals are they using? Are they analyzing sentiment patterns from customer feedback and engagement data to spot early warning signs? Or are they relying solely on usage metrics that might miss critical satisfaction indicators?

The Strategic Intelligence Gap

The most successful B2B organizations share a common trait: they've created a unified view of customer intelligence that informs every decision across every department. They don't just collect customer feedback – they identify patterns that drive satisfaction, understand why certain customers succeed, and systematically apply those insights from product development to marketing campaigns.

Product teams use customer voice to build features that actually matter. Customer success teams predict and prevent churn using cross-functional insights. Sales and marketing teams access compelling proof points informed by real customer interviews. Everyone creates better experiences based on authentic feedback.

But for most companies, this level of integrated customer knowledge remains frustratingly out of reach. Not because they lack valuable insights, but because their systems treat customer knowledge like departmental silos instead of organizational assets.

The gap between having customer data and actually leveraging customer intelligence across teams is where opportunities get lost. It's where product improvements miss the mark. It's where customer success interventions happen too late. It's where compelling stories remain buried when teams need them most.

When Customer Voice Becomes Organizational Intelligence

Imagine if every customer interaction, feedback and success story automatically contributed to growing intelligence about what drives success across your entire business. What if understanding customer needs wasn't about each department maintaining separate data, but about having an integrated system that reveals insights no single team could see alone?

Picture a world where your customer intelligence doesn't just document what happened – it predicts what's next. Where patterns in customer feedback inform product roadmaps. Where early indicators of customer health are visible across all teams. Where the most relevant customer stories surface exactly when any team needs them.

This isn't just better organization. It's the transformation from departmental customer data to organizational customer intelligence.

The organizations that achieve this first will have an insurmountable advantage. They'll build better products because they understand what customers actually value. They'll retain more customers because they can predict and prevent issues. They'll win more deals because they're using the most relevant proof points. They'll create better experiences because they understand what resonates with their market.

The AI Revolution in Customer Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is finally advanced enough to unlock this potential. Not AI that replaces human insight, but AI that amplifies it across departments and automatically acts on what it discovers. AI that can identify patterns across thousands of customer interviews that would take teams months to discover manually – and then immediately trigger the right workflows based on those insights.

While traditional customer intelligence platforms stop at surfacing dashboards, AI-powered systems can now learn from every interaction to automatically prioritize product roadmaps, trigger targeted marketing campaigns, and alert customer success teams to at-risk accounts – all simultaneously across departments.

We're at the inflection point where scattered customer data can become unified customer intelligence that drives immediate action. Where the voice of your customers transforms from departmental insights into organizational competitive advantages that execute themselves in real-time.

The Future of Customer-Driven Organizations

The next generation of B2B success will be built on integrated, unified customer intelligence – not siloed customer data. Companies that can systematically connect insights across all teams will capture increasingly larger market share.

This transformation is already beginning. The organizations that recognize it early and invest in turning customer voice into organizational intelligence will build advantages that compound over time. Every customer interaction will make them smarter across all departments. Every piece of feedback will improve their ability to serve customers better. Every success story will contribute to intelligence that drives better outcomes everywhere.

The question for every B2B leader is simple: Will you be leveraging integrated customer intelligence, or will you be competing against organizations that are?

What's Coming Next

At Deeto, we've been thinking deeply about this transformation. We've seen how organizations struggle to unlock the intelligence hidden across their customer touch points. We understand the gap between having valuable customer knowledge in different departments and actually leveraging integrated customer intelligence for strategic advantage.

We're about to change that.

Very soon, we'll be unveiling how artificial intelligence can transform scattered customer feedback into unified organizational intelligence. How your existing customer data across all teams can become a competitive advantage. How the voice of your customers can drive every aspect of your business strategy.

The future of customer-driven organizations is closer than you think.

Stay tuned. The revolution in customer intelligence is about to begin.

Something big is happening in B2B marketing, and it’s not just another refresh of advocacy programs.

Customer marketing is entering a new (new) era. Not just the era of testimonials, reference calls, and post-sale newsletters. That was the first wave. This one is more ambitious, more strategic, and more embedded in how companies grow. It’s no longer a nice-to-have. It’s the connective tissue of go-to-market success.

The Customer Marketing Summit in San Francisco brought this shift into sharp focus. Here’s what stood out.

1. We’re Done Playing Small

Customer marketing is no longer a downstream function. The best teams are influencing product roadmaps, enabling sales with real-time proof, driving adoption and retention, and powering expansion plays.

Advocacy is still part of the puzzle, but it’s not the whole picture. Sessions like “The Post-Sale Power Play” challenged attendees to stop treating customer marketing as an afterthought and start aligning it to real business outcomes like pipeline influence, win rate acceleration, and expansion revenue.

2. Automation and AI Are the Only Way to Scale

Scaling the old way isn’t working. Spreadsheets, one-off emails, and static PDF case studies slow everyone down and waste time.

In sessions like “From Hype to Habit,” customer marketers shared how they are leaning into AI and automation to identify advocates in real time, collect content without extra lift, match stories to deals automatically, and score sentiment to prevent burnout.

The goal isn’t to lose the human element. It’s to reduce the chaos and give marketers space to focus on what really matters—strategy, relationships, and impact.

3. Cross-Functional or Bust

This new (new) era of customer marketing is built on cross-functional collaboration. Sales needs high-trust proof. Product needs real-time feedback. CS needs engagement signals. Demand Gen needs credible content.

The most effective programs are embedded across teams and workflows. Customer marketing has become a critical operator across the GTM motion, supporting sales with proof, helping PMM validate messaging, and giving CS the insights they need to keep customers engaged and growing.

4. Dropbox’s Playbook: From Reactive to Strategic

One of the most energizing sessions came from Emily Gover at Dropbox, who shared how Dropbox evolved its customer marketing program from reactive and manual to strategic and scalable.

Dropbox had a strong base of customer advocates, but advocacy efforts were scattered. Customer data lived across Salesforce, Airtable, Slack, Influitive, and spreadsheets. Sales didn’t find the old system useful, and reference requests felt like a scramble.

Emily brought focus, vision, and structure to the program. She led Dropbox’s shift to a modern customer marketing model, with a guiding principle: deliver the right customer voice, at the right time, in the right moment.

She helped the team secure executive sponsorship, pilot new workflows, and align stakeholders across Sales, CS, Enablement, and Product. With Deeto’s flexibility and AI-powered tools, Dropbox created a system that could scale and deliver impact.

Here’s how Emily and her team did it:

• Ran milestone-triggered Deeto campaigns to invite new advocates
• Synced Deeto with Influitive to automate advocate invitations
• Embedded personalized Microsites in SDR and AE workflows
• Partnered with Sales Enablement to launch a nomination SPIFF
• Trained reps through Dropbox’s internal Customer Reference Council
• Launched with 100+ advocates, 125+ assets, and 12 Microsites—all ready on Day 1

Sales began to trust and use the program. Reference calls were streamlined. Customer stories became easier to deliver. And everything was measurable.

Dropbox used AI to solve common problems. Volume? They grew the pool without extra lift. Speed? They delivered proof in real time. Trust? They protected advocates with sentiment scoring and approval workflows.

Emily’s leadership showed what’s possible when customer marketing is given the tools, support, and strategic focus it deserves.

5. Proof is Just the Beginning

The summit reinforced that proof is only the beginning. Customer marketers are influencing far more than advocacy.

Retention wins are becoming core KPIs. Product teams are co-creating launch plans with customer marketers. Expansion plays are powered by persona-specific content. And executive dashboards are tracking lifecycle impact—not just activity volume.

The future is about outcomes, not outputs.

6. Thank You to Our Hostess

Special shoutout to Bridget Heaton, Head of Customer Marketing at WRITER, who hosted the day with humor, warmth, and absolute pro-level energy. And who inspired the title of this blog post! She kept the sessions flowing, the crowd engaged, and the vibe on point. She set the tone for an event that felt both thoughtful and fun.

7. Congrats to Our Winners

Big thanks to everyone who visited the Deeto booth and joined us at the Topgolf Swing Suite for happy hour. It was such a joy to connect in person.

And congratulations to our giveaway winners:

• Britany Dowell, Intuit
• Kristin Martinez, SAP
• Rachel Pruitt, Microsoft

We’ll be in touch to ship out your prizes.

Final Thought: This Is the Moment

The old era of customer marketing is behind us. What’s ahead is smarter, more strategic, and more essential to growth than ever before.

This new (new) era is powered by AI. It is full-funnel and cross-functional. It is advocate-first and revenue-aligned.

Customer marketers are no longer operating in the background. They’re leading the way.

And if Emily’s session taught us anything, it’s this: when you give customer marketers a seat at the table, they build systems that move the business forward.

Want to see how Dropbox did it with Deeto? Let’s talk!

‍

Today, we're officially launching Deeto's AI Interview Agent—a breakthrough solution that transforms how companies engage customers in Customer Voice programs and strategic relationships.

The challenge is clear across the industry: customer-led growth teams struggle with low participation rates, forced testimonials, and transactional relationships that fail to deliver authentic value. Despite customers' willingness to share their success stories and feedback, traditional approaches—generic email templates, one-size-fits-all processes, and vendor-centric asks—consistently fall short of creating meaningful interactions.

Our AI Interview Agent addresses this fundamental disconnect by personalizing every customer interaction based on their unique business goals, communication preferences, and strategic priorities.

The Customer Voice Invitation Challenge

Every customer relationship is unique. An innovation-focused CTO perceives their experience and priorities differently than a growth-focused CEO. An established enterprise customer has different motivations for sharing their voice than a fast-growing startup.

Yet most onboarding flows treat them identically—same email template, same value proposition, same questions, same process.

The result? Customers feel like they're being asked to do cookie-cutter  vendor marketing rather than participating in mutual value creation. Customer-led growth teams get lukewarm participation that produces mediocre content. Customer relationships become transactional rather than strategic.

Even worse: customers who initially seem interested gradually disengage because the process feels disconnected from their actual business goals, communication preferences, and overall experience. 

We Are Here To Change That

We've been exploring a fundamental question: What if AI could research each customer before inviting them to share their stories?

Not just account data or contract details, but actual communication patterns, business priorities, and sharing preferences from valid, credible sources. What if it could understand not just what to ask for, but how to frame the conversation in a way that resonates with the exact persona sitting behind the screen?

This isn't about replacing relationship building—it's about making every interaction more strategic by being more personal.

Before initiating any conversation, Deeto's AI conducts deep analysis across multiple dimensions of each customer relationship. Our research tools examine communication patterns from previous interactions, analyze their professional background, assess capacity through role and company context, and identify tone preferences.

This multi-layered research approach enables us to craft interactions that resonate on both professional and personal levels:

Innovation-Focused CTO: A short, technical interview focusing on the implementation and practical impact of your tools on their team.

Growth-Focused CEO: An executive-level discussion highlighting business results and competitive advantages achieved through your partnership.

Customer Success Leader: A detailed case study conversation exploring implementation strategies and measurable outcomes for peer education.

The same opportunity becomes three entirely different conversations—each calibrated to the individual's working style, availability patterns, communication preferences, and professional experience level. Our research tools ensure every interaction feels personally relevant rather than generically corporate.

The Technology Behind Personalization

 This vision requires AI orchestration that goes far beyond template personalization or basic segmentation.

We're talking about sophisticated AI facets that coordinate multiple specialized research capabilities:

• Personality Research that collects personality and personalization data to enhance each customer's profile for more effective communication
• Company Research that gathers business-specific data and preferences to understand organizational context and priorities
• Tone of Voice Analysis that identifies and adapts to individual communication preferences
• Brand Alignment Research that ensures messaging resonates with company positioning and values

This approach follows a systematic workflow: retrieving comprehensive customer profile information, analyzing relevant vendor context, generating personalized interview plans, initiating customized conversations, creating adaptive follow-up schedules, and continuously refining communication style based on interaction history until the nurturing process achieves its objectives.

These capabilities work together seamlessly to create something that feels effortlessly strategic to each customer.

‍

What Does This Mean for How You Build Customer Relationships?

For Customers: Customer voice conversations that feel personally relevant to their business goals, respect their communication preferences, and clearly demonstrate an understanding of who they are.

For Customer Marketing Teams: Higher acceptance rates, better quality participation, and stronger ongoing relationships with participating customers.

For Customer Success Teams: Customer voice activities that strengthen customer relationships and provide real, relevant sentiment analysis. 

For Marketing Teams: Authentic customer voice content from genuinely engaged customers who understand and believe in the value they're creating.

For Product Teams: Authentic customer feedback that can make a real impact on overall product roadmap and adoption.

The Bigger Picture

We're not just talking about better interaction technology. We're talking about fundamentally changing how customers experience sharing their voice.

When customers feel that customer voice opportunities are genuinely aligned with their business goals, they don't just participate—they become enthusiastic partners who actively look for ways to expand their involvement and influence.

That's the future we're launching: customer voice relationships that grow stronger over time through AI that makes every interaction more strategic, more valuable, and more genuinely collaborative.

The Future of Customer-Led-Growth is Conversational

At Deeto, we've always believed that inviting customers to share their voice should feel natural and valuable—not like another vendor request. Today, we're excited to share a glimpse of what we've been working on: an AI Interview Agent that transforms how you invite and onboard your customers into customer voice programs.

The Current State of Customer Voice Programs

Most companies today struggle with the same fundamental challenge: turning customers into growth engines. The traditional approach relies on generic email templates, standardized processes, and one-size-fits-all messaging that treats every customer relationship identically.

The results speak for themselves. Customer Success teams report low participation rates in voice programs. Marketing teams struggle to generate authentic testimonials and case studies. Sales teams lack the compelling customer stories they need to close deals. Meanwhile, customers feel bombarded by requests that seem disconnected from their actual business goals and priorities.

This disconnect isn't accidental—it's the inevitable result of treating customer voice programs as marketing campaigns rather than strategic partnerships. When customers receive generic invitations that could have been sent to anyone, they respond accordingly: with polite declines or lukewarm participation that produces mediocre content.

The cost of this approach extends beyond missed opportunities. It damages customer relationships by positioning the vendor as someone who takes rather than someone who creates mutual value. Every generic request reinforces the perception that customer voice programs exist to serve vendor needs rather than customer success.

Why This Matters

We've heard consistent feedback from different teams: getting customers to say "yes" to sharing their voice is hard, but getting them engaged and providing authentic insights is even harder. Our AI Interview Agent is designed to change that by creating personalized experiences that help customers see real value.

The challenge runs deeper than most teams realize. It's not just about improving response rates—it's about fundamentally changing the customer experience from transactional to transformational. When customers feel genuinely understood and valued, they don't just participate in voice programs; they become enthusiastic contributors who actively seek opportunities to share their stories.

Early internal testing shows promising results: customers respond more positively when the AI adapts to their communication style and business context, and we're seeing higher-quality customer voice content from participants who feel genuinely engaged.

But the impact extends beyond individual interactions. Teams using personalized, AI-powered approaches report stronger customer relationships, increased customer lifetime value, and more authentic marketing content that resonates with prospects. The ripple effects touch every aspect of brand growth.

The Technology Behind Conversational Customer Voice

What makes conversational AI different from traditional automation? The answer lies in understanding context, nuance, and individual preferences at a level that generic systems simply cannot match.

Traditional customer voice programs operate on assumptions: that all customers respond to the same value propositions, that standard email templates work across industries, that timing doesn't matter, and that one questionnaire format suits everyone. These assumptions break down when applied to real customer interactions.

Conversational AI changes the equation by treating every customer interaction as unique. Instead of broadcasting generic messages, it conducts research, analyzes patterns, and crafts approaches that resonate with specific individuals based on their communication preferences, business priorities, and relationship history.

This isn't about replacing human relationship-building—it's about augmenting human insight with AI capabilities that can process vast amounts of relationship data and identify personalization opportunities that humans might miss.

What We're Building

Traditional feedback invitations feel transactional and one-size-fits-all. Our AI Interview Agent creates personalized, conversational experiences that make your customers excited to participate.

Here's what makes it different:

Time-Adaptive: The AI adjusts conversation depth and pacing based on each customer's availability and communication preferences. A busy CTO might receive a concise, technical discussion proposal, while a relationship-focused CEO might get an invitation for a more comprehensive strategic conversation.

Relationship-Aware: Adapts approach based on the customer's role, industry, and relationship stage with your company. New customers might be approached differently than long-term partners, and enterprise customers receive different messaging than startup clients.

Smart Value Discovery: Automatically identifies what customer voice opportunities would be most valuable and relevant for each customer. Rather than asking every customer to participate in the same activities, the AI matches opportunities to individual goals and interests.

Conversational Flow: Natural dialogue that feels like a strategic partnership conversation, not a vendor request. The AI understands context, maintains conversational continuity, and adapts its approach based on customer responses.

The Business Impact of Getting This Right

When customer voice programs work effectively, the benefits extend far beyond marketing content. Customers who feel genuinely valued and understood become more than references—they become partners in growth.

These enhanced relationships drive measurable business outcomes: increased retention rates, higher expansion revenue, more qualified referrals, and authentic advocacy that prospects trust. The quality of customer voice content improves dramatically when participants feel genuinely engaged rather than obligated.

For Customer Success teams, effective voice programs strengthen relationships rather than creating additional vendor requests. For Marketing teams, authentic content from engaged customers outperforms any manufactured messaging. For Sales teams, compelling customer stories from enthusiastic advocates close deals more effectively than generic case studies.

The compound effect creates a virtuous cycle: better customer experiences lead to stronger relationships, which generate more authentic content, which drives better business outcomes, which enables teams to invest more in actual customers.

Looking Ahead: The Conversational Future

The shift toward conversational AI represents more than a technology upgrade—it signals a fundamental change in how companies think about customer relationships. Instead of extracting value through standardized processes, forward-thinking organizations create value through personalized experiences that respect individual preferences and priorities.

This transformation requires rethinking traditional assumptions about scale and personalization. Many teams believe they must choose between efficient processes and personalized experiences. Conversational AI eliminates this false choice by enabling personalized interactions at scale.

What's Next

We're currently working with a select group of design partners to refine the experience before a broader launch. These partnerships allow us to test our approach across different industries, customer types, and business models while gathering feedback that shapes the final product.

Stay tuned—we'll be sharing more about our AI Interview Agent journey very soon. The future of customer-led growth is conversational, and we're excited to show you what becomes possible when technology serves relationship-building rather than replacing it.