Caroline Sams
Guildford,Surrey
Summary
Results-driven professional specialising in people leadership, stakeholder management, and CRM strategy. Leverages CRM platforms and business intelligence tools to extract insights and enhance customer loyalty. Utilises AI technologies for strategic development and focuses on innovative service design and customer journey mapping to improve experiences.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work history
Customer Engagement Lead (Retention Growth)
Canon EMEA
02.2023 - 05.2026
- Improved CRM journey effectiveness for priority audiences, as reflected by CTR uplift from 7% to 26% for “enthusiast” segment, by facilitating team workshops to co-design customer led lifecycle strategy and coaching team to embed audience-first thinking across all touchpoints
- Redesigned Black Friday lifecycle journey using insight-led persona segmentation, achieving 13% increase in last-click attribution and raising value per click from £28 to £37 year on year
- Redesigned Canon Club loyalty value proposition and tier system, increasing member sign-up rates from 1.69% and saving £60k in consultancy costs, setting foundation for optimised programme in 2026-2027
- Led team of 2 reports across 33 markets to grow value of 16m database through loyalty and CRM; team won silver in Customer Journey, "DSLR to Mirrorless," DMA Awards 2024
- Improved customer data quality and consent rates across 33 markets, reflected by opt-ins rising from 25% to 30% and product registrations increasing from 12% to 25% of sell-in YOY, by facilitating a cross-functional stakeholder workshop to align teams on 1st party data ideas and influencing a structural change to the app onboarding journey
- Increased team capacity and campaign output by 38% YOY, as measured by output rising from 13.2m to 18.8m emails in Q3 YOY and 40% reduction in development time, by leading a supplier change project and driving dynamic, reusable content frameworks
CRM Campaigns Manager
Arlo EMEA
Bracknell
11.2020 - 11.2022
- Increased paid subscriptions by 11,000 (vs 2,000 in 2020) +€28k MRR from campaigns targeting non-subscribers, by adding benefit-led copy and iconography, lifestyle creative and “don’t miss out” free trial offers
- Improved subscriber retention and ARPU from €6.05 to €7.96 (+32%) YOY
- Optimised Black Friday CRM and “Darker Nights” achieving €366k tracked revenue to email in Q4 2022
- Redesigned 90-day onboarding journey by auditing processes and integrating educational content and structured commitment-based offers, driving free-to-paid conversion from 0.44% to 0.62%
- Led remote US-based team of 2 CRM managers across 16 markets and 4m database, executing sales promotions, lifecycle journeys, product launches, and subscription promotions with test and learn plan
- Led cross-functional systems migration project from Salesforce Marketing Cloud to AI-driven PEGA, working with US and EMEA IT teams to achieve greater automation and data control, transferring over 120 templates and journeys with minimal service disruption
CRM & Loyalty Manager
Krispy Kreme Rewards
Frimley
10.2020 - 11.2020
- Prepared for launch of new omnichannel loyalty programme KK Rewards before Covid lockdown; wound down legacy app saving £15k per month in running costs. Role was furloughed Q2 2020.
Customer Experience Manager
BOC (Linde Group)
Guildford
06.2016 - 11.2019
- Improved Customer Effort Score from 65% to 80%, by influencing culture change across 200+ frontline staff
- Transformed complaints experience for customers by identifying poor service quality in VOC sentiment data and ethnographic insight, leading service design which involved mapping current vs to-be process, securing buy-in from Senior team and training Customer Care on a new ‘repair loop’ and prioritisation process – within one year of the change, the number of complaints being acknowledged tripled and resolution within 72 hours rose from 50% to 90%
- Drove culture change in how frontline staff responded to customer needs, by securing a £200K annual budget and empowering 200+ customer-facing colleagues to resolve issues proactively with new ‘Acts of Kindness’ goodwill programme designed from scratch and influencing senior stakeholders to invest in and champion it
- Influenced senior leadership team’s approval of upgraded delivery tool (Paragon), by facilitating cross-functional customer journey mapping workshops that identified priority ‘moments that matter’ for key customer personas
- Translated customer insight into measurable improvements by commissioning and briefing Kantar survey of 400 business customers, analysing results and presenting five key recommendations that influenced SLT investment
- Embedded culture of evidence-based experience improvement across the organisation, as measured by 2,000 monthly VOC responses powering changes to invoicing, complaints, delivery and CRM, by owning the Voice of Customer programme — analysing CES and sentiment trends and presenting actionable insight to Senior Team and all staff
Marketing Manager / Loyalty Manager
BOC
Guildford
09.2014 - 06.2016
- Improved retention YOY by re-targeting Nectar to SME and micro-SME, managing removal of large value managed accounts, saving £0.5m in annual running costs. Shifted branding from B2B rewards to B2C retailers like BP and Costa based on insights showing Nectar members preferred spending points on high street brands. Created new identity and launched key campaigns including ‘Who wants to become a Nectar millionaire?’, ‘12 Days of Nectar,’ and a ‘surprise and delight’ scheme featuring a giant inflatable dice in 75 stores worth up to £20 a throw, gaining 4,500 new Nectar members, a 33% increase vs 2014 and achieving 19% incremental ROI (+£1m).
- Designed “GENIE” digital gas cylinder marketing strategy targeting existing customers with new value proposition “More gas, more portable, more intelligent” and “Simple to Switch,” engaging welders and refrigerant engineers through a sign-up discount campaign – UK first market to hit sales target and achieve +£1m revenue in Year 1.
Marketing Executive, Industrial Supplies & Services
BOC
Guildford
10.2009 - 09.2012
- Launched the first BOC B2B e-commerce platform and increased revenue from £0.5m to £1.5m in 2 years; managed product content, PPC, SEO, and email marketing to achieve 433% online revenue growth
Education
CIM Level 6 Professional Marketing Diploma - Merit
City of Bristol College
BristolBA (Hons) - English Literature (2.1)
University of the West of England
BristolAI & Critical Thinking
EConsultancy
UxbridgeSkills
Leadership and budget management
Customer sentiment analysis
Journey mapping and segmentation
CRM strategy
Insight-driven actions
Retention strategies
Loyalty and service design
CRM SaaS solutions
Business intelligence tools
AI strategic tools
Affiliations
- parkrun Run Director from 2017 to present - lead 500 participants, 30 volunteers
References
References available upon request.
Other Information
- 2023-2024 Creative Mentor Network mentor to college student
- Qualified TEFL teacher
Timeline
Customer Engagement Lead (Retention Growth)
Canon EMEA
02.2023 - 05.2026
CRM Campaigns Manager
Arlo EMEA
11.2020 - 11.2022
CRM & Loyalty Manager
Krispy Kreme Rewards
10.2020 - 11.2020
Customer Experience Manager
BOC (Linde Group)
06.2016 - 11.2019
Marketing Manager / Loyalty Manager
BOC
09.2014 - 06.2016
Marketing Executive, Industrial Supplies & Services
BOC
10.2009 - 09.2012
BA (Hons) - English Literature (2.1)
University of the West of England
CIM Level 6 Professional Marketing Diploma - Merit
City of Bristol College
AI & Critical Thinking
EConsultancy