6: Powering commerce from text to checkout: Insights from Mike Manheimer, CCO at Postscript

Mike Manheimer is the chief customer officer (CCO) at Postscript—and a soon-to-be first-time father. Postscript is a short message system (SMS) marketing platform powered by AI, designed to help e-commerce brands within the Shopify ecosystem build personalized connections with their customers to drive revenue. Mike entered the SaaS world straight out of college at a startup called WebPT, where he worked his way up to marketing director. After leaving WebPT, Mike held various leadership roles at Gainsight before serving as head of growth marketing at Front. He joined Postscript in 2021 as chief marketing officer and transitioned to his current role as chief customer officer in late 2024, leading both the marketing and customer teams.   In today’s episode, Alan and Mike discuss conversational commerce, exploring how SMS text messaging, chatbots, and voice assistants are transforming the shopping experience. They examine the potential rise of SMS texts in marketing and why conversational commerce hasn’t fully taken off yet. Their conversation also highlights Postscript's decision to specialize rather than consolidate, and the AI innovations they are using to boost revenue. Mike also shares common misconceptions about SMS marketing, notes a consumer shift toward analog experiences, and encourages marketers to adopt an AI-first mindset.    Key quotes:  “When I joined Postscript, part of my thesis was that two megatrends were intersecting, and they weren’t going to stop: We’re seeing more transactions done online over time. The second is, we see messaging as a major component of the way people spend their time online, especially on their mobile devices. We see messaging in a bunch of forms but especially text messaging dominates the time people are using their phones. And so, Postscript exists at the intersection of both those trends.” – Mike Manheimer, CCO at Postscript  “SMS is the only channel that exists for marketers that is fundamentally ‘two-way’ from the get-go.” – Mike Manheimer, CCO at Postscript  “When you nail that—you know, the voice, the value add, and the consent—then what you end up with is a very highly engaged, high-earning channel. And a lot of people are finding that they're actually making more money off of an SMS list that ends up being only one-fifth of the size of the email list that they've been cultivating over the last few years because of the integration with the phone, the immediacy of the channel, and the engagement that you're able to generate.” - Mike Manheimer, CCO at Postscript  “Cracking the code on conversational for your brand not only makes you feel good, it’s a financial imperative.” - Mike Manheimer, CCO at Postscript    In this episode, you'll learn:  Why SMS is yielding results in conversational commerce   Benefits of specialization versus consolidation in SaaS  What AI innovations are driving revenue    Key highlights:  [01:40] Preparing for fatherhood  [03:10] Career path to Postscript   [06:45] What is Postscript?   [8:15] How SMS could change conversational commerce   [12:10] Marketers’ SMS misconceptions  [17:45] Specialization versus consolidation    [23:20] AI use cases in SMS to drive revenue  [30:55] Learning to adapt as the new kid  [34:15] Advice to your younger self  [36:20] A topic that you and other marketers need to learn more about: effectiveness in statistics   [30:30] Trends or subcultures others should follow: a renewed interest in analog   [41:40] Largest opportunity or threat to marketers today: become an AI-first thinker    Resources mentioned:    Mike Manheimer  Postscript  Shopify  What is conversational commerce?  Career stops: WebPT, Gainsight, Front    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Mike Manheimer and Postscript:   Mike Manheimer on LinkedIn  Postscript on X  Postscript on LinkedIn  Postscript on Instagram  Postscript on TikTok  Postscript on Facebook    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X   Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads       Post-production credits:   Integrity Media Solutions LLC