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Maverik says MarketDial simple to understand: Q&A with Joey Hobson, Chief Marketing Officer

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One of MarketDial’s core mantras is that its software is easy-to-use. Anyone, with or without a statistical background can use it. As MarketDial assists A/B testing efforts, retailers have seen maximized budgets, increased profitability and the efficient evaluation of ROI in marketing, operations, and other strategic initiatives.

Maverik Inc., the largest independent fuel marketer in the Intermountain West, has worked with MarketDial to experience these benefits first-hand in their convenience stores.

Joey Hobson, Maverik’s director of category management talked to MarketDial about their software’s features and benefits.

What is your role at Maverik?

Joey Hobson: I oversee the category managers — the buying group that makes sure we have the right products placed in the store at the right prices and makes sure we are meeting our customer objectives.

Could you describe some of the benefits of using MarketDial?

Joey Hobson: There are a lot of benefits of using MarketDial. We use MarketDial in almost every test that we want to pursue, we’ve actually made it a rule with our executive team, my own team and other cross-functional teams that we have to use MarketDial if we’re going to try a test of any meaningful size or stature. MarketDial really becomes that filter for us.

Has MarketDial helped improve the culture of testing at Maverik?

Joey Hobson: MarketDial has helped us with our culture of testing. We have everyone from senior leaders on the executive team to managers and even people in the stores asking us how we’re doing testing and why we’re doing testing. Then, with a culture that we’ve created with testing, it’s helped us make better business decisions.

How does MarketDial help Maverik consistently make better business decisions around initiatives?

Joey Hobson: MarketDial has a methodology that makes it easy to be consistent and have a pattern and a process of the way that we’re testing things. Because of that, it makes it very simple for all of the users and nonusers of the software to understand how a test works, why a test is being run the way it is, how the methodology is selected. It’s been really helpful for us in creating a culture of A/B testing that really benefits the business.

Is your team saving time by using MarketDial versus other solutions?

Joey Hobson: If the question is about saving time by using MarketDial, yes, I would tell you that it can save you time, but time may not be the biggest factor. It’s the money that you can save. Yeah, of course, it takes a little bit of time to set up a test, especially in a retail environment. However, we really look at how much time, in the long run, are we going to save by not doing something stupid. Avoiding making a mistake and propagating that mistake over several stores or the entire chain. The money that it saves us from not making those mistakes from a fiduciary standpoint is also extremely important to us in our organization.

What type of partner is MarketDial?

Joey Hobson: I would describe MarketDial as a willing and ambitious partner. They have their eyes set on doing big things and changing retail. I look forward to working with them because they bring ideas we haven’t thought of. They challenge us on ideas, systems, methodologies and even processes that can be improved. Because of that, I look forward to how this partnership will develop over the next few years.

Will you continue using MarketDial and how do you think it’s going to help you drive your business?

Joey Hobson: We will continue to use MarketDial. I’ve always told my team if there’s anything of note or anything of import that you want to look at or have a hypothesis against let’s put it into MarketDial and try it. We don’t have to make big sweeping decisions, huge bets or risks because we can throw it into a few stores. Then, with statistics in the MarketDial platform, we can decide if it’s something we want to roll out to a much larger platform.

MarketDial and its easy-to-use software have supported Maverik and multiple other businesses through multiple A/B tests.

To read about a specific case study experience with Maverik and MarketDial, click here.

If you’re interested in learning more about MarketDial’s software, request a demo today.

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