November 2025 Bonfire Marketer of the Month: Bed Bath & Beyond’s Andrew Luxem

Each month, Braze selects one individual as our Marketer of the Month in order to celebrate the exceptional work being done by members of our Braze Bonfire community. Whether it's providing support for their fellow marketers or going above and beyond by sharing their innovative ideas and strategies, these individuals are making essential contributions to their companies, their users, and the customer engagement space as a whole.

This month, we’re recognizing Andrew Luxem, Sr. Director, CRM at Bed Bath & Beyond, an eCommerce-focused retailer built on an affinity model that connects customers with products and experiences designed to enhance everyday life through quality, style, and value. We spoke to him about his background, experience with Braze, and the campaign he’s most proud of. Let’s dive in.

Tell us about yourself.

I’ve spent two decades leading CRM and lifecycle marketing programs for brands including Amazon.com, Ancestry.com, Stanley Black & Decker, and now Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock.com, and buybuyBABY. I earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Kansas in Anthropology and Classical Antiquities, fields that taught me to recognize patterns in human behavior and motivation. That same curiosity for how people think, decide, and connect eventually led me into marketing technology and customer experience. In 2021, I completed my Executive MBA at the University of Utah, further deepening my focus on data-driven leadership and strategic growth. Today, I bring those perspectives together, blending data, empathy, and automation to design customer journeys that feel both intelligent and human.

What is your favorite part of your job?

My favorite part is helping teams turn complexity into clarity. Whether it’s designing a lifecycle strategy, implementing new functionality, or mapping customer data flows, I love simplifying the technical into something teams can act on. Seeing that “aha” moment when a campaign brings together personalization, timing, and storytelling is what drives me. It’s the intersection of creativity and precision, where the magic happens.

How long have you been using Braze?

I’ve been using Braze for over a year and a half across multiple enterprise environments, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock.com, and buybuyBABY. During that time, I’ve navigated peak holiday seasons, managed new IP warmups, and built advanced cross-channel automations. I’ve also leveraged features like Audience Segment Extensions and Braze Audience Sync to improve targeting, experimentation, and data alignment across our ecosystem.

What has your experience working with the Braze team and community been like?

The Braze community has been one of the most open and collaborative I’ve ever experienced. Speaking at Forge 2025 was a career highlight, the perfect blend of inspiration and practicality. I participated on two panels, From Iteration to Acceleration: Building an Experimentation Culture and The Dollars and Cents of Deliverability, both of which reinforced how deeply Braze empowers teams to connect creativity, data, and measurable outcomes. The event showcased not just the platform’s capabilities but the shared spirit of learning and innovation that defines this community.

What campaign are you most proud of?

This last year, I worked on an email cadence optimization strategy designed to improve email engagement and deliverability by implementing a structured cadence framework. The goal was to reduce over-sending, prioritize high-value audiences, and align messaging with business objectives while maintaining overall volume governance.

Our key goals were to target the most engaged customers for daily communications, reduce volume from low-engagement segments to minimize fatigue, curate high-performing campaigns for broader distribution, and stay within defined monthly send caps to protect deliverability

Here’s an overview of the strategy

First, we segmented our audience by engagement level to determine what messages they received:

• Highly Engaged: Received daily messages based on recent activity and purchase behavior
• Moderately Engaged: Limited to a curated set of top-performing campaigns each month
• Low Engagement & Inactive: Received minimal frequency, focused on reactivation opportunities

Daily sends were applied for top-tier engagement, while weekly or monthly sends were utilized for lower tiers. Overrides were permitted for major events or promotions to ensure that important communications reached the audience effectively

.To prevent oversaturation, daily and weekly caps were established. Additionally, Intelligent Send Time Optimization (STO) was implemented to enhance engagement rates. ISP-specific throttling was also employed to maintain optimal inbox placement for messages.

Engagement rates, including opens and clicks, were meticulously tracked to assess the effectiveness of campaigns. Furthermore, conversion rates and revenue generated per email were measured to evaluate overall performance. Deliverability health and list retention were continuously monitored to ensure the success of email communications.

The execution framework involved monthly planning cycles that included kickoff meetings, audience updates, and campaign prioritization. Quality assurance processes were in place to ensure thorough device and ISP testing. Dynamic content personalization was applied across all tiers to enhance user experience, and contingency planning supported rapid-response campaigns when necessary.

The guiding principles emphasized quality over quantity, focusing on relevance and personalization in communications. Mutual exclusivity was maintained, ensuring that customers belonged to one cadence tier at a time. Lifecycle priority was given to triggered and transactional messages, which took precedence over other types of communications. Continuous optimization was a key focus, with monthly reviews conducted to refine segmentation and cadence strategies.

This strategy ensured sustainable engagement, improved ROI, and a better customer experience through structured email governance and intelligent targeting.

Interested in collaborating to build the future of customer engagement? Join a collective of experts to forge connections, share ideas, and accelerate your career at the Braze Bonfire Community.