Twilio Announces Winners of Its Inaugural Excellence in Engagement Awards: Celebrating Innovation in Customer Experience
In a significant move to recognize brands that are redefining customer engagement, Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the leading customer engagement platform, has unveiled the winners of its first annual Excellence in Engagement Awards. These awards celebrate organizations across industries—including retail, healthcare, financial services, and real estate—that are leveraging Twilio’s innovative solutions to deliver personalized, real-time experiences and close the growing customer experience gap.
Research shows that while 84% of businesses believe they provide “good” or “excellent” customer engagement, only 54% of consumers agree. This disconnect highlights the urgent need for brands to adopt data-driven strategies that prioritize meaningful interactions. Twilio’s Excellence in Engagement Awards honor companies that are leading the charge in transforming customer experiences through contextual data, seamless communication, and scalable solutions.
This year’s honorees include top-tier brands like Best Buy, CLEAR, Rocket Mortgage, Vineyard Vines, and Zillow. Each winner exemplifies exceptional use of Twilio’s products to create impactful, scalable customer experiences that push the boundaries of innovation.
A Vision for Exceptional Customer Engagement
“These brands share Twilio’s vision of a world where every digital interaction between brands and consumers is amazing,” said Chris Koehler, CMO of Twilio. “The winners represent the best in customer experience within their respective industries, and it’s inspiring to see how they’re using Twilio products to reimagine customer interactions and drive better outcomes—from simplifying the home-buying process to enhancing online shopping experiences. I’m excited to see how these brands continue to innovate and set new standards for customer engagement.”
Let’s take a closer look at how each winner is leveraging Twilio’s technology to revolutionize customer engagement:
Excellence in Engagement: Rocket Mortgage
As the nation’s largest mortgage lender, Rocket Mortgage is setting a benchmark for personalized communication in the financial services sector. By integrating Twilio’s Programmable Voice, SMS, and Segment’s Customer Data Platform (CDP), Rocket Mortgage has built a cross-channel communication system that enhances client interactions. Features include two-way SMS messaging, a secure outbound voice system used by 3,000 agents, and an upcoming inbound voice system.
“Twilio’s Communications APIs and Segment CDP have helped us boost client response rates and conversions through personalized, automated workflows informed by our data,” said Papanii Okai, Executive Vice President of Product Engineering at Rocket Mortgage. “We’re excited to explore AI use cases and continue innovating to help everyone find their way home.”
Excellence in Communication: Best Buy
Best Buy has transformed its customer service experience by adopting Twilio’s Flex and Programmable Voice platforms. Through these tools, the retail giant has integrated voice, chat, and video functionalities into its Virtual Store and Customer Care programs. This enhanced omnichannel approach ensures a seamless experience for customers shopping or seeking support via BestBuy.com or the Best Buy app.
Excellence in Trust: CLEAR
CLEAR, the secure identity platform, uses Twilio’s Verify and Lookup APIs to enhance its identity verification processes. By enabling users to quickly prove their identity using SMS one-time passcodes (OTPs) and Lookup Identity Match, CLEAR provides a frictionless yet secure experience.
“Our mission is to create frictionless experiences while maintaining the highest standards of security and privacy,” said Nick Peddy, Chief Technology Officer at CLEAR. “Twilio’s solutions allow us to match identities quickly and cost-effectively, making identity verification seamless for users—whether they’re going through airport security or signing up for social media.”
Excellence in Data and AI: Vineyard Vines
Vineyard Vines, the iconic lifestyle apparel brand, leverages Twilio Segment to power personalized customer journeys, paid media targeting, and email campaigns. By integrating Twilio Segment with Databricks, the company launched highly targeted campaigns powered by unique customer data in just 60 days.
“We wanted to improve results across our marketing campaigns quickly,” said Anthony Ciancio, Vice President of Data & Analytics at Vineyard Vines. “With Twilio Segment, we achieved our goals in under three months, seamlessly integrating with Databricks and Listrak for more effective campaign execution. This has allowed us to build a smooth, personalized experience across all channels.”
Excellence in Optimization: Zillow
Zillow, the most visited real estate website in the U.S., relies on Twilio’s solutions to power its “Connections” platform. This platform enables real estate agents to communicate with prospective buyers via voice, SMS, and TaskRouter, a skills-based routing system for contact centers. By integrating Twilio’s flexible communication tools, Zillow ensures reliable and efficient connections between agents and buyers.
“Zillow is committed to improving the experience of buying, selling, renting, and financing homes,” said Toby Roberts, SVP of Engineering & Technology at Zillow. “Our partnership with Twilio has been instrumental in building a platform that facilitates clear communication and reliable connections. We value their shared commitment to excellence.”
Honoring Innovation at SIGNAL 2025
The winners and finalists of the Excellence in Engagement Awards will be celebrated at Twilio’s annual customer and developer conference, SIGNAL, scheduled for May 14-15, 2025. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from these industry leaders and discover how they are using Twilio’s technology to drive innovation.
To register for SIGNAL and gain insights into the future of customer engagement, visit https://signal.twilio.com/2025/begin.
Bridging the Customer Experience Gap
As consumer expectations continue to evolve, brands must prioritize personalization, efficiency, and trust in their engagement strategies. The Excellence in Engagement Awards not only highlight the achievements of these five standout brands but also serve as a roadmap for other organizations looking to elevate their customer experiences.
By partnering with Twilio, these winners are proving that innovative technology can transform even the most complex customer interactions into seamless, meaningful experiences. As they continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, one thing is clear: the future of customer engagement is here, and it’s powered by Twilio.
About Twilio Inc.
Today’s leading companies trust Twilio’s Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) to build direct, personalized relationships with their customers everywhere in the world. Twilio enables companies to use communications and data to add intelligence and security to every step of the customer journey, from sales to marketing to growth, customer service and many more engagement use cases in a flexible, programmatic way. Across 180 countries and territories, millions of developers and hundreds of thousands of businesses use Twilio to create magical experiences for their customers. For more information about Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) visit www.twilio.com.
