In this episode, Jamie Domenici, CMO of Klaviyo, joins Dan Darcy in the Qualified studio to discuss how AI agents are reshaping marketing. Domenici reflects on the challenges of the traditional inbound funnel, particularly the ongoing friction between marketing and sales over lead follow-up. She explains how Qualified and PiperX are helping her team improve speed to lead, personalize engagement at scale, and lower cost of acquisition. Domenici also shares her approach to adopting AI in uncharted territory: start by automating high-friction functions, then scale across the marketing organization.

Key Takeaways

• AI agents reduce friction: Marketing and sales have long clashed over lead quality and follow-up. AI agents solve speed-to-lead challenges and reduce dependence on human bandwidth.
• PiperX is a game changer: With multimodal capabilities and full-funnel support, PiperX enables immediate, personalized interactions that transform demand generation.
• PLG and cost efficiency: For product-led growth, minimizing cost of acquisition is key. AI-driven follow-up and routing ensure pipeline growth without expanding headcount.
• Personalization at scale: Domenici sees PiperX as critical to creating individualized web and content experiences for every prospect.
• Practical AI adoption: CMOs should identify annoying, repetitive functions (like routing or localization) and operationalize them first. This frees teams to focus on higher-value work.
• Navigating uncertainty: With no established playbook for AI adoption, experimentation and systematic automation are the keys to building a future-ready marketing organization.

TRANSCRIPTION

Dan Darcy:
I’m joined today in Qualified Studios with none other than the CMO of Klaviyo, Jamie Domenici. Jamie, thanks for joining me today.

Jamie Domenici:
Thanks for having me.

Dan Darcy:
Awesome. Let’s get right into it. You’re a seasoned marketing leader, having been at Klaviyo the last couple of years and before that leading marketing teams at Salesforce for over a decade. What excites you as a CMO around this whole agent revolution?

Jamie Domenici:
I think it’s a really exciting time to be a marketer. A little scary, but mostly exciting because agents will help us operationalize areas that have been hard to manage for so long. It’s overwhelming but exciting. Agents will take away some of the annoying tasks so I can focus my time, and my team’s time, on what matters most.

Dan Darcy:
We’ve talked a lot about the challenges in the traditional inbound funnel, especially nurturing top-of-funnel leads. How have you and your teams dealt with that?

Jamie Domenici:
I wish I wasn’t still fighting with sales about lead follow-up, but I am. I literally had that conversation two hours ago. The friction over lead quality and speed-to-lead is still one of the toughest challenges CMOs face.

Dan Darcy:
Today we announced PiperX—our full-funnel agent with advanced top-of-funnel nurturing. What excites you most about it?

Jamie Domenici:
PiperX is a game changer. Speed-to-lead has always been critical, but relying on humans to be as fast and smart as the internet isn’t realistic. PiperX changes how we generate and follow up on demand. I’ll have control, personalization for every prospect, and instant follow-up. That immediate interaction with a brand will be a major differentiator in the sales cycle.

Dan Darcy:
Totally agree. Get that lead. Klaviyo has been a Qualified customer for over a year—thank you for that. What made you and your team choose Qualified?

Jamie Domenici:
Like many marketers, I own PLG and a revenue target. My goal is to keep cost of acquisition as low as possible. I want to rely on technology first, with no additional sales reps. Qualified is critical because it follows up on leads, routes them intelligently, and drives pipeline without requiring more headcount. Within the first year, we generated $2 million in pipeline. As a marketer, it’s important that I can help control the entire lifecycle.

Dan Darcy:
That’s incredible. I also heard your team has started onboarding Piper. What use cases excite you most, especially with PiperX?

Jamie Domenici:
Personalization at scale. You can’t just batch and blast anymore. I don’t want everyone seeing the same thing on our website. From the moment a prospect engages, every interaction should feel individualized. PiperX makes that possible—interacting directly on the website and sharing relevant content. That’s the way people expect to buy and sell now.

Dan Darcy:
Love it. Last question: many CMOs are watching this today, feeling pressure from boards and CEOs to be “AI-first.” What advice do you have for them?

Jamie Domenici:
It’s scary because there’s no playbook—we’re in uncharted territory. My approach has been to identify the key functions that can be automated, especially the annoying ones like lead follow-up or localization. Automating those gives my team back time. Then we move on to the next function. Working with partners like Qualified makes our whole tech stack stronger. Now I essentially have twice the people power because I have agents alongside my team.

Dan Darcy:
That’s fantastic advice. Jamie, thank you so much for the conversation today, and thank you for being a great customer.

Jamie Domenici:
Thank you.