Cart.com × ChangeEngine

About Cart.com

Cart.com is a global e-commerce company with teams across the U.S., Mexico, and Poland. The People Operations team, led by Hannah Thomas, supports 1,000+ employees spanning corporate and warehouse environments. With ChangeEngine, Cart.com built one of the most advanced multi-channel communication strategies on the platform—22+ audience segments, 5 communication channels, and a unified tone powered by their space-themed mascot, Cosmo.

“Something that used to cause me stress is now an afterthought. I’m planned out weeks ahead—and the segmentation is phenomenal.” — Hannah Thomas, Director of People Operations

Challenges

• Reaching a dispersed, mixed workforce—from Slack-heavy corporate teams to mobile, non-desk hourly workers
• Repetitive manual communications across Slack, email, and text—creating “communication chaos” during critical campaigns like Open Enrollment
• Low engagement and lack of visibility into who had received, read, or acted on communications
• Employee handbook and HR materials were dry, hard to digest, and inconsistent in brand tone
• Payroll and timecard reminders required manual follow-ups every pay period, often involving multiple departments

Solutions

• Segmentation + Multi-Channel Strategy: Built 22+ custom audience segments across 3 countries and languages; leveraged Slack (48%), SMS (14%), personal and work email (18%), and Slack 1:1 DMs (20%) to meet people where they are.
• Open Enrollment Campaign: Launched a “space-themed” 40-message campaign across 5 channels—reaching employees with 3,780 Slack DMs, 6,046 emails, and 5,472 SMS messages. Achieved a 99% completion rate (waives + enrollments)—their highest ever.
• Cosmo: The Brand Voice of Cart.com: Introduced 40+ variations of “Cosmo,” a rocketship mascot representing company growth. Cosmo personalizes communications across DEIB, benefits, and recognition programs and even appears as Slack emojis and Zoom backgrounds.
• Employee Handbook Reimagined: Transformed the entire handbook into a space-themed, interactive experience that employees actually want to read.
• Automated Payroll & Timecard Reminders: Replaced repetitive manual check-ins with automated, branded reminders—reducing compliance gaps and saving hours every payroll cycle.
• AI Content + Content Library: Used ChangeEngine’s AI generator to draft and schedule campaigns, linking policies, handbooks, and forms in one place for easy access.

“Prior to ChangeEngine, sending this volume of messages was overwhelming. Now, we can set it and forget it—and it still feels personal.”

Impact

• 99% Open Enrollment Action Rate, eliminating guesswork and manual chasers
• 22+ custom segments delivering messages tailored by role, location, and channel
• Thousands of hours saved annually through automation and AI-assisted campaign creation
• 40+ Cosmo versions bringing humor, inclusion, and energy into HR comms
• Daily engagement on Slack Watercooler, with consistent reactions and shoutouts
• Massive reduction in manual lift: What once required multiple teams now takes minutes
• Improved compliance: Automated reminders for timecards, policies, and reviews close performance gaps
• Employee connection and joy: Celebrations for birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones now feel genuine and are widely share

“The biggest change is not having to stress about communications at all. It’s quick, it’s personal, and it lets us focus on strategy, not sending emails.”