Updates on our roadmap for 2024

At the start of 2023 we published What’s coming in 2023.

We’re delighted that we’ve since delivered the majority of what we outlined: New data sources and automated triggers in Vero Connect, a preview of our upcoming public API, the first version of SMS (re-prioritised over "custom channels").

We also released a raft of things we didn’t initially plan: [new user permissions](), import speed improvements, transactional speed improvements, [custom HTML blocks]() in our drag-and-drop editor (a HUGE request) and, of course, automated list-unsubscribe support in light of the big Google and Yahoo! changes that rolled out two months ago.

Last year we also created the Tree of Vero, a visual representation of our roadmap.

With our first big releases of 2024 behind us we’re excited to share more of our plans for the remainder of 2024 and early 2025.

Along with this announcement, we’ve also:

• Reviewed and updated all entries on our feedback board.
• Reviewed and updated the Tree of Vero.
• Provided more information on what each status means on our Roadmap.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Email me any time: chris AT getvero.com.

Chris CEO and Co-Founder

First up, a little recap

A couple of years ago we split Vero into two products: Cloud and Connect. We did this to give Connect breathing room and it’s own identity. As the first customer engagement software to connect directly to the warehouse, it was different to Cloud, the core product we’ve built over the last 11+ years.

Connect has been a huge shift for us and for the industry, and we’ve learned two big things:

1. Flexible data storage = good. B2C and product-led B2B companies are excited by the flexibility Connect gives them to choose which data is stored in Vero and which is not. This helps businesses manage costs and data privacy, particularly at scale.
2. The best of both. Many of our Cloud customers have been very excited by Connect but have said to us: "porque no los dos?!" ("why not both?!") I.e. why can’t they store audience data with Vero and load audiences from their own data warehouse when they choose: sometimes it makes sense to load from the warehouse, sometimes it doesn’t.

As a result of these learnings we’re working on merging our two products together. Our goal is that, as soon as possible, all Vero customers:

• Log in to one product (the new Vero 2.0).
• That product supports all key features from both Cloud and Connect.

Vero 2.0 brings all of the rebuilt UI and backend components we’ve lovingly crafted over the last two years to all customers. The quality of Vero 2.0 is much, much higher than anything we’ve released before. We hope you’ll notice the difference. 

Watch this space for more information on Vero 2.0 in the coming weeks.

Thats not all we have planned this year, here are some of the other features we’re working on:

Workflows 2.0

A big priority this year is Workflows 2.0. We’re taking the best of our current workflows feature and building upon it. Updates we’re working on:

• A faster UI.
• Better logging and reporting for all workflow nodes.
• New triggers.
• Better version management for editing live campaigns.
• Easier "testing" of workflows.
• Zero bugs saving workflows.

…and more. Workflows are the backbone of the Vero platform and we’re super excited for these improvements. We’ll be releasing these inside the new, Vero 2.0 interface so these updates will immediately benefit from the many improvements in speed, navigation, structure and more that come with the rebuilt Vero 2.0.

"Saved SQL" audiences (link)

Loading audiences directly from a SQL data source like Google BigQuery, Snowflake or AWS Redshift is a super powerful way to automate and personalize campaigns.

Part of Vero’s core value is enabling marketing teams to do more whilst freeing up engineering resources, getting campaign ideas live faster.

With this feature we’ll give users the abillity to save frequently used SQL as an audience (segment). This will enable users who can’t write SQL to run campaigns with confidence as well as reduce the risk of accidentally emailing the wrong audience, even for Vero power users.

This feature will be the baseline for other ways to build audiences in Vero 2.0, using data stored in Vero’s internal database or data in your external data sources, side-by-side.

Per-channel subscription management

Historically, Vero has offered a "one-click" global unsubscribe for email messages and relied on device-level preferences for end-users to manage iOS/Android push subscriptions.

With the introduction of SMS, we are also introducing explicit unsubscribes per endpoint, i.e. for joe@getvero.com and 0411222333 explicitly.

This will give you more control over exactly which messages your users receive on which channel, and will enable you to build per-device subscription centers.

This feature also lays the foundation for preference-based unsubscribes, coming in the future.

Direct iOS/Android integration for push messages

When we launched mobile push message support for iOS and Android several years ago, we were predominantly focused on current customers.

Today, push messaging is used by many new Vero customers. Adding support to send directly via Google FCM and Apple APNs and making push easier to configure is an important goal for Vero this year and will help both new and current push users.

More SMS and email providers

We’ve launched SMS partnering with Twilio. We’ll be adding support for MessageBird and other, local SMS providers throughout the year. Given our global customer base we know there is demand to support providers that specialize in various countries or regions.

Vote for the providers you’d like to see on our feedback board.

Similarly we’re looking to add support for email providers such as Amazon SES and Postmark.

Loading data directly into your warehouse

Our "Data out" integrations currently fall into three major categories: webhooks, CDPs (e.g. Segment) and ETLs (e.g. Stitch). With all the innovative work we’ve done on Vero Connect loading data directly from the data warehouse, we’re looking to write all sent, delivery, open, click and other data directly back to the warehouse as well.

With this feature you’ll have access to the rich data Vero produces in your warehouse, ready to use with your BI tools!

Better A/B testing

The current A/B testing features in Workflows operate as a fundamental "split" node. Whilst this works for many use cases, we want to take it further. Our goals are to:

• Improve reporting over A/B tests in workflows.
• Automatically pick a winner.
• Provide better visibility on all A/B tests running across the Vero platform.

A/B testing is a really powerful feature and we look forward to offering more functionality here.

Lots of things getting a facelift

Whilst not specifically "new", we’ll be giving a facelift to the remaining key features in Vero, including managing users, user properties, events and event properties, creating segments and all of the settings menus.

As we update each feature we’ll be incorporating feedback we’ve received over the years to make them easier to use, including small, new features that’ll make the day-to-day experience of using Vero faster and more enjoyable.

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How we work at Vero

It’s also worth noting that the above isn’t an exhaustive list.

Customers often ask how we prioritise and work at Vero. Here’s a snapshot of how we manage and plan things:

• As per this update, we plan the big-ticket items we’re working on for the coming 12 months.
• We work in eight-week cycles. Every eight weeks we evaluate everything we could build, including features and projects outside of the annual priorities. We essentially follow the Shape Up methodology. We do this review because priorities can change and customer feedback is always arriving!
• In each cycle we build in two weeks to work on bug fixes and security fixes. This ensures we’re continually addressing regressions and other findings reported by customers.
• When prioritising we’re always trying to evaluate three main things:
  • Customer requests. Most important! What do customers want us to build in the future? What are customers struggling with right now? How can we help customers do more in a more enjoyable way?
  • Technical debt. It’s important to constantly improve our technical stack. Sometimes this is iterative and sometimes it requires bigger rebuilds.
  • "Big bets". These are projects we are investing in that we believe will provide future growth opportunities for Vero by solving evolving customer problems.

Getting the balance right is never easy and we try our best. A key takeaway is that we tweak the roadmap as the year progresses, so please keep sending us your feedback via the feedback board.

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We’re wishing you a successful and happy rest of 2024. We look forward to collaborating and seeing all the great things we can build together.