One of only 3 Leaders, Cordial received the highest possible score in 10 criteria
SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cordial, the enterprise marketing platform used by brands including Levi’s, L.L.Bean and Boot Barn, is a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers, Q1 2026.
→ Access the full report: cordial.com/forrester-wave-2026
The report places Cordial among three Leaders out of the 12 vendors evaluated.
In the evaluation, Cordial received the highest possible scores in 10 criteria: identity resolution, queries & segmentation, dynamic messaging, content management, data governance, consumer privacy, regulatory compliance, agency services, pricing flexibility & transparency, and roadmap.
The Forrester report describes Cordial as a great fit for cross‑channel retailers that are reasonably comfortable with marketing technology and want to activate large, disparate data sets into highly customized communications.
“Enterprise brands don’t just need software — they need a partner that understands the complexity of their customers, their data and their business,” said Jeremy Swift, CEO and co‑founder of Cordial. “From the beginning, we’ve built Cordial around that partnership model. Our teams work closely with customers to interpret their data, design sophisticated messaging programs and help them deliver better experiences at scale. Seeing this ambition reflected in both the product and customer findings in this Wave is incredibly meaningful to us.”
Architecture Built for Context‑Driven Messaging
Cordial received the highest possible score in the Queries & Segmentation and Identity Resolution criteria, with the report citing its ability to ingest structured and unstructured data and make it immediately available for querying.
“The challenge with most marketing AI today isn’t the intelligence — it’s the architecture,” said Matt Howland, President and Chief Product Officer at Cordial. “Most marketing stacks separate customer data, decision logic and message execution across different systems. Context gets fragmented at every handoff. By building a platform where those layers live together, Cordial enables customer signals to translate directly into real‑time messaging decisions.”
The platform also received the highest possible scores in the Dynamic Messaging and Content Management criteria. Forrester defines a score of 5/5 in the Dynamic Messaging criterion as demonstrating innovative 1:1 message streams that are automated by combining AI decisioning with execution.
Recognition Across Product Innovation and Customer Partnership
Cordial was only one of two vendors that received the highest possible score in the Roadmap criterion, which Cordial believes underscores its commitment to product innovation. Forrester notes that Cordial customers collaborate directly with product developers to co-create Cordial’s roadmap and that it has made a “solid” investment in AI which accounts for 30% of Cordial’s research and development spend.
Customer feedback gathered during the evaluation cited that customers love their partnership with Cordial. The report also states: “References relish the fact that they can Slack and text not just with their client support team but also with Cordial executives. One customer calls Cordial it “an extension of our team.”
That partnership is backed by a robust platform that has evolved to support increasingly sophisticated messaging programs for large retail and commerce brands.
Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. For more information, read about Forrester’s objectivity here .
About Cordial
Cordial is an enterprise marketing platform used by brands including Levi’s, L.L.Bean, and Boot Barn to power billions of personalized messages across email, SMS, and mobile.
The platform combines customer data, segmentation, content management, and message execution in a single system designed to help marketers activate large, complex data sets in real time and deliver highly individualized customer experiences.
Learn more at cordial.com.
Media Contact:
Ryan Hecker
PANBlast for Cordial
cordial@panblastpr.com
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