[CX Stories] Jamie Cassidy, Director of Marketing and CX at H2O Audio

Introduction

Jamie is the Director of Marketing and Customer Experience at H2O Audio with years of experience in CX within the sports industry. She is also the head coach of the women's club water polo team at San Diego State University.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in San Diego, H2O Audio has redefined the way athletes connect with music. For over 20 years, the brand has developed innovative, high-performance audio solutions that inspire athletes to push beyond their limits. H2O Audio products are trusted by athletes worldwide for their exceptional sound, durability, and ability to perform in the most extreme environments.

Interview

1. How did you end up in CX at H2O Audio?

I grew up in a very athletic family. My dad coached high school sports, both my parents played in college, and we were in the pool from a young age. I ended up playing Division 1 water polo and swimming at San Diego State, then stayed on to coach while earning my master’s in sport management.

After grad school, I worked at a startup called PEAR Sports, then moved to SKLZ, where I really learned to lead teams and focus on customer experience. I’ve also helped run a triathlon apparel company with my husband, which gave me hands-on experience with manufacturing and brand-building.

Now I’m with H2O Audio, where I’ve been for about a year and a half.

I’ve been lucky to work for brands that support my passion for coaching. I have coached the club water polo team for fifteen years and just took my team to the CWPA Club National Championship Tournament.

2. What is it like balancing a full-time job and coaching?

Thankfully, we practice late in the evenings, so I’m able to work a full day before heading to practice. But it’s definitely a grind, especially with the commute during rush hour.

Practice wraps up around 9:30pm, and by the time I get everyone off the deck and drive home, it’s close to 11. Then I’m back in the office the next morning.

I’ve used a lot of vacation days to travel for tournaments, but that’s a sacrifice I was willing to make.

Coaching has given me so much over the past 15 years, seeing young women grow, supporting them through life transitions, writing rec letters—it’s incredibly rewarding and makes the long hours worth it.

3. How do you think your background in coaching influences the way you approach your role as a Director of Marketing? 

Coaching taught me how to read people and understand what motivates them, and I bring that into how I manage teams and cross-functional work.

At SKLZ, I leaned heavily into data. Looking at customer pain points and bringing that feedback to category managers. I’d regularly meet with them to ask: what do you need from us, and what don’t you know yet that might be affecting your line?

From there, we worked on aligning efforts across departments, CS, marketing, accounting, ops, product. Because if we’re not all rowing in the same direction, we’re just creating friction and wasting time.

We also made it a point to test new products ourselves, reading the instructions, assembling it like a customer would.

That helped us spot issues early, improve documentation, and reduce tickets. Fewer calls, emails, and chats meant our team could handle things more calmly and give better service.

It all came back to listening, sharing insights, and making sure everyone was set up to succeed.

4. Are there any standout initiatives you've taken on to improve customer service?

One approach I’ve always pushed for is making sure everyone in the company sees themselves as part of customer service.

Whether you’re in sales, marketing, or product, you’re interacting with customers in some way and representing the brand.

Customer service often gets overlooked because it’s not seen as glamorous or a direct revenue driver, but I think that’s a huge miss.

Done well, CX absolutely drives revenue. Happy customers come back, and they tell others.

For example, at H2O Audio, I use CX insights in marketing. If they’re getting repeated questions, I know those are things to address in our emails or on our site. It’s all about creating that feedback loop so that customer insights are informing decisions across the business.

And on a human level, it’s about building real relationships with customers. When they feel seen and heard by a real person, not just a brand, they stick around and advocate for you.

That’s how you build a community.

When the wheel starts turning and you have customers sharing great experiences, the impact just grows.

5. How does content play a role in CX at H2O Audio?

I actually write the posts and upload it all myself! It was actually one of those areas of the business that no one was really doing anything with before I got here and I saw it as an opportunity to add value.

Our products are used so differently by everyone, depending on how they train or what they’re training for, so I thought—how can we showcase that and create content that resonates?

We’ve also been investing more in tools to help customers self-serve. We built out our support center with more detailed content, and that’s really helped reduce the number of emails and calls.

People want to find answers on their own, so giving them good resources is key.

And with a technical product like ours, video is a big focus too. I’ve even been in a few of them, or at least my hands have! My coworkers joked I should’ve gotten a manicure beforehand. But hey, no need for hand models when you’re scrappy.

The blog is a place where we can tell stories about how people use the product, highlighting partnerships, or sharing new athlete features. We see it as another way to add value and help customers connect with the brand.

Thank you so much to Jamie for being part of this interview! You can connect with Jamie on LinkedIn and check out H2O Audio.

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