Stop 09 · Growth Marketing & ExperimentationTopics · 8/9

Retention Marketing

In short

Winning a new customer usually costs far more than keeping one. Retention marketing gives people reasons to come back, and notices when they're about to leave.

Marketing activities aimed at keeping existing customers engaged and coming back — win-back campaigns, loyalty programs, and lifecycle emails — often far cheaper than acquiring a new customer.

The blob tailor holds a measuring tape and a roll of bright fabric beside a sewing machine.

Think of it like this

The tailor who calls before Diwali

Your neighbourhood tailor remembers your measurements and calls a month before Diwali: 'New fabric has come, shall I keep some aside?'. You go back every year. He never needed an ad. He just stayed in touch.

Watch it happen

Retention levers for a food delivery app

Retention

Habit

Value

Loyalty

Win-back

Lunch reminders

Membership perks

We miss you offer

1/4Habit: well-timed reminders, like a lunchtime nudge on weekdays, for people who order at lunch.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Retention and churn

Retention is the share who stay. Churn is the share who leave. Track both monthly.

Spot early warnings

Fewer logins or smaller orders often come before churn. Act when you see them.

Personal beats generic

Messages based on what someone actually buys work better than blasts to everyone.

Ask why they left

A short exit survey tells you what to fix, not just who left.

See it in code

Walk through the code

excel

1B1  Customers at start of month    20002B2  Customers lost this month       1603B3  Churn rate          =B2/B1      → 8%4B4  Retention rate      =1-B3       → 92%5B5  Left after 6 months =B1*B4^6    → ~1,213

1/3Customers lost divided by customers at the start.

Churn compounds. An 8% monthly churn loses nearly 40% of customers in six months, before counting new ones.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Giving every customer a discount to stay.

Do this instead

Target people showing churn signals. Loyal customers don't need a discount to stay.

Oops

Only noticing churn in a quarterly report.

Do this instead

Watch weekly signals and trigger win-back messages automatically.

Your mission

Design a win-back campaign

~25 min

Quick check

Monthly churn drops from 10% to 6%. What happens over a year?

Go deeper

1Design a simple win-back email sequence for a lapsed hypothetical customer.
2Learn why retaining an existing customer is typically much cheaper than acquiring a new one.
3Identify a retention lever (loyalty program, re-engagement email) for a product you use.