How The Ordinary turned skincare progress into retention gold
The Ordinary never struggled with awareness. TikTok made their serums go viral, and first-time buyers flooded in.But the data told another story, 68% of customers never made a second purchase. Their CRM flow was functional, not emotional. Transactional emails, “back in stock” alerts, and discount nudges all noise, no connection. The real problem? Customers weren’t leaving […]
Quick wins & blueprints: How to save opt-outs with a soft transactional email
Not every “unsubscribe” is a goodbye.Sometimes it’s a signal that your messaging stopped feeling relevant. The biggest mistake most brands make?They treat an unsubscribe click as the end of the relationship when in reality, it’s a moment to repair trust. That’s where the soft transactional email comes in.A soft transactional email is a one off […]
The CRM brand case study; how we found a hidden revenue segment in Swarovski’s male gifting audience
Swarovski had a loyal male customer base but they weren’t being fully activated.Most of the brand’s gifting campaigns targeted predictable occasions like birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas.The issue? These were calendar moments, not emotional moments. Our data showed that men accounted for 22% of total transactions, but their average basket size (£110) was 30% higher than […]
CRM psychology & emotion: Dove’s real beauty revolution, how empathy became a Billion$ strategy
The strongest brands don’t sell products.They sell permission to feel better about yourself. The Problem For decades, the beauty industry thrived on insecurity marketing convincing women that they weren’t enough.Every cream, serum, or shampoo promised to “fix” something. Then came Dove, and they flipped the script. Instead of selling transformation, they sold acceptance.Instead of aspiration, they […]
CRM stats you need to know: The loyalty illusion; why points don’t mean connection
We’ve built an entire industry on the illusion of loyalty.Every brand’s got a program.Points. Perks. Tiers. Badges.You spend, you earn, you repeat. But let’s be honest, that’s not loyalty.That’s choreography. McKinsey found that 78% of consumers are enrolled in at least one loyalty program, yet only 18% feel emotionally connected to the brands they buy […]
Email Marketing ≠ CRM. Here’s why most brands are leaving money on the table.
In 2025, brands still confuse email marketing with CRM and it’s quietly costing them millions in lost revenue. Sure, sending a newsletter or an offer sequence is important. But if that’s the full extent of your “CRM,” you’re not managing relationships, you’re just sending messages into the void. The truth is, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) […]
You don’t need more emails, you need a CRM strategy.
In 2025, most brands still believe that sending more emails equals more sales.They push out discount codes, limited-time offers, and holiday campaigns hoping one will stick. But here’s the truth no one talks about:You don’t need more emails.You need a CRM strategy. Because behind every open rate, click, and unsubscribe is a customer with a […]
Campaigns get attention. Journeys build loyalty.
In marketing, everyone’s chasing attention.A flashy campaign. A viral ad. A seasonal offer. But attention is temporary.Loyalty lasts. That’s the difference between running campaigns and designing customer journeys. Campaigns Are Short-Term Wins Campaigns are built to perform fast.They push quick sales, drive traffic spikes, and make noise on social media. But the problem with campaigns […]
The 2025 retention tech stack: Essential tools for modern businesses
Two years ago, most marketing teams were still playing catch up; juggling CRMs, scattered email tools, and spreadsheets that tried to explain why customers were leaving. Fast forward to 2025, and the game has completely changed. Retention isn’t just a marketing metric anymore. It’s a system, a synchronized network of technology that sees, predicts, and […]
Customer Retention Benchmarks 2025: What’s Changed and What’s Next
In 2015, retention was the quiet KPI important, but often overshadowed by acquisition. Fast forward to 2025, and the equation has flipped. Customer retention is no longer a secondary metric; it’s the pulse of sustainable growth. But what exactly has changed? Why are brands that used to thrive on aggressive acquisition now refocusing on keeping […]