A core belief here at cxploration is that marketing and CX are two sides of the same coin.

And I think the one CX 🤝 Marketing intersection where that's most obvious is retention.

Retention often falls under Marketing's domain. But even the world's greatest email flows or SMS loyalty club won't work if the entire Customer Experience is awful.

That's why successful retention efforts (just like good CX) rely on the entire company's cooperation.

But before you recruit all hands on deck, let's dive in to this week's links.

Link Diving

What's your retention philosophy?

Bobbie’s head of retention, Mandi Moshay, joined the Put It On Repeat podcast to discuss hiring for DTC retention teams.

This episode has lots of practical tips about retention team size, hiring, and even interview questions. But one key point really stood out to me:

Good retention starts with good hiring. And good hiring starts at the very top.

Tune in to hear an in-depth discussion around:

✔ Why retention is everyone’s job (so that customers can have a delightful interaction at every touchpoint)

✔ How to establish a customer-first retention philosophy (one that’s good for your customers, not just for your brand)

✔ Why being clear on your brand’s mission, values, and UVP are essential to hiring for and executing on a winning retention strategy

✔ What brands can do when they only have one SKU (hint: engagement and referrals can be your secret retention strategy)

🎙 Listen here: Put it On Repeat >> Bobbie's Mandi Moshay

. . .

Retention strategies from the great beyond

Beyond the DTC marketing bubble that is.

Sometimes the DTC space feels so comfy that we forget to look around at all of the other thriving businesses in the world.

Back in her consulting days, Val Geisler examined SaaS retention strategies to see how they apply to ecommerce businesses.

Check out the full blog post to read all six strategies. But for the TLDR version?

Test strategies that help your customers visualize themselves using your products.

Whether that’s through…

• Welcome flows that help customers get excited before the product even arrives
• Education and engagement (to really demonstrate how your product solves a problem)
• Creating win-back flows so that customers get a taste of what they’re missing by not placing that oh-so important 2nd order

…or even simple tactics like asking customers to reply to your emails.

Val’s got you covered with some proven retention-boosting strategies to try today.

📰 Read it here: Mastering Ecommerce Retention - 6 Tips Stolen From SaaS​

Delight Discovery

This is truly one of my favorite emails. It's from the founder of Methodical Coffee which was my go-to shop when I lived in Greenville, SC (and I still order from them online...as you'll see below).

I received this email after placing my 3rd online order for beans. Here's why it's one of my favs:

☕ It's from the founder, not the brand. Marco is personally reaching out to acknowledge how important repeat customers are to his business

☕ This did not go out after my first order. Just because someone buys once doesn't mean they're ready to subscribe! But after three orders, it's logical to say, "Hey, we have a subscription if that feels easier. Here's a discount to try it out!"

☕ He also uses this email to introduce Methodical's loyalty program. The catch is, you can't get in until you've placed 5 orders. (I love that this doesn't punish you for not subscribing.)

Buried Treasure

When we listen to customers, we find buried treasure (and sometimes retention secrets!). Here’s this week’s featured product review for one of Wunderground's products:

Sometimes stellar CX leads to retention. And sometimes (as it was with this happy customer), retention is a result of a great product.

(Of course, in this case, offering the sampler is great for the Customer Experience and buying journey!)

Could your brand offer a "perfect toe-dipping sampler" that could help your customers discover their favorite flavor/variety/color?

It just might lead to a daily consumer.

CX Twitter

I'm working to find the best of CX Twitter. Here are a few Tweets that caught my eye.

Eli Weiss @eliweisss My favorite part of retention is that you can’t hack your way there. You can’t spam your way to customer retention. 📧 📪 You can’t “happy hour” your way to employee retention.🍹 With both customer retention and employee retention, you need to actually give a shit. 🤷 May 15th 2022 6 Retweets 96 Likes

Just like Mandi said in her podcast interview, it's easy for everyone (employees, interviewees, customers) to see through the BS of marketing tactics that only benefit the brand.

Dan Gingiss - The Experience Maker™ @dgingiss This is a great example of a subscription renewal email. Pay attention, B2Bs and DTCs! 🎉 It's marketed as a celebration 🤵 It's about the CUSTOMER not the company 💰 It provides a gentle reminder of the benefits 🥸 It's genuine and FUN Kudos, @canva! I'm renewing now. pic.twitter.com/DBxQ1EDWKD May 16th 2022 0 Retweets 0 Likes

Like Val, CX expert Dan has his eyes on SaaS for an example of a great subscription renewal email.

Georgiana Laudi (aka Gia) @ggiiaa Signs you’ve lost sight of your ideal customer: - You can only list demographics - The team’s eyes go wide when asked questions - Slow, lagging (or declining) growth - Not a single piece of real voice of customer to be found anywhere What else? May 30th 2022 6 Retweets 34 Likes

I'd definitely add "retention troubles" to this list. You can't keep a customer you don't understand!

Let me know what kind of CX, marketing, and customer-focused curiosities you've been exploring lately. I'd love to hear what you've discovered.

- Megan