Retention Side

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Co-Founder of a beauty and skincare company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a beauty and skincare brand specialising in self-tanning and sun care

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Retention Side to accomplish?

• Increase repeat purchase rate
• Shorten time between orders
• Build stronger customer retention
• Our main goal was to improve customer retention and reduce our dependence on constantly acquiring new customers through paid advertising.

SOLUTION

How did you find Retention Side?

Online Search

Why did you select Retention Side over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Retention Side were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Retention Side reviewed our existing customer journey, purchase behaviour, and email marketing setup and built a retention strategy around the areas with the biggest potential for improvement. Their work included building automated email flows, customer segmentation, campaign strategy, copywriting, email design, Klaviyo implementation, testing and ongoing performance analysis. 

They also continuously analysed customer behaviour and tested different messaging, offers, and communication approaches to understand what actually encouraged customers to make their second and subsequent purchases.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Average time between orders

Returning customer rateThe biggest result for us was the improvement in our returning customer rate. It increased from 21.4% to 29.8% within the first six months, and continued improving afterwards, eventually moving close to 40%.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Their project management has been very good. Deliverables are organised and generally completed on time, and the team is responsive whenever something needs to be changed or prioritised.

What was your primary form of communication with Retention Side?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their involvement goes far beyond email marketing. They actively contribute to our overall marketing strategy and communicate closely with the other teams and partners involved in the business.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Retention Side could have done differently?

Nothing significant comes to mind. We are very satisfied with both the work and the communication.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Mars

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Functional activewear

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Retention Side to accomplish?

• Increase repeat purchase rate
• Purchase frequency
• Increase retention rate
• Improve brand communications

SOLUTION

How did you find Retention Side?

Online Search

Why did you select Retention Side over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Retention Side were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

RetentionSide built and managed the retention marketing system for our brand, with the goal of increasing repeat purchases, customer lifetime value, and revenue from our existing customer base. 

The scope included a full audit of the customer journey and existing email setup, followed by retention strategy, segmentation, lifecycle automation, campaign planning, creative production, testing, and ongoing optimization. 

Key deliverables included:

• Customer journey and retention strategy
• Klaviyo setup and optimization
• Automated lifecycle flows, including welcome, browse/cart abandonment, post-purchase, cross-sell, replenishment, and win-back
• Customer segmentation based on purchase and engagement behavior
• Email campaign strategy, copy, design, and execution
• List-growth and email capture optimization
• A/B testing across messaging, offers, timing, creative, and CTAs
• Deliverability and list-health management
• Performance reporting focused on repeat purchase rate, customer lifetime value, and retention-driven revenue
• The work covered both the initial strategic and technical setup and the ongoing operation and optimization of our retention program.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Time between orders

• Increased repeat purchase rate from 18% to 31%
• Increased revenue from returning customers by 47%
• Grew email-attributed revenue to 31% of total ecommerce revenue
• Increased automated flow revenue by 62% Improved campaign conversion rate by 27%

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

RetentionSide was highly responsive and easy to work with throughout the engagement. The team consistently delivered work on time, communicated clearly, and adapted quickly when priorities or requirements changed. What stood out was their ability to operate independently while still keeping us closely informed. They took ownership of execution, surfaced issues early, and were quick to incorporate feedback without slowing the pace of work. Overall, the project was well managed and required very little oversight from our side.

What was your primary form of communication with Retention Side?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What stood out most was the level of involvement from Marko, the founder, and how hands-on he remained throughout the engagement. He combined a strong strategic understanding of retention with a very practical understanding of what actually moves revenue. 

RetentionSide did not feel like a team simply executing campaigns from a playbook. They challenged assumptions, identified opportunities we had missed internally, and stayed close to the commercial outcome rather than focusing only on email metrics. That founder-level involvement and ownership was probably the biggest differentiator for us.

They genuinely understand eCommerce and how retention and email marketing connect back to the broader business.  That stood out to me because this is a space where many agencies I’ve worked with in the past tended to overpitch and underdeliver. RetentionSide was the opposite — practical, commercially minded, and strong on execution. That was refreshing.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Retention Side could have done differently?

There were no issues with the engagement. If anything, as the work continues to scale, there may be an opportunity to make some of the reporting and documentation even more structured. Overall, though, we were very happy with how the project was managed and with the quality of the work.