Retention Marketing vs. Email Marketing

What's the difference?

Author

Don Florentino
March 25, 2025

You’ll often hear agencies on Linkedin and Twitter using these terms interchangably.

But there’s a crucial difference:

  • Retention marketing is the strategy.

    • This strategy is created by understanding your customers—why they bought, what might stop them from buying again, and what’ll get them to come back. The goal here is to remove any friction and make it as easy and compelling as possible for them to repurchase.

  • Email/SMS are simply just the tools.

    • They’re how you deliver personalised messages, updates, offers, and content that keep customers coming back. Emails cost less than 1c to send- meaning they’re cheap, direct, and way more profitable than running paid ads to the same people again.

Sure, focusing on sending email/SMS will get you revenue in the short term…

But focusing on retention strategies and deeply understanding your customers is what increases your CLTV, increases your AOV, and is what will get 30% of your total revenue coming from existing customers.

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