The Retention Marketing Strategist is the strategic owner of customer lifecycle growth. This role is responsible for designing, owning, and evolving each client’s retention and lifecycle strategy across email, SMS, loyalty, and customer experience touchpoints. The Retention Marketing Strategist translates business goals into clear retention objectives, flow architecture, campaign strategy, and LTV expansion plans. You are the internal and client-facing expert on how value is compounded after the first purchase, ensuring acquisition efforts convert into long-term, profitable customers.
About Flight Performance
At Flight Performance, we partner with ambitious DTC brands to accelerate profitable growth. We work with fashion, apparel, and lifestyle leaders to acquire more customers, more profitably, at greater scale, while building long-term brand equity and loyalty. We are a performance-led, strategy-first agency. We move fast, think deeply, and obsess over business outcomes. Our team operates at the intersection of data, creative, and execution, constantly evolving our approach as the market and platforms change.
Core Responsibilities
1. Retention Strategy Ownership
Own the end-to-end retention and lifecycle strategy for assigned clients.
Develop retention roadmaps aligned to the broader Growth Strategy and Flight Plan.
Define lifecycle priorities across flows, campaigns, segmentation, and loyalty.
Act as the strategic lead for retention initiatives, guiding execution teams with clarity and intent.
Partner closely with Growth Strategists to ensure acquisition and retention strategies compound.
2. Lifecycle, Email & SMS Strategy
Design and optimize core lifecycle flows (welcome, post-purchase, replenishment, winback, browse/cart abandonment).
Own email and SMS campaign strategy, including cadence, segmentation, and messaging frameworks.
Define offer logic and promotional strategy across retention channels in alignment with margin and inventory constraints.
Ensure email and SMS are used as profit centers, not just communication tools.
3. Retention Analytics & LTV Growth
Monitor and analyze retention performance across repeat purchase rate, purchase frequency, AOV, and LTV.
Evaluate flow and campaign performance to identify leverage points for incremental revenue.
Partner with analytics resources to understand cohort behavior and retention velocity.
Tie retention performance back to contribution margin and overall business health.
4. Creative & Messaging Enablement
Partner with Creative Strategists to develop lifecycle-specific creative, messaging, and offers.
Ensure brand voice and creative systems are consistently applied across email and SMS.
Guide testing roadmaps for subject lines, hooks, offers, and formats.
Recommend CRO and onsite retention optimizations where they materially impact LTV.
5. Collaboration & Growth Enablement
Collaborate closely with Media Buyers to align acquisition promises with post-purchase experience.
Work with Client Success to ensure retention strategy is clearly communicated and well understood by clients.
Identify upsell opportunities where retention programs (email, SMS, loyalty) can drive incremental value.
Stay ahead of lifecycle marketing trends, platform changes, and consumer behavior shifts, sharing insights with clients and the broader team.
Success Metrics (How You’re Measured)
Growth in repeat purchase rate, LTV, and retention revenue contribution.
Performance of core lifecycle flows and campaigns against benchmarks.
Alignment between acquisition strategy and retention outcomes.
Client confidence in lifecycle strategy and execution.
Ability to proactively surface and act on retention growth opportunities.
How This Role Works With Others
Partners with Growth Strategists to align lifecycle strategy with acquisition and financial targets.
Works closely with Design teams to ensure cohesive messaging and brand consistency.
Collaborates with Growth Strategist to support full-funnel performance and expectation-setting.
Aligns with Client Success to ensure communication, delivery, and client experience are seamless.
What We’re Looking For
4–6+ years experience in DTC retention or lifecycle marketing, ideally within fashion, apparel, or lifestyle.
Deep expertise in email and SMS platforms (e.g. Klaviyo, Attentive) and lifecycle best practices.
Strong analytical fluency across repeat purchase rate, LTV, cohort analysis, and contribution margin.
Proven experience building and scaling lifecycle flows and campaign programs.
Ability to balance promotional performance with long-term brand health.
Confident communicator with strong client-facing presence.
Comfortable operating in fast-paced, high-ownership environments.
Strong async communication skills using Slack and project management tools.
Why Join Flight Performance
Work directly with ambitious, high-growth DTC brands.
Own strategy end-to-end, from planning through execution.
High-impact role with visibility and influence across the business.
Join a performance-obsessed team where your thinking materially shapes outcomes.