Retention Marketing

Turning first-time buyers into repeat customers.

More value from the customers you already have, through email and SMS that's relevant, not relentless.

Retention is shaped by customer behaviour and performance data, so every message has a reason to be sent.

Most businesses spend heavily winning new customers, then let them drift. Retention generates more value from the people who've already bought through repeat purchases, higher lifetime value and more reasons to come back.

Done well, it isn't about sending more email. It's about sending the right message at the right time, based on how customers actually behave. Relevance over volume.

  • 250+

    stores delivered

    We’ve built and supported hundreds of businesses at very different stages, across a wide range of sectors.

  • £20m+

    monthly revenue supported

    Stores we build, support and scale turn into profitable success stories.

  • Top 1.5%

    of Shopify agencies worldwide

    Glaze is trusted by Shopify to support more complex and high-growth businesses.

What retention marketing covers

  • Campaigns

    Email and SMS campaigns designed to engage customers, encourage purchases and drive repeat sales.

  • Automations

    Automated email and SMS journeys triggered by customer behaviour, from sign-up and abandoned carts to post purchase messaging.

  • Segmentation

    Using Klaviyo data to build customer segments for more targeted campaigns, personalised messaging and stronger results.

  • Loyalty

    Designing and implementing loyalty programmes that encourage repeat purchases and strengthen customer relationships.

  • Reviews

    Helping generate more customer reviews to build trust, strengthen your reputation and increase conversions.

The flows behind
the revenue

1

Welcome

A considered welcome series that introduces the brand, builds trust and turns a new subscriber into a first-time customer.

2

Browse and cart recovery

Timely, relevant reminders that recover browse and cart abandoners – often delivering the highest return of any automation in the programme.

3

Post purchase & win-back

Post-purchase and win-back flows that encourage the second order, keep customers engaged and bring lapsed buyers back.

How we run retention marketing

  • Review

    We review your store performance, customer behaviour and analytics to identify the biggest retention opportunities.

  • Strategy

    We build a retention strategy around your customers, defining the channels, journeys and KPIs that matter most.

  • Create

    We design, build and refine campaigns and automations before launch, ensuring everything is tested and ready to perform.

  • Launch

    We launch campaigns, monitor performance and measure results against agreed KPIs.

  • Scale

    Using performance data, we optimise campaigns, test improvements and scale what delivers the strongest results.

Full funnel marketing

We integrate Google, Meta and Klaviyo to create rich audiences that can be shared across platforms for improved targeting. For example, if a customer has purchased a fragrance, we can send a replenishment email and run a replenishment ad on Meta targeting that same customer.

Why Klaviyo

Klaviyo is the platform many leading Shopify brands rely on for email and SMS, and one we know inside out. As a partner, we put Klaviyo's data and automation to work for your business

Featured Case Study

Lusana Shoe Boutique

How does an independent Athlone boutique take its in-store service national? Lusana Shoe Boutique partnered with Glaze to launch a Shopify store backed by paid search and Klaviyo email — driving a 49% year-on-year sales increase, 1,500% ROAS and 38% of revenue from email.

Building on the success of its Athlone boutique, Lusana wanted to expand its reach beyond the local high street by investing in ecommerce. Glaze was engaged to design and develop a Shopify store that reflected the brand while providing a platform for sustainable online growth.

  • 49%

    year-on-year increase in sales 

  • 1,500%

    average return on ad spend

  • 38%

    of total revenue attributed to email marketing 

Common questions

What does retention marketing actually include?

Retention is everything that happens after someone buys for the first time. For most of our clients that means email automation (welcome, post-purchase, replenishment, win-back and abandoned-cart flows), campaign planning tied to your trading calendar, customer segmentation, and the reporting to show what’s working. The goal is simple: turn one-time buyers into repeat customers and increase the value of every customer you’ve already paid to acquire.

Which platform do you work with?

Klaviyo. It’s the platform we recommend for Shopify brands because of how deeply it integrates with your store data, and it’s where our team has the most experience. If you’re on another platform, we’ll assess whether a migration is worth it and manage the move if it is.

How much revenue should email be generating?

For an established DTC brand, 25 to 40% of total revenue from email is a realistic target, with the majority coming from automated flows rather than one-off campaigns. If you’re below 15%, there’s almost certainly revenue being left on the table. We’ll audit your current performance before we start so you know where you sit.

We already send emails. Why would we need an agency?

Most brands send campaigns. Far fewer have the flows, segmentation and testing in place to make email a predictable revenue channel. We typically find that flows are either missing, switched on but never optimised, or sending the same message to every customer regardless of what they’ve bought. Fixing that is usually where the biggest gains are, and it’s work that rarely gets done when the team is busy with the day-to-day.

How long before we see results?

Automated flows start generating revenue within weeks of going live because they target customers already in motion: new subscribers, recent buyers, abandoned carts. Campaign performance and list growth build over the first quarter. We report monthly on flow revenue, campaign revenue, repeat purchase rate and the share of total revenue coming from email, so you can see the trajectory from month one.

How does retention work alongside our paid advertising?

The two should be planned together. Paid media brings customers in; retention determines how much each one is worth. When we run both, we use the same segments across Klaviyo, Meta and Google, so your highest-value customers are excluded from acquisition spend and reached through email instead, and win-back audiences can be targeted across channels. It’s the difference between buying every sale and building a customer base that keeps buying.