The 5 Retention Channels Everyone's Sleeping On (3-10x Higher Retention) - EP 39

The most innovative brands are layering in additional channels that create touchpoints for email and SMS simply can't replicate.

Yeah, exactly. And we're talking about channels like push notifications, calendar integrations, referral systems, in-app messaging, and even direct mail. These channels are ones that brands often overlook but can dramatically amplify your retention results.

The goal isn't to replace email and SMS at all, but it's to more add a comprehensive retention ecosystem where you meet where the customer, where they're living at, right? Ultimately.

Yeah, well said. I'd say plus they often integrate seamlessly with email and SMS, which is really why we like them. And that helps kind of create this unified customer experience across multiple touchpoints because you do need those multiple touchpoints really to drive that conversion, that repeat purchase.

Yo, Chase, what's good, dude?

Hey, man, how are you?

I'm good, man. Good little weekend. Uh, nice and warm out here in Texas.

Yeah, it's been hot here too, but I know you guys were saying 75 degrees isn't considered hot.

I know everyone who's listening to this thing, they're gonna be like, 75 is not hot, bro. 75 is not hot.

Sun's out shining.

Uh, it's just the sun. You know what it is? The, the California sun is hot. There is definitely the sun, right? I don't know if you're in the shade, you're probably cool.

Yeah, I'm cold in the shade for sure. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, yeah.

All right. Well, today on today's pod, we're going to talk about— we're going to talk about everything but email and SMS today because we're going to talk about alternative channels for retention marketing because I think that this is a really good topic to make sure that people know that there are ways to continue to empower retention through alternative channels. So with that, let's shoot this thing in 3, 2, 1.

From the open to the click, they're the masters of the flow. Just watch your list grow and your leads turn to go. Did we retain you so far? Do we have to extend it? If you want results, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it.

What is up everyone? Welcome back to Send It, where we discuss anything and everything retention marketing, usually in email and SMS marketing and e-commerce. But today we're going to talk about something a little bit different. But my name is Jimmy Kim and I'm here with my co-host Chase Diamond. All right. Like I said, today's episode is about alternative channels for retention. I'm talking about things like push notification, calendar notifications, referrals and loyalty, share a friend, in-app notifications, and so much more. Today, we're gonna step outside of the usual email and SMS comfort zone to explore alternative channels that are quietly driving incredible retention results for e-commerce brands. While we sit here and we preach email and SMS should be the foundation of your retention strategy, the truth is the most innovative brands are layering in additional channels that create touchpoints for email and SMS simply can't replicate.

Yeah, exactly. And we're talking about channels like push notifications, calendar integrations, referral systems, in-app messaging, and even direct mail. Now, these channels are the ones that brands often overlook. But can dramatically amplify your retention results.

You know what's fascinating to this is that channels often work together, right? Email and SMS, they work really well. They create this multichannel retention system that's more powerful than just a single channel alone. I think we've all determined this. But today, I wanna go into these 5 alternative channels that are driving real retention results. We wanna talk about how to implement them, explain how you integrate them into your email and SMS program. But before we dive into those specific channels, let's establish why alternative channels matter for retention and how they complement your core email and SMS strategy.

Yeah, great point. I'd say the key insight is that different channels really serve different purposes and are ultimately gonna reach different customers in kind of different contexts and mindsets.

Now you're spot on. And email might be perfect for detailed educational content, SMS for urgent time sensitive, but there's retention scenarios where neither channel is Perfect or optimal alternative. Like think about this, right? Here's why I think retention these alternate channels matter, right? Number one, I think you reach customers with different contexts and environments. You can create different touchpoints to feel native to the specific platform or experience you're trying to create. There also can be more personalized or timely because you have a communication opportunity that's a little bit different. It also reduces overreliance on email and SMS. I think that prevents fatigue and so forth. And it it can also create a differential experience, right? Differentiated experience. That the competitors often overlook. And look, the goal isn't to replace email and SMS at all, but it's to more add a comprehensive retention ecosystem where you meet where the customer, where they're living at, right? Ultimately. And that's what's interesting in that many of these alternative channels have higher engagement rates than email and SMS because they're less saturated and they're more contextually relevant alternatively.

Yeah, well said. I'd say plus, they often integrate seamlessly with email and SMS, which is really why we like them. And that helps kind of create this unified customer experience across multiple touchpoints, because you do need those multiple touchpoints really to drive that conversion, that repeat purchase. So let's talk about some kind of alternative channel integration principles. So kind of starting at the top, number 1 is they're gonna complement rather than compete with email and SMS. It doesn't replace the retention channels that we typically talk about, but it's a nice complement. And then from there, it's gonna really help you maintain consistent messaging and branding across socials. Like, that is super important that these are extensions, not kind of separate channels that need to be way different. That will confuse customers. And with this, you're gonna wanna use data from one channel to inform and personalize others. So the more of these that you do, the more data that you're gonna have and the better overall experience it's gonna be because You have all these unique data points that you otherwise wouldn't. And when you do these right, it's gonna create really natural handoffs between channels based on this customer behavior. And the best way to kind of see if this is working is you need to measure performance holistically across the entire ecosystem.

Yeah, no, that's perfect. And you know, these brands are seeing these best results are those who are thinking strategically about channel orchestration rather than treating each channel as like a separate initiative. I think that's the key. And we have like a whole thing about this at the end of the pod, but it's about creating cohesive retention experiences that feel natural and valuable to the customer regardless of the channel's initiatives or the interactions. And that leads me to the first kind of channel that we're going to talk about. We talked about this in Miami on stage a little bit because we got this great data from our sponsors at Omnisend around this. But push notifications is one of the most highly underlooked ones, especially at the cost that has really driven. And really, it's a sophisticated channel for retention marketing. People just aren't using it, right? It's really hard. And you know what's really cool about push notifications, in my opinion, is they're immediate, they're personal, and they can be triggered by real-time behavior in ways that email and SMS often can't match.

Yeah, and they're honestly perfect for mobile-first customers who might not check email regularly but always have their phones on them, right? We all know people, friends, family like this. This is who we're kind of going after. So in terms of our kind of strategic push notification framework, The first is kind of the behavioral trigger optimization. So you kind of can go after like the cart abandonment recovery with real-time inventory updates. People love that type of thing. It performs really, really well. Whereas for something like a browse abandonment, you're gonna obviously want to send kind of more personalized product recommendations. And then ones that we really like and talk about that are highly underrated is price drops and limited stock availability. Those play to the psychology of people having kind of that FOMO. So definitely tap into that. And then also too, like leveraging usage milestone celebrations and achievement recognition. People want to be, you know, taken care of. They want to be looked after. They want to feel special. So this is a great way to kind of trigger really important messages that help drive that connection and that purchase ultimately. And then from there, They're great for kind of delivering personalized content. So you can leverage things like custom product recommendations based on browsing and purchase history. Again, there's a lot of parallels between email and SMS in a way that's really affordable and quick and cheap and really performs well with push, leveraging things like personalized stock notifications or restock notifications for frequently purchased items. And then kind of the timing and frequency optimization. So you're gonna wanna leverage kind of intelligent send time optimization. Based on each individual person. So things like when they're typically online engaging, you know, their time zone, you know, those types of things, because the contextual timing based on the app usage patterns really is gonna help you drive that really strong engagement here.

And you know what, just to add to that, what makes push notifications particularly effective for retention is their ability to bring back customers back into the app or the website at exactly the right moment because of the way it kind of pops up. And I was reading a stat just before this pod and The stat said that basically push notifications have an average open rate of 90% because it kind of like, it's kind of disruptive in front of your face compared to email, which is what, 20, 25% maybe?

Huge. Yeah. It's, it's not too dissimilar to the benefits of SMS, right? But with the cost more like email or, or really no cost, right? It's very, very cheap. And then, you know, also too, like they can be incredibly specific and timely in ways that you know, unfortunately email just can't. Like, for example, notifying someone the moment an item in their wishlist goes on sale. Um, and studies have shown, like we were looking at the data, that these personalized push notifications can increase app engagement by up to 88%.

Hey, it's Jimmy, and I know you're enjoying this pod, but if I can just have 30 seconds of your time, I'd love to invite you to our thriving, growing community for retention marketing. Chase and I recently realized that there is no centralized community for retention marketers specifically focused on email and SMS. And oftentimes most communities are just for founders or for executives only. That's why we're proud to share on this pod that we have over 350 marketers in a closed community via Slack where we talk about everything and everything email and SMS. And if you're listening to this podcast, you're invited to come join us. It's just $1 to get started for a trial and you'll get 1, access to the Slack community, 2, weekly private newsletters on actionable things that you can do in your email marketing, 3, we have special meetups and webinars that are retention-focused. 4, you'll have direct access to myself and Chase. And 5, we have special discounts and other cool perks that we have. This is where we hang out. And if you want to hang out with us, this is where you should come join us. It's called Ecom Email Certified Community, and you can learn more at ecomemailcertified.com or check the show notes for direct links. Hope to see you there, and we'll send you back to the pod now. That's pretty huge, man. And you know, a brand that I've seen, and it's only because of my wife that I have this, but Sephora does this really well. really well with beauty products. My wife, she'll like get restock notifications through push or like personalized recommendations that she'll actually look at. And, you know, we know their retention has a really high number already. And the truth is brands that are using them, they say, and this is what we heard from Omnisend again, they're seeing that, you know, push notifications see 3 to 10 times higher retention rates than just email alone, which is, I think, pretty incredible.

Yeah, it really is. And I'd say the key is treating push notifications as part of the larger retention strategy rather than kind of just random batch and blast with no strategic notion, kind of promotional alerts. Don't do that.

And don't forget, I think measuring the metrics is not just open rates, but actual retention metrics like repeat purchase rates and customer lifetime values that come into play here.

Yeah, that's well said. And then, you know, we've seen brands, you know, achieve anywhere between like Maybe 2, 2.5, 3 times kind of higher retention rates when they do implement this kind of strategic push notification program that we just talked about compared to just solely relying on email and SMS.

Yeah.

And, you know, look, the reality is you've gotta integrate it. We've gotta talk about this later, but you gotta integrate it well with email and SMS. That's really crucial to getting this thing to work correctly. It's a, you know, it's gonna drive an immediate action where You know, email handles more of that like follow-up in different places. So push is a pretty big underrated like channel. I think that's really what we've learned over the last probably 6 months here, especially working closer with Omnisend. But the reality is there's more channels. And the second channel I have on the list here, which I thought was really interesting, was calendar integrations or calendar invites, which are incredibly underutilized but highly effective in retention in certain product categories. And we've seen this happen really well. Have you seen calendar integrations work?

Yeah, I'd say, you know, we were really early to it. I think we've been using this type of stuff for north of like 5 or 6 years. I'm surprised that the adoption of this has been like almost zero. I've seen maybe 3 or 4 brands really ever do this over the last couple years. So this is a big one. So the reason it works is because it meets the customer in their kind of daily planning and scheduling workflow. Which makes your brand part of their routine.

Yeah. And you know what? And you're right. Like, you don't see a lot of brands doing it, but I've seen it really well and particularly powerful for subscription brands or services or items that require like that regular replenishment or usage. I've definitely seen a lot of that. So here's what I've seen in like the calendar framework. These are like these invites that people are doing. So number one, obviously, just like I mentioned, subscription replenishment, like you're doing like automatic calendar renewals, replenishment renewals, subscription pods, or like modification scheduling. Or date optimization of like customer calendar preferences. Like these little subscription notices are really well there. I've also seen it with like usage and engagement scheduling, like things like skincare reminders or meal planning or learning development. You know, there's different things like launches and different things where it's like really time sensitive where you want people to like either log into something or do something. And then of course the biggest one that I've seen work really well is like lifecycle management. I'm talking about things like customer anniversaries or, you know, a seasonal use or even like a goal setting or progress tracking integration. These are all like cool ways that I've seen these calendars work with retention. Thoughts?

Love that. Love that, man. Yeah, I'd say kind of circling back to just what makes it so powerful is it really creates kind of habitual touchpoints that don't feel like marketing. It just feels like part of your day and part of your routine, which is huge.

Yeah, no, that's right. And when customer gets a calendar reminder to reorder their supplements, feels like a helpful life management reminder rather than a sales pitch ultimately.

Yeah. And it works, you know, really, really well for products that customers wanna use consistently, but might often forget about without kind of these ongoing reminders. So kind of to, to dive further into this. So in terms of some calendar integration tactics, I'd say one thing is kinda leveraging smart scheduling and optimization. So you're gonna wanna integrate with the customer's existing calendar systems and preferences. So if they use something like a Google Calendar, make sure that you have the capab— kinda the capabilities to add it to their calendar so it's seamless. They shouldn't have to use something new because they frankly won't. And then kind of leveraging seasonal and lifecycle-based scheduling modifications. So Having flexibility built in and, and having it make sense is, is super important. And then the next part to this is kind of interactive calendar experiences. So, you know, tying and baking into the invite itself or into the reminder itself, the ability for someone to one-click reorder is super, super powerful, right? The less friction, the better, and the more native it is, the better. And then allowing kind of calendar-based product customization modification is great. So giving some control and flexibility to the users. Because it's not one size fits all.

Yeah.

You know, I was doing some research around this, like who's using calendars really well. And one of the companies that I saw recently do it was this company called Headspace. And they're basically a meditation product, right? And it's an app. It's not an e-commerce product, but it's still the same subscription idea. And they're sending basically daily calendar notices, which from what I've heard is they're seeing a 40% increase of retention rate because it's improving the usage basically because of meditation. You see anything else in the market that worked really well?

Love that. Yeah, one that I had found when doing some research was called Ritual, and essentially they're using calendar integrations to help customers build consistent supplement routines, which helps with retention. And research shows that kind of habit-forming products with calendar integration can see upwards of 60% higher customer lifetime value because people are actually using the product, they're using it to the schedule, And then that sets up the natural kind of, you know, upsell, cross-sell, repurchase, whatever you want to call it.

Yeah, I think the key here is that making a calendar invite or integration feel valuable and helpful is, is important to be less intrusive or promotional, but like something that people want to be reminded about. And, you know, the truth is getting people to be reminded is going to drive a higher completion rate than email reminders for routine activities especially. And I think it needs to be smart enough to adapt to the customer's changing schedules and preferences. Over times. And the truth is that when we did research around this, you know, brands that are personalized calendar timing are seeing 2.5 times higher engagement rates, which is pretty cool to see because that's definitely something that's working. I think you can overabuse this. You've got to be really careful and again, be helpful, not salesy. And I think that's really the key. All right. The third one I want to talk about, which I think a lot of people already know about, but people don't talk a lot about, which is kind of the whole referral and social sharing systems which create retention. I'm talking about like share a friend or share a sale, you know, people are automatically— and, you know, maybe 10 years ago we had a lot of people doing these like automatic, like viral loops and different things. But the reality is referral systems can be unique because they can be used to not only drive retention for existing customers, but it also drives acquisition to new customers, creating like a powerful flywheel. What have you seen out there?

Yeah, I'd say it's kind of particularly effective because they leverage existing customer satisfaction. And they turn it both into retention and a growth engine. So there's kind of this strategic referral framework I wanna kind of quickly go through. And there's 3 kind of components. So the first one is multi-tier referral system design. So essentially what you're gonna wanna do is you're gonna wanna progressively reward people based on more referrals. So the more that they do, the more that they get. So that way there's this continued incentivization to do more and more and more versus you know, kind of decreasing. And then when people do this, right, you want to reward your top folks, your top referrers with exclusive status, badges, recognition, because it's going to make them feel really, really good. And then as kind of maybe your slow season comes into place, or maybe you have a specific campaign, allowing some referral bonuses is a nice way to kind of juice whatever it is that you're trying to do. And then kind of lifetime value-based rewards as well. So It's not just what you do today, it's what you've done historically, and rewarding people for that is a really nice thing to do. And then the next one is kind of the social sharing integration piece. So you're going to want to leverage kind of the UGC, kind of the user-generated content creation, and you're going to want to incentivize people to share it on their channels and maybe even share it on your own channels because that creates this flywheel of people wanting to get recognized from you and from the community ultimately. And with that, running kind of community-based challenges and social engagement campaigns allows people to channel kind of their inner competitive competitiveness to be able to do more for you while also doing more for themselves. And then the last one I'd say is kind of this relationship-based retention where kind of friends and family group can kind of coordinate different types of campaigns and kind of work together and, and kind of be like a unit. And then having a way to like, you know, give gifts and kind of surprise delivery systems is actually really cool and unique, especially around, you know, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, et cetera. And then allowing people to share their wishlists and allow people to kind of buy one another things off of that is a really cool way to do this.

Yeah. You know, and what I've heard from all that, I think it's really cool is what makes a referral system particularly powerful for retention is that they Create almost like a social accountability and like a shared experience. Is that what I'm thinking about?

Yeah, that's right. Customers become ultimately more invested in the brand when they've bought through their friends and family into the ecosystem.

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Yeah. Well said. And I'd say Tesla, I know obviously that's kind of a hot word to say right now, but Tesla's created one of the most effective referral programs of all time by offering you kind of unique rewards like exclusive vehicle access and company experiences that money can't buy. They're playing the status game, right? And so I think that's a really good example. And Tesla's referral program has driven, I think, around or kind of north 40% of their sales in some quarters, which is just huge, especially when you think about the ticket price it's at.

Yeah, I mean, I've got a Tesla and I've referred friends and I got like a Tesla car and I got like Tesla swag and stuff like that. And you only refer it because of that. You know, that reminds me of another story, Dropbox. This is one that I loved in the SaaS side of things, but they famously grew through the referrals by offering storage space for referrals and a referee. You know, I was looking up some of the data before this, but they saw an increased signup of 60% and was responsible for 35% of their daily signups through a great referral program.

That's crazy. That is one that's always like ingrained, kind of ingrained in my brain is like Dropbox. You know, when you wanted to do growth hacking, you studied them. I'd say that kind of though, reflecting on this, like the key to making kind of this referral experience feel natural and valuable is exactly doing that, make it feel like it's part of their routine and it's kind of more like helpful kind of as a friend or family member than kind of a forced or kind of overly promotional. And data shows that referred customers have 37% higher retention rates and 25% higher LTVs than non-referred customers.

That makes a lot of sense, actually, if you think about it. You know, it's, it's, you know, you're, you're, you have a problem you wanted to buy and you don't want to do the research and do all that stuff. And if someone tells you about it, a friend, it's way more trusted, right? You see all the time on things like Reddit, for example, someone will say, hey, go check this out. I just did this this weekend. I was looking something up. I went to Reddit. Someone said, oh, check this out. I went and checked it out and I actually bought it. And it probably wasn't the best place to buy it, but it solved the problem that I had. And I didn't want to use the main provider because they were like $40 and this was a $6 alternative. And I was like, that's good enough, right? And so to me, the tracking that right metric, It's not just the referral volume, but the retention impact on both sides. And again, you know, what we saw again across the board when it comes to referrals is that the big key metric that I saw at the brand side is like 18%. That's like the core metric that brands have as a better, as a system, 18% more likely to stay with the brand long-term if they were referred versus if they just found you cold, which I thought was really cool.

Yeah, and we've even seen brands achieve, you know, 40 to 50% higher retention rates among customers who participate in these referral programs compared to those that don't. And plus, referral programs typically have a 5x higher conversion rate than any other marketing channel.

That's pretty—

you want to know?

Yeah, that's pretty interesting.

Yeah, yeah, no, it is. Uh, and kind of a random tidbit, I've actually seen that like recommendations and referrals from like ChatGPT are converting higher as well than like a Google. So it's, it's interesting, right?

It's wild. I guess Google is like your new— I mean, ChatGPT is your new Reddit. It's giving you like personalized advice and people believe in that. I know there's hack people growth hacking through that stuff. So it's pretty interesting that that's definitely out there. All right, let's move to our 4th one because our 4th one's interesting because I don't know many brands doing this, but I know that this is probably a big unlock for somebody. The 4th channel that I'm talking about is in-app messaging, which allows you to have like this like highly contextual personalized communication that probably drives good retention. I'm talking about, you know, on your website since they know who you are or on your mobile application, whatever it might be. But you can almost, if you know and you can identify because the world's creepy now and you can all identify who people are, or if you're logged in, you should be able to deliver these perfect in-app messages that are like, right there in front of you from like an educational tooltip to almost a personalized recommendation to celebrate, like to— oh, not to celebrate, but to sell it like a celebration milestone. Like, hey, welcome back, it's your birthday. Like different things that are really hyper-focused. And, you know, people, some of those call this in-app messaging, I guess, or in-app— what do they call it? In-app personalization. You know, basically the idea that because you know who the user is, you can send like contextual information and like— Nail down exactly where they're— so for example, here's some frameworks or ideas that are coming around this. Like if it's your first time coming back onto your website and we're going through some launches on different things and we talk about this, their first time you've got an onboarding system. That's like an in-app message because you're for— you're taking someone through it. So in a brand message, maybe they are the first time they've purchased and they come back to your site. You could almost onboard them because you can start sending them educational personalized tips and recommendations or even introduce them to, you know, different features and benefits. That you may have not seen. Another way you can think about it is also behavioral, right? They're on your website, you know who they are, they're showing signs of confusion, they're going back and forth, whatever it might be. And traditionally we've got things like browse abandonments and messaging, but like knowing they're in that real-time loop and be able to like message them could definitely be a big place, right? A re-engagement of something, someone who doesn't come on or even a celebration, right? Being able to be on an app. And I don't know when the last time you've been on an app, Chase, that said like, Hey, happy birthday or something like that, or happy 1-year milestone. I think that there's a lot of opportunity at a brand level, especially if you're grabbing that first-party data. And the last thing I think about when you're thinking about in-app messaging is really the idea of dynamic personal product recommendations. I think this is the dream goal of every retention marketer, but the more information you have on the user, the more specific you can get on it. Now, I don't know how you even deploy this, but the idea is I'm sure it's out there, out there. The imagining that you could have seamless upselling and cross-selling based on the current context is probably one of the most powerful things that I think about. Chase, what do you think about in-app messaging? Do you think that there's an opportunity here that people don't think about?

Yeah, I do. And I'd say prior to our research, I was kind of somewhere in the middle. I'd say now I'm more on your side with it, where what makes this kind of really effective is the ability to deliver Again, the right message at exactly the right moment in the customer's journey. It's like nails everything you want to do in marketing as a whole.

No, that's exactly right. And instead of setting that generic, like, browse abandoned or the SMS, you can respond to what the customers are actually doing right now. I think there's an opportunity here. Hey, okay, I'm disrupting the pod for just a quick 60-second break and a quick little shout out to our title sponsors of the podcast, Omnisend. Okay, for those that don't know, Omnisend is an all-in-one email and SMS automation platform specifically designed for e-commerce brands. They make it super easy to engage with customers, drive repeat sales, and create those seamless personal experiences we're always talking about. Here's 3 things I love about Omnisend. First and foremost, they're trusted by over 125,000 e-commerce merchants worldwide that absolutely love them. With a 4.8 rating star with over 6,000 reviews on the Shopify App Store, it's an obvious choice for your email, SMS, and push needs. Secondly, I love great customer support, and Omnisend, they're absolutely nailing it. They're responsive, their help docs are great, and their team is absolutely fantastic. And third, they have great features and better pricing. Pricing matters just as much as features, and Omnisend, you're going to get both of those. And they have all the features you need for your store, and their pricing is absolutely fantastic. In fact, recently I just heard a story about 2 community members that made the switch One reduced his price from $8,500 to $3,500, which is huge, but even bigger, that $3,500 included SMS, which is absolutely wild. Then another agency I just recently talked to, they just switched their entire client base over and he's been saving his clients anywhere from 30% to 60% off their bill, which is allowing them to take that money and reinvest it on the top of the funnel so they can make more ads and make more money. Omnisend nails these 3 things that I care most about. Great support, great features, and fair pricing. Plus, I just helped Chase make the move to Omnisend with his own personal email list, and their migration was super easy. They even have a team to help you support you, and they have a great automated tool to bring your contacts right over. So if you're looking to take your email marketing to the next level, I highly recommend checking out Omnisend. They got the tools, the automation, the expertise to help your brands grow and thrive. Head over to omnisend.com/sendit To learn more and start scaling your customer engagement today. Now let them know Chase and Jimmy sent you. Now let's get back to the pod.

Yep, exactly. And it creates kind of a more conversational, helpful experience rather than feeling like kind of stale traditional marketing.

Yeah.

And I know we went to go find some people who were doing it well. And one place that I looked at because I was like, who does it well? And I was talking to the AI about it and they told me Spotify does this really well and they do it for music discoveries. Playlist recommendations, listening milestones. And they said, according to the web, that Spotify's personalized in-app messages drive 30% higher user engagement and 25% longer session times. That's pretty good, man.

Wow.

And then there's also fitness apps like MyFitnessPal, I believe it was. They use kind of in-app messaging to provide personalized nutrition tips and kind of help celebrate progress milestones. And I've seen studies that show that this in-app messaging can have a 4x higher engagement rate than email for active app users.

Dude, I think, I think what I'm learning is that the key is making these messages feel helpful and relevant rather than intrusive and promotional. That's like the key, right? And when you think about what it can do, I think what people are saying, like contextual in-app messaging, and this is where brands could like, because people are logging into your your site now because of Shopify in different places, there's a big opportunity here when people are coming back to come back and just be in front of them like you know who they are. It's kind of like the whole retail idea, like, oh, hey, like, welcome back to my store, right? Like such a simple behavioral trigger would make someone feel special because they're feeling like, hey, like they care enough to tell me welcome back, just like if you would at a retail store experience, right? So I think there's something there. All right. The last one and the 5th alternative channel, we had a whole pod on this. So if you want to talk more about this pod, we'll tap on the high levels of this, but it's direct mail or physical touchpoints, which might seem a little old school. But again, from that pod we did with Michael at Postpilot that you might have heard, it's a couple of pods back. You should listen to that one. But the reality is direct mail is really powerful because it's precise, because it's unexpected, it's tangible, and it's something that a digital channel can't replace.

Yeah, I think additionally, it kind of creates this premium personal experience that can significantly strengthen customer relationships and drive more retention. So in terms of kind of like the strategic direct mail framework, the first step is this milestone and kind of celebration mailing. So sending them out around customer anniversaries and birthday celebrations with personalized gifts and offers. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. I think that's low-hanging fruit. And then also having kind of purchase milestone recognition with exclusive rewards. Maybe it could be dollars and cents off, or it could be access to a WhatsApp Slack group, kind of behind the scenes type look or first dibs type thing. And then kind of a loyalty program tier upgrades that have kind of physical status symbols. And then the next part is like project kind of product education enhancement. So leveraging it to send out kind of premium product guides and usage instructions. You know, whenever I get some of those that are relevant for me, I kind of hold on to them so that way, you know, whenever I'm going to shop for someone or myself, it's like I can literally flip through and see, oh yeah, this feels tangible. This makes sense for my mom or my dad or my brother or my wife or my kid, whoever it might be. Having kind of recipe cards and application guides for consumable products is nice. You know, I always keep, like, for example, I bought a coffee machine. I keep now the recipe book from them on hand and I kind of reference it when I want to try things. And I'm kind of reminded about the brand and maybe buying some accessories and other things from them. And then having exclusive access codes and member-only content makes it feel special. And then the last one would be kind of surprise and delight campaigns. So being able to hook up these people with unexpected gifts and samples for loyal customers is a nice thing. It just shows up to your house. That's pretty cool. And then handwritten thank you notes from team members or the founder or community kind of spokesperson is also like a really great way to build goodwill and build that bond. And then what makes direct mail really powerful for retention is the emotional impact and the memorability of physical items. It has that kind of nostalgia effect. And studies show that direct mail has a 90% open rate compared to just 20 or 30% for email, and people spend 30% more time engaging with physical mail.

That's pretty interesting. I think what, you know, from what Michael shared, what's really interesting is that people keep and they just keep and display physical items from brands. I know we keep our physical like mail in that little mailbox bin right by my kitchen, for example, and it sits there for a while and maybe look at it a couple of times sometimes because It's a physical, tangible piece of environment. I think there's something there. And, you know, when I was doing research around this, because I was like, okay, Michael gave us a lot of great information on that pod, but I was like, what kind of data points can we find that are interesting? But they said 79% of consumers act on direct mail immediately. So if it connects with them, they're more likely to act on them versus 45% who act on email. So there's a pretty big difference there, which I thought was really interesting. Obviously a very big difference in price. And, you know, Yeah. What I thought was really interesting is that brands that are doing it really well are seeing a good response rate, up to 4.9% for a list that's kind of like focused and targeted, which is a pretty good high conversion rate if you think about a piece of mail that's coming into it. I told, you know, I, when we went out there and did a little research, what brands did you find using direct mail that were really kind of interesting that you saw in any? Cool data points.

Yeah, I'd say Glossier was doing it kind of— they have this like really signature pink packaging and kind of personalized notes that customers are sharing on social. So it obviously is hitting well. And their unboxing experience is driving 70% more social sharing than kind of your typical standard D2C brand.

That's crazy from just a packaging change-up. And that's where this stuff actually matters out there. And, you know, So, I, when I went out and did some research around it, I found Birchbox, which uses like curated physical samples to drive discovery. So they're putting like samples of other products in there so people can kind of look at it. And it, what it's doing is really interesting is that they're saying that basically by putting samples in, they're getting a 45% increase of people buying the full-size version of that product, which is pretty cool. It's worth the money. And so it's a good lead gen channel.

Yeah. And the key is making kind of the physical experience feel premium and personalized rather than more generic or kind of promotional. And brands using kind of this personalized direct mail are seeing around 36% higher customer retention rates than those using generic mailings.

Yeah, that makes sense. And, you know, I think the key here is always, always we're, you know, integrating it strategically with all your digital channels to create this like, Cohesive omnichannel experience, you know, what everybody's always striving for.

Yeah. And, and brands that are doing this kind of that we've seen are achieving 25, 30-ish percent higher retention rates when they implement thoughtful direct mail programs rather than kind of digital only kind of retention strategies.

Mm-hmm.

Plus kind of the direct mail ROI averages about $12 for every $1 spent when targeted properly.

Okay. Well, we've talked about the 5, and I wanted to kind of wrap this pod up with a final strategy because the thing that is really important, we're starting to touch on it, is that you can't just take all these channels and look, live on their own. They can't just be sitting on their own. It really needs to tie in with your core email and SMS program for that maximum retention impact. What do you think about that?

Yeah, no, I definitely agree with you. You know, I'd say this is crucial because the real power comes from You know, creating a unified retention experience across all channels rather than just treating one channel kind of as its own separate initiative. Hey, it's Chase taking just 30 seconds of your time because I found something game-changing for e-commerce marketers and agencies. If you happen to be drowning in retention marketing tasks, we have a solution for you. It's AI. There's an AI strategist, AI segmentation, AI email builder. It's called Rayleon, and this is the platform that helps marketers like myself and yourself create everything from emails to custom segmentation based on your data and your email marketing strategy. I mean, imagine getting everything from an audit to campaign planning in just a handful of clicks and in under 5 minutes. Their AI handles everything from segmentation to strategy and creating on-brand copy that actually converts. Brands using Rayleon save about 50% of their retention marketing time and see an average of 3x ROI. Yes, you're going to save time and make more money. Talk about a no-brainer. And this is really why brands like Coast, Ginger Milk, and LifePro trust them and really utilize them and start recommending them to everyone. So head to rayleon.io. That's R-A-L-E-O-N dot I-O. Or 3-month email AI segmentation playbook in just 60 seconds. Yes, it's 100% free to try, and this will be the best 5 minutes you spend today. I promise. Rayleon.io. Let them know that myself and Jimmy sent you, and we're now back to the pod.

Yeah. You know, like the old adage, right? The right channel for the right message at the right time, right? But what you've gotta add to that is like, it's based on consumer or customer behavior and preferences. So I've got a little idea, like how do we unify all these things? Because I know people are going to ask, okay, Jimmy Chase, like we get it, but how do I unify it? So first of all, mapping it, right? Taking a unified customer just like you would with email and SMS on these touchpoints. You almost have to map these into the different plays depending on what channel you're using, how you're thinking about it, and you want to eliminate that like redundant messaging. You also, I think this is key, data integration. If you're using something like Omnisend, you want to make sure that you're integrating with all your different platforms that you're playing with so that they are working together, not against each other. And then of course, you've got to be strategic around the selection of channel and when it is, right? We know email, it can last a while. SMS is timely. Direct mail is going to hit a different time. Calendar invites need to be just kind of like SMS where they're more time sensitive, for example. I think finding the right preference of each channel and selecting the prioritization is really important and also being dynamic based around how their lifecycle and behavior is going. Any thoughts around that?

Yeah, I'd say the kind of powerful part about this is the kind of the orchestration that each channel is going to amplify one another rather than kind of diluting or competing for attention. And studies show that coordinated multichannel campaigns achieve 23% higher customer lifetime values than more kind of single-channel approaches do.

Oh, that's exactly right. And, you know, a push notification might drive this immediate action, But email provides this like follow-up and, you know, direct mail creates a memorable experience. And, you know, again, going back to data and looking around it, they say that channels using 3 strategies at once are seeing almost a 287% higher purchase frequency. And you know what? Testing and measurement are crucial here too. Like that's like the big thing that I think about is not every brand is going to have the same result, right? Not everyone's going to have the same thing. So you've got to go test and play with different things because the optimal channel mix for any brand can vary based on customer segment, product category, and all that good stuff. So anyways, let's wrap this thing up because I want to summarize. I want to start by summarizing what we talked about here, the key insights for successfully implementing those channels together. What's your takeaway here? What's your most important takeaway that you can think about?

Oh man, there was a lot that we covered, but I'd say the most important takeaway to me is that these kind of alternative channels should complement, not replace your core kind of email and SMS strategy.

Oh yeah, or else we'd be replaced too because no one would wanna listen to us if there was a better channel. And the reality is email and SMS are the best channels, but really I'm with you on that. You wanna bring 'em together. So here was like the key takeaways. First, push notifications are real-time. They work really well. You should use 'em. If you're not using it with your Omnisend, for example, or Klaviyo, whoever you're using in your ESP, you should 100% use it. They're cheap, they work, they're effective. You should get started and we've seen the data behind it. Calendar integration is super important. That's something you should tap into if you haven't. There's great ways to utilize it. There's great apps that you can kind of tie in and get people tied into it. Referrals work. They definitely work, but you've got to go all in and put work and effort into it. A place that Chase and I both agree that probably isn't being used enough, I'm sure there's apps coming up around it or we should create something around it, but it's in-app messaging. That helps create that contextual or personalized retention communication based around it. I think people have been trying to solve this for a while. And then of course, direct mail. That is again something we know works in this world. I was just at a live event and there was like 5 booths talking about direct mail. And I was like, direct mail is back. People are talking about it a lot. And all of this comes together to one thing. It starts with mapping and orchestrating and bringing everything together and bringing it all together to drive that like unified experience for people.

Yeah.

And remember that different channels work better for different customer segments and product categories. So there's no one-size-fits-all approach.

Yeah. And I think one last thing I'll say is the key to testing this is like testing it systematically, measuring the right metrics, making sure it actually works. So don't just dive in. Don't listen to our pod and be like, I need to dive into all of these because the research shows a higher ROI. However, not every brand is gonna say the same. So what do you think about this for listeners to get started ultimately?

Yeah. I'd say for listeners just getting started, I'd recommend beginning with push notifications, I think, or maybe referral systems as they're kind of easy to implement and integrate well with email and SMS. And these channels typically show positive ROI within 2 to 3 months of implementation. So get that quick win.

No, I love that. That's a, that's a good thing. And, you know, I think the last thing I would add is don't forget the power of physical touchpoints like direct mail. I think there's so much power in there in a digital-first world. Tangible experiences are often outsized. So I'm not trying to plug digital, digital, I mean, direct mail so much, but the reality is it works ultimately. And people, I've seen results behind that too. So with that, Chase, I'm going to call this a wrap because we went all over the place a little bit, but I felt like we did a good justice Talk about alternative channels. Any thoughts as you kind of heard all that?

No. Subscribe to the pod.

Yeah. Subscribe to the pod. Follow. Leave us a rating. And, you know, you can find us in multiple places. But reality is there's a couple of ways to connect with us. One, ecomemailmarketer.com, link in the show notes. Join or subscribe our newsletter. It's free. We go out every day. We tell you all about all the things going on in retention. So check us out. And secondly, if you are looking to get more information, get certified, or a course around email or SMS marketing, come join us over there. You'll see a link below. Last but not least, man, social media. Where can they find you, Chase?

Most platforms, Chase Diamond, no end.

Even on Facebook these days, right?

Yes.

Yeah, he's going back to Facebook and I love it, dude. I think that channels are becoming more relevant because of the generational pushes of where people are living ultimately. You're almost finding different people in different different places. And you can find me mostly on LinkedIn and X. However, I may be convinced to jump back on Facebook too. I feel like there is a good market there too. So, all right, Chase, next week we're coming back, episode 40. We're going to talk about one of your favorite topics you post about, email copy, next week. What's working in 2025? What's working? What's, uh, done? We're going to break down some of your cool infographics you do. I thought that'd be a really fun one just to talk about because— Nice. The core of good retention starts with great copy, not design, anything else. You've got to be able to tell the person to make that purchase. So we're going to talk about that. With that being said, thank you for listening as always. We'll see you next week.

Cheers.

From the open to the click, they're the masters of the flow. Just watch your list grow and your leads turn to go. Did we retain you so far or do we have to extend it? If you want results, You know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it.