WebEngage has released the State of Careers in Retention Marketing report, a comprehensive study of the evolving state of careers in retention marketing.
In an evolving market where uncertainty is the only certainty, companies are preoccupied with maintaining a sustainable growth trajectory. While customer acquisition has been touted as driving growth and contributing to sales, it is becoming increasingly clear that customer retention is critical to increasing revenue and driving business growth. Recognizing the potential for disruptive business, there are now more and more conversations about retention across industries.
This is well reflected in the findings of Nielsen's 2024 Annual Marketing Report, which found that 72% of global marketers expect to increase their budgets this year, an 8% increase from 2023. I did. Career situations also reflect this trend. WebEngage's research aims to highlight the nuances of this evolution and chart a roadmap for how professionals in the field can “find their way” and accelerate career growth. is.
“In recent years, the topic of retention marketing has been in the spotlight. Retention is not a marketing issue, but the typical standard-bearers of retention metrics are acquisition quality, product purchase process, post-purchase experience, customer Gain a stronger voice and voice to point out issues that impact retention, such as the quality of NPS and other consumer touch points that can make or break the customer experience. It's no surprise, then, that retention experts are recognized for their impact on the business and are compensated accordingly. We are seeing early movers benefit from their choices,” said Ankur Gattani, Chief Growth Officer, WebEngage.
Key insights from the research:
1. Shift to Retention: The D2C and e-commerce sector accounted for a whopping 35.8% of respondents in this study. This reflects the fact that companies are recognizing the importance of customer retention for long-term profitability, leading to a surge in demand for talent in retention marketing. Respondents also shared that hiring a retention marketer is one of the earliest investments they make within their team.
However, it's worth noting here that the pie is also almost proportionately distributed across other sectors. As reflected in the data, consumer technology in the Ed-Tech, BFSI, and Media & Entertainment sectors also saw an increase in the trend toward retention-driven marketing by 17.9%, 10.5%, and 8.4%, respectively.
2. Core Competencies: 39.6% of respondents named data analysis as the most important skill essential to success in a retention marketing career. This study identifies seven core strengths, from data acumen to stakeholder management, and provides practical guidance for career development. Of these seven, data analysis skills are the clear winner, closely followed by strategic thinking skills (17.6%) and project management skills (17.2%).
More importantly, the in-depth interviews conducted as part of the study revealed that while some skill sets may appear to be more important than others in the priority order, there are important things to note. What has become clear is that retention marketing professionals must have the perfect blend. Improving skills for success for CMOs, CTOs, and CDOs.
3. Salary Trend: 500 Cr Retention Rate. + Brands reach as much as 50-70 LPA. A head of retention and user engagement for a large gaming or entertainment brand can earn up to 1 Cr. The study found that compensation frameworks are tied to respondents' educational and professional backgrounds and tend to be focused on delivering data-backed, experiment-driven success. Below is a graph reflecting the different salary brackets that respondents belong to.
Additionally, to get into the “10-15L” range in D2C, you need to be a seasoned retention marketer with 3-5 years of core retention experience. In the annual income range of 40L, almost all respondents had both a master's degree and work experience. These roles are distributed across marketing, growth, and product teams, and most have vertical ownership.
4. Role and team mapping: 52.6% of respondents were part of a marketing team within their organization. When asked which team respondents were on, it became clear that retention marketers were more likely to be on one of three teams: marketing, growth, or product. In addition to marketing teams, growth teams are also increasingly finding retention officers (31.6%), demonstrating that retention is critical to growth and a must-have conversation in the boardroom.
