Over 50% of retention marketers are integral to marketing teams: WebEngage report

WebEngage has recently launched its 'State of Careers in Retention Marketing' report, aiming to highlight how professionals in this realm can 'find their path' and accelerate their career growth.

In a continuously evolving market, the typical flag bearers of retention metrics now have a stronger voice and a seat at the table—to point out issues affecting retention—whether it’s the quality of acquisition, product journey, post-purchase experience, customer support NPS, or any other consumer touch-point that can make or break the customer's experience.

“We see a serious uptick in the need for savvy retention professionals and see the early movers to this specialisation gaining from their choices,” said Ankur Gattani, chief growth officer, WebEngage.

According to the study, 39.6% of respondents—that represent some of the most renowned brands in the country, ranging from early-stage startups to large enterprises—picked data analytics as the top skill crucial for success in retention marketing careers. The study identified seven core strengths, ranging from data acumen to stakeholder management, providing actionable guidance for career development. Of these seven, data analytics capabilities was a clear winner, closely followed by strategic thinking abilities (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 might appear to be more crucial than others in the pecking order, the important thing to note is that a retention marketing professional needs to possess the perfect blend of skills of a CMO, CTO, and CDO, in order to succeed.

D2C and e-commerce brands showed increased inclination toward retention-led marketing, the report revealed, with 35.8% coming from them.

This is reflective of the fact that businesses are recognising 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 retention marketers is one of the earliest investments they make in the team.

The consumer-tech space—encompassing ed-tech, BFSI, and media & entertainment sectors—also showed an increased inclination toward retention-led marketing with 17.9%, 10.5%, and 8.4%, respectively.

The study further revealed a remuneration framework that is tied up with the respondent’s educational background and work experience and heavily weighted on delivering data-backed and experiments-led success. The head of retention at an INR 500-crore plus brand stands to make as high as INR 50–70 lakh per annum. Head of retention and user engagement at a large-scale gaming or entertainment brand can go as high as INR one crore.

Furthermore, to break into the ‘INR 10–15 lakh’ band in direct-to-consumer (D2C), one had to be a seasoned retention marketer with three–five years of core retention exposure, the study revealed. In the INR 40 lakh/annum salary band, almost all respondents had a mix of a master's degree and work experience. These roles were spread across marketing, growth, and product teams, and they were mostly vertical owners.

Of all respondents, 52.6% belonged to the marketing teams within their organisation. Growth teams also had a fair number of retention practitioners among them (31.6%), signaling that retention was essential to growth and a must-have boardroom conversation, according to the report.

The study had collected data from over 300 working professionals in a nationwide survey across more than 20 industries ranging from 0 to 20 years of work experience. Additionally, the study reflected qualitative interviews with CXOs, digital heads, growth specialists, and product marketing heads across renowned organizations.