39.6% of respondents declare Data Analytics as top skill for success in retention marketing careers: report

Delhi: WebEngage, a full stack Retention Operating System, launched State of Careers in Retention Marketing Report, a study on the evolving landscape of careers in retention marketing. 

Ankur Gattani, Chief Growth Officer, WebEngage, said, “The last few years have brought the subject of retention marketing to the spotlight. While retention is not a marketing problem, the typical flag bearers of retention metrics now have a stronger voice and a seat on 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. Thus, it’s only fair that pros at driving retention be recognized for their impact on business and compensated accordingly. We see a serious uptick in the need for savvy retention professionals and see the early movers to this specialization gaining from their choices.”

Key insights from the study: 

1. Shift towards Retention: D2C and E-Commerce sectors saw 35.8% representation among the respondents of the study. 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 are some of the most early investments they make in the team. 

However, the thing to note here is that the pie is spread nearly proportionately across other sectors. The consumer-tech space of Ed-tech, BFSI, and Media and Entertainment sectors are also showing an increased inclination toward retention-led marketing with 17.9%, 10.5%, and 8.4%, respectively. 

2. Core Competencies: 39.6% of respondents declared Data Analytics as the top skill crucial for success in retention marketing careers. The study identifies 7 core strengths ranging from data acumen to stakeholder management, providing actionable guidance for career development. Of these 7, data analytics capabilities is a clear winner, closely followed by strategic thinking abilities (17.6%) and project management skills (17.2%). 

3. Salary Trends: The head of retention at a 500 Cr. + brand stands to make as high as 50-70 LPA. Head of retention and user engagement at a large-scale gaming or entertainment brand can go as high as 1 Cr. The study reveals a remuneration framework that is tied up with the respondent’s educational background and work experience and easily weighted on delivering data-backed and experiments-led success. Furthermore, to break into the ‘10-15L’ band in D2C, one has to be a seasoned retention marketer with 3-5 years of core retention exposure. 

4. Role-team mapping: 52.6% of the respondents belonged to the marketing teams within their organisation. When asked which teams the respondents belonged to, it was revealed that the retention marketer is likely to be found in one of three teams - Marketing, Growth, and Product. Besides the marketing team, growth teams are also increasingly finding retention practitioners among them (31.6%), signalling that retention is essential to growth and a must-have boardroom conversation.