Retention Manager (CRM & Lifecycle)

Arc · United Kingdom · £40k – £55k · posted today ago

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About this role

Revenue team · Reports to the Head of Revenue · Remote first

The role

Arc makes precision engineered aluminium and titanium cases for the devices people use most, sold as an object rather than an accessory. The business has grown quickly on one hero product, trades worldwide with the US and UK as its core markets, and has built a large and growing customer base along the way.

That customer base is the opportunity. Arc has invested heavily in acquiring customers and comparatively little in developing them, which means there is substantial untapped value in people who already own and like the product. The platform, the agency support and the data are in place. What comes next is the programme that makes the most of them: sharper segmentation, a lifecycle built around how customers actually buy, and a loyalty proposition that suits a considered, upgrade driven purchase.

This is a build role, and a commercially significant one. Improvement here falls through to profit without media cost attached, which makes retention the one lever that strengthens acquisition economics and revenue at the same time. You will be hands on, you will make the case for investment, and you will have room to build it your way.

What you are accountable for

Developing customers beyond a first purchase: growing the proportion who return, and the value they bring when they do.
Revenue generated through owned channels: email, SMS, loyalty and any channel added over time, and their contribution to the overall number.
The customer database as a commercial asset: its structure, accuracy, health and usefulness to the wider team.
The lifecycle experience after purchase: everything between the order confirmation and the next purchase.
Customer understanding: being the person who understands the customer best, and making sure the rest of the business benefits from it.
The contribution of our CRM partner: the output we get, the value we receive, and how the relationship develops.

What you own

Lifecycle strategy and roadmap

The retention plan, its sequencing, and the case for what gets built first
The flow architecture end to end: welcome, browse and basket recovery, post purchase, fitting and care, upgrade moments, replenishment and back in stock
The campaign calendar, and how it maps to the trading year and to product launches
Identifying the moments that matter commercially and building around them, rather than sending to a fixed schedule

Segmentation and customer data

Developing the segmentation model around behaviour and value, building on what exists today
Identifying high value customers early and treating them accordingly
Recognising that customers return for different reasons, and tailoring programmes to each
List health: growth, engagement, suppression and consent across markets
Making the database genuinely useful to the acquisition side for audience building and exclusion

Owned channels: email, SMS and beyond

Strategy, calendar, briefing and final approval on what goes out
Campaign programming: the mix of brand, product, launch and promotional sends, and the frequency the audience will bear
Deliverability and sender reputation
The testing programme across subject lines, creative, offer and timing
Platform configuration, and getting the most from the current stack
Growing the channel mix over time. SMS is the immediate opportunity, with direct mail and other owned channels worth evaluating where the price point and the customer justify them

Reactivation and lapsed customers

The lapsed customer strategy, including how lapse is defined by behaviour rather than by a fixed window
Win back programmes, and the judgement on which customers are worth reactivating and at what cost
Testing reactivation offers against holdouts, so the true cost of winning someone back is known rather than assumed
A sunset policy, so that attention and spend concentrate where there is a realistic prospect of return

Voice of the customer

Owning customer feedback loops: reviews, surveys, post purchase responses and recurring support themes
Working closely with customer support, who own the queue, to turn what customers actually ask and complain about into briefs for the site, the product pages, the lifecycle programme and the product roadmap
Keeping segments and personas alive as working tools rather than a one off exercise
Being the voice of the customer in trading and planning conversations, and bringing evidence rather than opinion

Agency direction

Reviewing what is live, forming an independent view, and setting the roadmap from there
The brief, the targets and the review rhythm
Assessing value delivered and guiding how the partnership develops

Offer and lifecycle promotions

When an offer is used, at what level and for whom
Protecting margin by reserving incentives for customers who genuinely need them
Agreeing policy with the Head of Revenue and holding to it

Loyalty

Designing a proposition suited to a considered, upgrade driven purchase rather than a generic points scheme
Evaluating and selecting a platform where one is needed
Launch, adoption and ongoing management

Cross sell and lifecycle merchandising

Growing the number of customers who buy more than one product, led by lifecycle rather than discount
Post purchase and accessory sequences, and the timing of them
Working with the brand and product side on what is promoted and when

Post purchase experience and foundations

The full sequence: confirmation, dispatch, arrival, fitting and care, review request and follow on
Working with brand and operations so the unboxing and follow up match the price point
Integrations between the ecommerce platform, CRM, advertising platforms and the support desk, so reporting can be trusted

Where this role starts and stops

This role owns the customer database and the lifecycle after purchase. The Acquisition Manager owns the journey up to and including the first purchase, and the website that carries it, because the majority of Arc's traffic is new to the brand and site conversion is an acquisition measure. Where the two meet:

Email and SMS capture on site: you own the mechanic and the offer. Acquisition owns placement and its effect on conversion.
Audiences built from customer data: you own the segments. Acquisition owns how they are applied in platform.
Paid activity aimed at existing customers: Acquisition executes it, measured jointly with you on repeat revenue.
Pages for returning and logged in customers: you brief the requirement. Acquisition owns the roadmap and build priority.
Promotional offers: you own lifecycle offers. Acquisition owns acquisition offers. Policy is set with the Head of Revenue.
Customer feedback and support themes: customer support owns the queue and the response. You own the insight and what the business does with it.

Crossover is expected and healthy. Where ownership is not obvious, the test is simple: which measure moves if this works, and who is accountable for it. The Head of Revenue settles anything genuinely ambiguous.

Working with our agency partner

Partner: campaign and flow build. You: strategy, and the roadmap the build serves.
Partner: design and deployment. You: briefing, approval and quality control.
Partner: platform reporting. You: deciding what is measured and what good looks like.
Partner: executing the calendar. You: owning the calendar and what belongs on it.
Partner: recommending tactics. You: judging which tactics fit the brand and the margin.

How the role is measured

Targets are set with the Head of Revenue and reviewed quarterly.

Repeat customer rate
Repeat purchases as a share of total revenue
Revenue and gross profit per acquired customer over twelve months
Owned channel share of sessions and of revenue
Split between automated flow revenue and campaign revenue
Reactivation rate of lapsed customers, and the cost of achieving it
Discount rate applied to repeat orders
Cross sell rate, and average order value on multi product orders
Time between first and second purchase
Engaged list size and growth, alongside deliverability health
Loyalty enrolment and participation, once live
Review volume and rating trend, and customer insight translated into action elsewhere in the business

Practical terms

Reporting line: Head of Revenue
Level: Manager, with a clear route to Head of as the channel and team grow
Location: Remote first. UK or European time zones, with a quarterly in person meet up
Team: Agency partners from the outset, with additional headcount planned as the channel matures
Salary: £40,000 to £55,000 base salary, dependent on experience

Requirements

The calibre we are looking for

Has owned a CRM platform hands on, personally building flows and segments rather than briefing others to do it
Has developed a retention programme from an early stage rather than only maintaining a mature one. The first year here is about building
Comfortable with cohort and lifetime value analysis. Can read a repeat purchase curve, size the opportunity and argue for the investment
Commercially minded about promotions, and able to judge when an incentive is genuinely earning its cost
A self starter who is comfortable building process in a small, fast moving team