Acquiring a new customer costs 5x more than keeping an old one. And yet, most early-stage brands are so blinded by the dopamine rush of new customer notifications that they miss the real goldmine: retention. Let’s be real. Most early-stage brands aren’t ignoring retention because they don’t care. They’re ignoring it because they don’t know where to start.
(A love letter to retention inspired by a customer conversation with Cohora)
Picture this: you’re an early-stage DTC brand, scrappy and ambitious. You’ve got the ads running, the influencers posting, and the sales rolling in. Everything’s feeling great—until you look at your bank account and realize your CAC (customer acquisition cost) is eating your margins alive.
Why? Because you’re so busy fishing for new customers, you’re letting the ones you already hooked wriggle off the line.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Tons of DTC brands make the same mistake early on. But if you don’t shift your focus to retention, you’re going to find yourself in a very expensive hamster wheel. BTW, hamsters just run in circles.
Acquisition is sexy. There, I said it.
It’s flashy, it’s fun, and it feels productive. But focusing all your energy (and budget) on top-of-funnel campaigns while ignoring your existing customers is like filling a leaky bucket—you’re working twice as hard for half the reward.
Here’s the kicker: acquiring a new customer costs 5x more than keeping an old one. And yet, most early-stage brands are so blinded by the dopamine rush of new customer notifications that they miss the real goldmine: retention.
Let’s be real. Most early-stage brands aren’t ignoring retention because they don’t care. They’re ignoring it because they don’t know where to start.
You’ve got data coming at you from all directions—Shopify, Facebook, Google Analytics, TikTok (if you’re feeling trendy)—but none of it is talking to each other. It’s like trying to solve a puzzle when half the pieces are missing, and the dog ate the box with the picture on it.
Without the right insights, you can’t see:
So you stick with what’s easy—spend more on ads, throw in a discount, and hope for the best. But let’s be honest: how’s that working out for you?
Retention isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the cheat code for scaling your brand without draining your wallet. Here’s why:
Retention isn’t just about keeping the customers you have. It’s about turning them into superfans who keep coming back—and bring their friends with them.
Retention-focused tools that help brands unlock the full potential of their data by offering:
Turn your data into actionable insights that actually grow your business. No fluff, no jargon—just results.
Here’s the deal: if you’re spending all your time chasing new customers and ignoring the ones you already have, you’re leaving money on the table. (A lot of money.)
Retention is the key to sustainable growth, predictable revenue, and a business that doesn’t make you want to cry every time you look at your P&L. And the best part? It’s easier than you think—once you have the right tools.
A customer of FindingFrisson, Cohora, is helping early-stage DTC brands do just this. Cohora is the first performance-driven relationship based engagement solution and only eCommerce engagement and retention solution that provides a true 360 degree view of your existing customers. Cohora offers the analytics you need to understand the impact of your retention efforts coupled with a suite of tools to help predict loyalty, drive growth, and transform retention.
Interested in learning more about Cohora? Check out their site here or shoot me a message for an intro!
In 2025, the most sustainable growth will come from being the brand people think of first, not the one they found in a sidebar ad. Buyers are craving trust and authenticity. Channels are crowded. Attribution is foggy. And the most underrated growth lever in B2B right now? Brand. Build it. Invest in it. Defend it. Because if people don’t believe in your brand your performance ads are just noise.
The dark funnel isn’t new—it’s just finally being named. It’s where trust is formed, where awareness grows, and where decisions begin. The brands that win in 2025 will stop obsessing over what they can’t track—and start investing in being present, consistent, and influential where their buyers are making up their minds. Even if it’s in a group chat you’ll never see.
Welcome to the B2B Creator Era where your customers don’t just want content, they want character. They don’t care how many awards your homepage has. They care whether your RevOps lead can break down pipeline acceleration in plain English without sounding like a robot trained on buzzwords and messy script.
