Getting someone’s attention is hard enough. Keeping it? That’s the real challenge—and the key to lasting growth.
As attention is the new currency nowadays, fleeting clicks and one-time views won’t cut it. As Seth Godin once said, “Don’t find customers for your products—find products for your customers.” The same goes for content. It’s not just about catching the eye—it’s about consistently earning trust, delivering value, and creating reasons for your audience to return. True success lies not in a single viral hit but in sustained engagement that turns passive viewers into active advocates.
That’s why we reached out to marketing professionals, content creators, and engagement strategists to ask a single, powerful question: “What have you done that actually works when it comes to keeping your audience coming back?”
From newsletters and podcasts to webinars, remarketing funnels, and community-led platforms, today’s most successful marketers know that retention isn’t just about format—it’s about relevance, emotional connection, and consistency. Whether it’s delivering value-led content tailored to where your audience is in their journey, using behaviour-based automation that feels genuinely personal, or making sure every message you send is data-informed and worth receiving, the strategies that work are those that make people feel seen, supported, and respected.
As our contributors show, audience loyalty is built at the intersection of strategy and empathy. That could mean identifying the channel where your audience feels most at home, segmenting content to address real pain points, or investing time in high-effort assets that people genuinely anticipate. Whatever the approach, the goal remains the same: to make every interaction matter—because when it does, people come back, and they bring others with them.
Read on to discover what works, why it works, and how you can apply these insights to build deeper, longer-lasting relationships with your audience.
Elvijs Plugis
CMO at Sigulp
The number one driver of audience retention — across every industry I’ve worked in — is customer service. Not just in the traditional sense of support tickets or refunds, but in the way customers feel when they interact with your brand. First impressions spark attention. But it’s consistency, trust, and emotional connection that keep people coming back.
In today’s digital world, retention is a psychological game as much as a strategic one. Once a customer interacts with your brand — whether through a product purchase, an event, or simply following on social media — you’re planting a seed. The question is, how will you nurture that relationship so it grows?
The key is to design retention around personalised experiences — and yes, these can and should be automated at scale. A well-crafted email journey or remarketing funnel can feel just as personal as a phone call, if it’s based on real behaviour, timing, and emotional relevance.
For example, we use frameworks that aim to bring back a customer at least five times. By the fifth engagement, something powerful happens: your brand becomes part of their routine — a habit. From that point, unless you break the trust or reduce the value, you’re no longer chasing them. They come to you.
However, the mistake many brands make is assuming one channel fits all. Some users engage via mobile but ignore email. Others follow your Instagram but opt out of newsletters. Some prefer WhatsApp messages; others click ads but never fill forms. You need to identify their comfort platform — where they naturally spend time and feel in control — and use that channel to build value indirectly, through stories, social proof, exclusive insights, or time-limited offers.
This is especially true in industries like e-commerce, edtech, B2B SaaS, and professional services, where the sales cycle varies, but the psychological cycle of trust remains the same.
If you deliver a personalised, relevant experience — and support it with offers, education, and community — the customer will not only return, they’ll refer others – this ensures the referred customer is more likely to stay with you and refer more people. Word of mouth works both positively and negatively.
For a service-based business, we saw a 3.2x increase in returning client bookings within 60 days by implementing a behaviour-based follow-up system that combined automation with personalised offers.
In essence, retention is a loop of trust, service, relevance, and habit. You don’t need to over-personalise everything manually. But you do need to make every interaction feel like it was made for them, whether automated or not.
It’s not magic. It’s strategy + empathy + consistency. And that’s what builds loyal audiences who don’t just return — they stick around and grow with you.
Karabo Moekoa
Digital marketing & product assistant @ Expert Circle
My most effective strategy for audience retention has been creating value-led content that speaks directly to a recurring challenge my audience faces, especially through segmented email newsletters and community-focused spaces.
This works because people return to what feels relevant and personal. I focus on understanding where someone is in their journey and then tailor my content to support them at that stage, whether they’re looking for quick wins or deeper strategic insights.
With this approach, I’ve noticed stronger engagement and more consistent participation. It feels less like broadcasting and more like building relationships.
A few tips for building deeper connections:
- Prioritise consistency over frequency. You don’t need to show up everywhere, just show up reliably.
- Talk like a human. Avoid overused buzzwords, speak in a way that feels natural and clear.
- Invite conversation. Ask for feedback, encourage replies and create space for your audience to share their voice.
- Deliver on your promise. If your audience shows up for a reason, keep delivering that value again and again.
At the heart of it, retention is about trust. When people feel seen and supported, they’re far more likely to stick around.
Graham Smith
Marketing Director
There are 3 pillars to modern B2B marketing; data, content and relevance. This is true for retention as any other aspect of marketing.
Start with data. How accurate and fresh is your prospect/customer data – have you checked? I literally download 1,000 records into a .csv file and check it line by line. Yes, it’s boring (I do use Excel formulas to speed the process).
But this reveals patterns in data efficacy. What fields/properties are your team not completing or your automation misses?
Why is that important? Relevance. Depending on who you believe, people are bombarded with between 6,000 to 20,000 “messages” per day. (A message is editorial, advertising, friends/family.) If your “message” is irrelevant, they will switch off, unsubscribe, and not take your next call.
Make sure your data is correctly segmented so you can send relevant messages – and it’s better to send one relevant message per year, rather than 12 irrelevant ones. So if you don’t have relevant content for one of your segments, don’t press Send.
And your content needs to be original and relevant to your audience’s needs. They want content that will help them look good in front of their CEO, and the CEO wants content that will help his/her ambitions.
Don’t guess what they want – ask them. Sometimes marketers create content that is easy for them (or chatGPT) to create. But if your audience wants something that is difficult to produce, it’s generally worth the effort. We produce an annual GTM Benchmarks Report that takes 3 months to create. It’s a pain. But we have now reached a point where people ask, “When is the GTM Report being published”. That’s gold.
What each of these expert insights makes clear is that audience retention isn’t a happy accident—it’s the result of intentional, ongoing effort. Whether it’s through thoughtful content, personalised journeys, emotional resonance, or data-backed relevance, keeping your audience engaged demands that you see them not as numbers, but as people.
Retention is a long game. It’s about earning trust repeatedly, creating value consistently, and showing up in the right place, at the right time, in the right way. Do that well, and you won’t just retain your audience—you’ll turn them into loyal champions of your brand.
Want to share your own strategies?
If you’ve got tried-and-tested approaches to building audience loyalty, we’d love to hear from you. Check out our upcoming collaborative panels and get featured alongside other industry experts.
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