7 Customer Retention Strategies to Boost Loyalty in 2025

Online shopping is booming—and so is competition from retailers of all shapes and sizes. From the consumer’s perspective, that translates to being exposed to thousands of ads per day. And while technology is helping companies make these ads much more targeted and relevant, it’s not a quick fix.

Successfully connecting with the right audience is just the first step when it comes to motivating customers to buy something from you. And lately, consumers have been hesitant to make purchases. Per McKinsey’s State of the Consumer 2025 report, 79% of consumers surveyed are buying less, looking for deals at discount retailers. Roughly half of US consumers plan to delay purchases over the next three months. 

For marketing teams, the cost of acquiring a new customer keeps rising, driving down ROI, and making it more difficult to justify spending. The antidote for this is retention—a way to keep ROI low and revenue consistent.  

Personalization technology like Monetate’s supports customer retention strategies by making digital shopping experiences much more relevant and enjoyable for customers. There are many ways personalization achieves this, but we’ve narrowed it down to seven strategies that are focused on helping you boost loyalty and retention in 2025.

#1: Personalize the Entire Customer Journey

Customer journeys are like fingerprints—each one unique and specific to the shopper. Your search for eco-friendly soap won’t mimic Mary’s search because her goals, preferences, and behaviors are different from yours.  Personalization helps with customer retention by removing much of the guesswork from digital shopping. This makes shoppers more confident and likely to return.

When Mary visits your site, a personalization platform like Monetate recognizes her past behavior. In Mary’s case, she’s purchased eczema cream, soap, and facial cleanser. The experience she’s greeted with involves segment-based messaging (“Welcome back, Mary! Our new sensitive skin collection just launched”) and behavior-based messaging that adapts to the context of Mary’s current shopping session (e.g., she clicks on the eczema honey soap and sees recommendations for body wash and a shower scrub).  

Our proprietary intelligence layer, Orchid AI, makes this type of personalization possible by analyzing hundreds of data points to recommendations and experiences that feel intuitive rather than random. 

#2. Implement a Tiered Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs are an effective way to retain customers. They’re also easily customizable, so they resonate with shoppers. Tiered programs, which unlock increasingly valuable benefits as customers shop and spend with your brand, tend to outperform flat structures by creating status-driven motivation. Another element to keeping people engaged with loyalty programs is “gamification”—where shoppers get perks like points, rewards, and visual progress meters to reach the next level.

For Mary, eczema sufferer and sensitive skin product enthusiast, a tiered program might start with “Radiance” status (10% off purchases) and progress to “Glow” status (15% off plus free shipping). As she reaches the “Luminous” tier, she receives early access to new sensitive skin products and personalized skincare consultations.

Loyalty programs draw from your CRM data and can be connected to personalization software like Monetate to trigger specific product recommendations and exclusive content. Mary might see personalized offers for new eczema products, for example, or a special coupon on her birthday. 

#3. Use Predictive Analytics to Identify At-Risk Customers

Predictive analytics use AI and machine learning to see into the future and predict which customers are likely to abandon your brand. Well, kind of.  The AI in predictive systems analyzes behavioral patterns that signal potential churn—like decreased visit frequency or abandoned carts.

For customers like Mary, the system might notice she hasn’t browsed her usual skincare products in 45 days. This triggers an automated retention campaign with personalized incentives based on her previous purchases. Perhaps she receives an email featuring new eczema-friendly products with a special offer or an SMS alert about a VIP event at the local store.

This approach works because it’s proactive versus reactive. You’re not waiting for Mary to disappear, you’re reaching out and using relevant messaging to motivate her to come back and browse. 

Monetate’s real-time personalization identifies at-risk segments early and delivers targeted experiences designed to rebuild engagement when it matters most—before Mary’s left the (virtual) building. 

4. Create Omnichannel Retention Campaigns

Omnichannel retention campaigns span the channels and devices that customers use across their entire digital shopping journey. This often extends to in-store experiences where shoppers use their phones to navigate the aisle, compare prices, look up product reviews, and add items to virtual carts. They may also receive personalized offers at checkout. The foundation of effective omnichannel retention is consistency across channels, which requires unifying customer data so messaging and content can be synced everywhere. 

Mary is often on the hunt for sensitive skin products. When she browses your website for a new facial cleanser but doesn’t complete her purchase, you can automatically trigger a reminder email about the cleanser she viewed, followed by a mobile push notification with a limited-time offer when she’s near one of your stores. If Mary visits in person, a store associate—using Mary’s customer profile—can recommend complementary products when Mary asks for help or offer her a personalized sample at checkout.  

Monetate supports this level of experience consistency by unifying customer data and making it “personalization ready.” Again, this is foundational, with personalization features like product recommendations, intelligent search, and audience segmentation that keeps every interaction and message connected and relevant.

5. Deliver Hyper-Relevant Post-Purchase Experiences

Relevance is different for everyone. For Mary, a post-purchase email might include a blog post about eczema triggers and a curated list of sensitive skin products that complement her recent order. Personalized thank-you pages can highlight exclusive offers or invite Mary to join a loyalty program. Each interaction feels intentional. These thoughtful touches help build trust and keep the relationship going long after checkout.

Monetate makes it possible to personalize on-site experiences like thank-you pages, tailoring content and offers based on each customer’s recent activity and preferences. This level of website personalization helps brands deliver relevant follow-ups that feel natural and connected to each shopper’s unique journey.

6. Test Retention Tactics Continuously

A/B testing helps with retention by ensuring your messaging, offers, and site experience consistently connect with existing customers. Small changes like adjusting incentive language or reordering product recommendations can make a huge difference. 

Monetate’s A/B/n testing and dynamic content tools allow brands to experiment with page layouts, personalized recommendations, social proof, and other elements, and instantly adapts to what works best for each audience segment. 

American sock manufacturer Darn Tough used Monetate to implement and test several on-site strategies, including a holiday offer to increase add-to-cart rate, customized messaging for limited-time free shipping, and new payment options like Google Pay and Apple Pay to streamline checkout. These targeted experiments led to a 12% lift in average order value and an 8.4% increase in conversion rate

7. Engage Customers with User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) builds trust in ways traditional marketing can’t match. When shoppers see real people using your products, they’re more likely to make a purchase. According to Emarketer, over 60% of consumers seek out UGC to help them decide what to buy. 

Encourage customers to share photos of your products in the wild, write reviews, and share videos. Consider offering small incentives like discount codes or featuring customer content in your marketing.

Apple’s #ShotOniPhone hashtag campaign is a great example of how UGC increases engagement and creates community. The campaign invites users to share high-quality photos and video that customers take on their phones, with the images and video posted across various Apple-owned channels and within their ads.

Monetate helps you strategically place UGC content throughout the shopping journey—on product pages, in recommendation widgets, and at checkout—turning browsers into buyers by showing them how your products work in real life.