January is when leadership teams decide what retention will actually become.
Not by setting goals.
But by the systems they commit to.
Some teams will:
switch tools because something feels limiting
add channels because competitors have them
optimize inside last-click models because that’s what reports show
Others will quietly make structural decisions.
And that’s where the gap starts to widen.
Because as the year goes on, you’ll see some brands:
Scaling omnichannel without chaos.Launching new channels without fragmenting the customer.Making decisions faster without breaking historical truth.
Not because they “move faster.”
But because they chose the right foundations early.
And I know you’re thinking about this too.
Not because Braze, Insider, or Klaviyo is trendy.
But because your current setup is starting to show cracks:
email and SMS fighting for credit
app and web push treated as “extra channels”
attribution rewriting history every time you add something new
Here’s the part most teams underestimate:
Strategic mistakes don’t show up immediately.
They show up 6 months later—when you’re already locked in.
The teams that get ahead have answered 3 questions before scaling:
Is our engagement stack built around channels or customer state?
Can our attribution model explain contribution—not just claim credit?
Will adding a new channel make our insights clearer… or noisier?
Most teams skip this.
So they migrate to a new tool.They turn on app push.They layer web push on top.
And suddenly:
historical benchmarks stop making sense
YoY comparisons break
performance looks “better,” but understanding gets worse
At that point, speed doesn’t help.
Because you’re moving fast in the wrong direction.
The teams that win treat retention tooling as infrastructure:
omnichannel platforms chosen for orchestration, not features
app & web push added as state-based signals, not broadcast channels
attribution models designed to be forward-consistent, not retroactive
measurement that survives new channels without rewriting the past
Everything else is optimization theater.
January is when that decision gets made.
Not:“Should we add app push?”
But:“Will this decision still make sense after our next two channels?”
Over the next weeks, I’ll break down how I evaluate retention stacksso they compound insight, not just activity.