Retention has always mattered. But in 2025, it’s starting to take centre stage. Not just as a CRM metric, but as a design principle for sustainable growth.

In this episode of Connecting the dots, we explore how lifecycle marketing becomes a real growth lever when it’s treated as a cross-functional strategy, not just a downstream tactic. Our guests bring hands-on experience from both mature and scaling markets, and from the app trenches where first-party data and behavioural signals shape every move.

🎙️Our guests this time:

  • ‍Anna Olofsson, Head of Marketing at Wolt in Sweden and Finland, navigating the full lifecycle in two very different markets, across restaurant, retail, and Wolt Market.‍
  • Pia Jacobson, Lead App Specialist at Precis, helping app clients build retention strategies that perform, even when data is messy and budgets are tight.

What we talked about

Retention works better when it’s built in from day one.

For many teams, lifecycle lives in its own lane, often kicked off only after conversion. But when the user journey is designed with retention in mind, it creates more value and more clarity. At Wolt, the experience from ad to app is deliberately aligned because those first few minutes shape what happens next.

Discounts have a place, but not at the centre 

Price promotions are easy to activate, but hard to sustain. Anna explains how Wolt balances acquisition and loyalty by investing in users who see the value beyond the voucher. That trade-off is familiar to many teams and requires long-term thinking.

What to trust when data gets patchy 

With attribution murky and opt-ins shrinking, knowing what to act on is tricky. Pia shares how brands are anchoring lifecycle to trusted behavioural signals (like repeat timing or feature adoption), rather than chasing perfect data.

Lifecycle isn’t just CRM, it’s orchestration

‍Retention strategy doesn’t live in one tool. From onboarding to customer service, Anna shares how Wolt keeps different teams aligned so that the journey holds together, especially when offers spike, expectations rise, or new features launch.

Different markets, different maturity, same principles‍

Finland is Wolt’s home turf. Sweden is still scaling. You can’t copy-paste lifecycle strategy, but you can bring the same clarity to both markets by localising the value prop and understanding user context. Anna and Pia both share how to do that with nuance.

If you’re refining your own lifecycle playbook…

Here’s a quick starter kit, one move in each lane:

  • Strategic lens: Align on what “good retention” looks like in your business. Is it second-order rate? Monthly repeat? Fewer dormant users?
  • Operational move: Pick one behavioural signal you trust and anchor your lifecycle flows to it. Don’t wait for perfect data.
  • Leadership POV: When you can show how retention connects to value, you can budget for it confidently.

🎧 Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen on Spotify
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