In this episode of the Omnichannel Marketer, host Kait Stephens interviews Jared Grawrock, Head of Lifecycle & Retention Marketing at goodr.
Jared shares his journey from dabbling in early social media and email marketing to leading retention strategy at one of the most beloved sunglass brands in the country. He discusses what it truly means to be "customer obsessed," how goodr balances DTC and omnichannel growth, and why building deep brand loyalty from day one is the single most powerful growth lever a brand can have.
The conversation dives into how goodr uses data, AI, and a relentless focus on the "why" behind customer behavior to build lifecycle programs that actually resonate, and why word-of-mouth still reigns as their number one acquisition channel after a decade in business.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Good lifecycle and retention marketing starts with asking "why" – why did they buy, why did they come back, and why does one cohort outperform another.
- Retention and acquisition are not competing priorities; they are complementary levers that must be balanced together.
- goodr actively embraces omnichannel growth, building strategies to serve customers wherever they want to shop, whether DTC, Amazon, or retail partners like REI.
- Using Brij inserts in Amazon orders has been a key tactic for identifying anonymous customers and bringing them into goodr's owned ecosystem.
- The brand's highest-retention cohort traces back to its earliest days, when the CEO handed out sunglasses from the trunk of his car.
- Word-of-mouth remains goodr's number one acquisition channel, even after ten years of growth across paid and owned channels.
- AI is accelerating Jared's ability to analyze data and surface insights, including parsing nearly 10,000 open-ended loyalty survey responses in a fraction of the time.
- AI will improve product recommendations and shorten the consideration phase, but it cannot replicate the emotional experience of a purchase that just feels right.
- SMS is one of the most underrated lifecycle channels: powerful when done right, but easy to get wrong.
- The biggest mistake brands make in retention is treating customers as generic segments.
Where to find Jared Grawrock:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-grawrock-57124a7/
Website: https://goodr.com/
Where to find Kait Stephens:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kait-margraf-stephens/
Website: www.brij.it
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