Episode 82 - CRM creates leverage, but base management determines outcomes

Welcome to Episode 82 of The Retention Blueprint.

This one tackles a problem I see repeatedly in enterprise teams: CRM marketing/lifecycle activity is high, but the retention KPI stubbornly refuses to move.

Base management focuses on how you actively manage your existing customer base to protect profit, reduce dependency on acquisition, and create space for sustainable growth.

Base management has two components, commercial mechanics and behavioural drivers.  

Pricing, contracts, tiers, discounts, and renewal structures actively shape churn and lifetime value. When these decisions are guided by forward-looking CLV, churn propensity, survival curves, and tenure dynamics, teams can design offers that lock in value over 12–24 months rather than firefighting at the point of cancellation.

But often the behavioural drivers behind subscription and recurring revenue businesses are overlooked. The same four forces show up repeatedly across multiple sectors:

• Customers don’t feel valued fast enough, 

• Customers feel guilty about underuse,

• Novelty fades, 

• or they don’t feel valued.

If behavioural drivers aren’t addressed, no amount of commercial optimisation will save retention; it will only erode margin.

Effective base management integrates both, and often the vehicle for delivery is Lifecycle / CRM Marketing. 

 👉 Read the full breakdown  

📰 Duolingo Case Study

Duolingo is one of the clearest examples of behavioural retention done properly.

They don’t rely on discounts or promotions. Instead, they engineer behaviour first, using product, lifecycle, and CRM together to drive momentum. 

They do this so well, they don’t need discounts to drive retention. 

Early in the lifecycle, Duolingo collapses time-to-value. New users experience progress in under a minute, with instant feedback, visible advancement, and no ambiguity about what to do next.  

Between 30 and 90 days, the focus shifts to habit formation. Streaks aren’t framed as rewards, they’re framed as identity.  

For ongoing usage, gamification is layered rather than gimmicky. XP, leagues, and leaderboards reset frequently, keeping competition achievable and preventing novelty decay.  

The result isn’t CRM-led or product-led retention. It’s orchestrated retention, where behaviour and lifecycle execution reinforce each other.

 👉 Read the full case study

If retention is a current priority and progress feels harder than it should, this is the type of system-level work I help senior teams with. Reply to this message or click here to learn more.

Until next time, 

Tom