Pietro Saccomani

Want the latest insights into the most effective retention strategies for ecommerce? We just launched The Retention Edge – a weekly newsletter about building sustainable growth through smarter customer retention. Every week we’ll share: - Actionable retention strategies that move the needle - Insider tactics from brands crushing it with owned channels & retention-focused CX - Data-driven insights to boost repeat purchases & profitability If you’re scaling a DTC brand and want to build a business that lasts, The Retention Edge is for you. Check out the first edition via the link in the comments 👇

On the latest Retention Edge, Phill Agnew of the Nudge Podcast shares a fascinating insight from behavioral psychology. Two identical presentations were shown to different groups. The only difference? One group was told it took eight hours to prepare. The other was told it took thirty minutes. People consistently preferred the one they believed required more effort. Nothing about the content changed. But the perceived effort completely changed the value. Check out the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/45Fzq8de7yk

AI makes content creation faster. But it also makes feeds more uniform. Phill Agnew points to a classic psychology insight: people remember what’s different. When everything around it looks the same, the distinct option becomes far more memorable. We had Phill Agnew on The Retention Edge to discuss why understanding psychology is becoming even more important for brands. See the full episode here: youtu.be/45Fzq8de7yk

For Phill Agnew, the power of a “Best Seller” label comes down to one simple idea: People look to other people when deciding what to buy. It’s the same reason distinctive products stand out in public, from iconic drink glasses to recognizable headphones. This behavior isn’t new. It’s been shaping human decisions for thousands of years. We had Nudge Podcast host Phill Agnew on The Retention Edge to break down why understanding psychology might be the most durable marketing skill there is. See the full episode here: youtu.be/45Fzq8de7yk

Retention is the unlock for everything in ecommerce. Profit. ROAS. Growth. It all works better when customers come back and buy multiple times. Yet most brands still spend the vast majority of their budget on acquisition. Getting new people through the door. First orders. Here's the thing: first orders are a cost center. You're paying for ads, paying for clicks, eating into margin with a welcome discount. That first sale rarely makes you money. The second sale is where the business starts. And the third, fourth, fifth. That's where your margins expand, your CAC pays off, and your growth actually compounds. Attentive just released their 2026 State of Loyalty & Retention report. 600 shoppers surveyed on what makes them come back, what makes them leave, and what actually drives loyalty. A few things that stood out: - 88% of consumers tried a new brand in the last 3 months. Only 18% plan to come back to most of them. - 52% of consumers shop regularly with just 3-5 brands. The "inner circle" is real, and it's small. - The two biggest drivers of a second purchase? A good deal (52%) and product quality (45%). Almost the whole playbook right there. We broke it all down in this week's Retention Edge newsletter - 7 stats from the report, what they mean for your brand, and what to actually do about them. Read it now: retentionedge.co/p/what-600-sho…

On the latest Retention Edge, Phill Agnew of the Nudge Podcast explains why simple labels like “Best Seller” are so powerful. It’s not really about the product. It’s about what the label signals. When people see that others are buying something, it instantly lowers the mental friction around the decision. The biggest takeaway? Good marketing often isn’t about new technology. It’s about understanding the psychology that has always driven human behavior. This is why the best brands still study fundamentals in 2026. Check out the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/45Fzq8de7yk

Marketing platforms change constantly. AI, algorithms, new channels… every few years there’s another “revolution.” But the fundamentals don’t move nearly as fast. People still rely on the same mental shortcuts they always have: social proof, trust signals, and following the behavior of others. We had Phill Agnew, Founder and Host of The Nudge Podcast, on The Retention Edge to talk about why psychology still sits at the center of good marketing. See the full episode here: youtu.be/45Fzq8de7yk

On the latest Retention Edge, Phill Agnew of The Nudge Podcast talks about something marketers forget every few years. Every new wave of technology is supposed to change everything. First it was big data. Then personalization. Now it’s AI. The biggest takeaway? The tools evolve fast, but the human brain doesn’t. Understanding psychology still matters more than chasing the latest marketing trend. This is something every operator should keep in mind heading into 2026. Check out the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/45Fzq8de7yk

For Nate Littlewood, hustle isn’t the problem. Distraction is. Founders don’t fail because they lack ideas. They struggle because they spread their time across too many of them. What works for another brand might be the wrong focus for yours. We had Nate, Fractional CFO and Founder of Future Ready CFO, on The Retention Edge to break down how operators decide what actually deserves their attention. See the full episode here: youtu.be/dihfPQOQ9Ns

In the famous jam study, shoppers saw 24 flavors and bought less than when they saw 6. The lesson is simple. More choice creates more doubt. A lot of ecommerce brands fall into this trap. More variants. More bundles. More “just in case” options. But when customers feel overwhelmed, they often choose nothing. We had Nate Littlewood on The Retention Edge to break down why simplifying your offer can actually increase conversion. See the full episode here: youtu.be/dihfPQOQ9Ns

On the latest Retention Edge, Nate Littlewood, Fractional CFO and Founder of Future Ready CFO, shares a hard truth most founders don’t want to hear. You don’t need another marketing hack. You need to get the fundamentals right. Margins. Inventory. Cash flow. CAC discipline. The biggest takeaway? Profit doesn’t come from chasing shiny tools. It comes from doing the boring work consistently. This is how ecommerce brands build real, durable growth in 2026. Check out the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/dihfPQOQ9Ns

For Nate Littlewood, finance isn’t about bookkeeping. It’s about clarity. Most founders say they want to grow. But very few consistently use their numbers to decide what to double down on and what to cut. The uncomfortable truth? A small set of products, channels, and actions likely drive the majority of your profit. If you don’t know which ones, you’re guessing. We had Nate Littlewood on The Retention Edge to unpack how founders can turn financial data into a real growth lever. See the full episode here: youtu.be/dihfPQOQ9Ns

A friend of mine used to run an Amazon SaaS. The #1 anxiety among Amazon-only sellers: you don't own your customers. Amazon does. No email addresses. No phone numbers. No relationship. Just a listing on someone else's platform, which can disappear overnight. This keeps thousands of Amazon brand owners up at night - even those doing 7-8 figures per year. That's exactly the position AI platforms are trying to put DTC brands in right now. OpenAI tried it with Instant Checkout. And while the big news right now is that they're pivoting away from it, the lasting takeaway should be the attempt. Google could be about to try it too. Amazon's already done it. And we're going to see more players (including another attempt from OpenAI, I'm sure) try it in the future. Every platform wants to own your customer. Build your moat before they figure out how. Read this week's Retention Edge to learn about the problem, and what you can do about it: retentionedge.co/p/every-platfo…

On the latest Retention Edge, Nate Littlewood, Fractional CFO and Founder of Future Ready CFO, talks about the finance problem most founders quietly avoid. It’s not a spreadsheet issue. It’s a relationship issue. The numbers often tell a different story than the one we want to believe. And instead of leaning in, many founders look away. The biggest takeaway? When you start treating your financials as a strategic asset, not a report card, you make better decisions, faster. This is how operators need to think about growth in 2026. Check out the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/dihfPQOQ9Ns

For Nate Littlewood, LTV as “revenue” misses the point. What matters is lifetime gross profit. Some brands are profitable on the first order. Some rely on repeat purchases to make the math work. And some never close the gap between CAC and profit at all. So many ecommerce brands chase growth without knowing which category they’re in. We had Nate Littlewood, Founder of Future Ready CFO, on The Retention Edge to break down the financial lens every operator should apply to retention. See the full episode here: youtu.be/dihfPQOQ9Ns

On the latest Retention Edge, Nate Littlewood, Fractional CFO and Founder of Future Ready CFO, explains why most brands use LTV the wrong way. Revenue isn’t the number that matters. Lifetime gross profit is. The biggest takeaway? If you don’t understand the relationship between CAC and lifetime gross profit, you don’t actually understand your retention model. Every ecommerce brand falls into one of three financial buckets. And only one of them makes paid acquisition truly sustainable. This is how operators need to think about retention and growth in 2026. Check out the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/dihfPQOQ9Ns

On the latest Retention Edge, Viacheslav Sabirov of BATNA breaks down what might be the fastest way to erode your brand. It’s not bad creative. It’s not rising CAC. It’s the constant “-50% OFF” banner. The biggest takeaway? The moment customers expect discounts, you’ve trained them not to value your product at full price. This is the race to the bottom most brands don’t realize they’re entering, until it’s too late. Check out the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/0nd6Ju3SeaY

For Viacheslav and the team at BATNA, the problem isn’t that customers care about price. It’s that brands rely on blanket discounts instead of personalizing the value. When everyone waits for 20% off, your pricing stops being a strategy and becomes a habit. Retention improves when customers feel confident buying now, not waiting for later. We had Founder Viacheslav Sabirov on The Retention Edge to break down why smarter pricing builds stronger long-term loyalty. See the full episode here: youtu.be/0nd6Ju3SeaY

For BATNA, negotiation isn’t a gimmick. It’s a structured dialogue. Instead of forcing discounts or bundling random extras, the system adapts to the customer in real time, accepting the price when it makes sense, or adjusting the offer when it doesn’t. In some cases, that leads to 54% more orders coming through the negotiated flow. We had Founder Viacheslav Sabirov on The Retention Edge to unpack how dynamic pricing conversations change conversion. See the full episode here: youtu.be/0nd6Ju3SeaY

For most brands, pricing feels like a science. In practice, it’s closer to art. You don’t actually know how much someone values your product until they’re deciding whether to buy it. Some brands fix their prices and never move them. Others experiment. We had Founder Viacheslav Sabirov on The Retention Edge to unpack why personalization might be the missing piece in modern pricing. See the full episode here: youtu.be/0nd6Ju3SeaY

The most underrated growth strategy right now: doing fewer things better. Most of the time, when you launch a channel or start a project that fails, it's not the channel that was the problem. It's that you're spreading yourself too thin. A channel running at 60% effort doesn't return 60% of results. It returns closer to 20%. Whether it's putting your brand on TikTok, doing influencer marketing, launching an app, expanding to retail, expanding internationally, you need to stop and ask yourself: Can we sustain this? New channels, more revenue streams, all of this is great. But not if it saps bandwidth from other areas of your business. This is not a new idea, but it's one we tend to forget (I'm guilty of this too). Shiny object syndrome - chasing the new thing. I went deep on this for this week's Retention Edge: why it's usually not the channel's fault it didn't work, some common areas ecommerce brands over-leverage themselves, and how to expand and grow without cannibalizing your focus and energy. Read it here: retentionedge.co/p/the-hidden-c…