The End of the Marketing Blast: Retail Enters the Conversation Era
Retail brands are no longer relying on one-off mass marketing to reach customers. Instead, they are increasingly engaging shoppers through continuous, personalized conversations across email, SMS, and WhatsApp, according to new data from Endear, the retail CRM for modern brands.
After analyzing more than 22,000 personalized campaigns and billions of customer messages, Endear, the retail CRM for modern brands, has found that the era of the one-off marketing blast is ending. Personalized messaging to existing customers is up more than 50% year-over-year, and the highest email open rates of the year aren’t happening in November — they’re happening in February.
The data points to a structural shift: retail messaging is becoming an always-on layer of operations rather than a periodic marketing tactic, with brands treating it as a continuous, relationship-driven function across email, SMS, and WhatsApp.
Messaging is growing fastest among existing customers, signaling a deeper focus on building long-term relationships and encouraging repeat buyers. Overall, messaging to repeat and one-time buyers is up more than 50% year-over-year, while outreach to non-purchasers is growing at a slower pace. Together, the trend reflects a broader move away from acquisition-only messaging toward sustained customer relationships across the full lifecycle.
“Retailers are focused on ongoing conversations with customers, where every message is part of building lasting relationships and brand loyalists,” said Leigh Sevin, co-founder and CEO of Endear. “Retailers that treat messaging as a relationship channel, not a broadcast tool are seeing the strongest results.”
While messaging is becoming more of a focus all year long, seasonal patterns still play a role. November saw the highest-volume month, and Q4 accounts for just over a quarter of annual messaging volume. That said, peak volume is outside of peak shopping season – February shows the highest email open rates at 56.1%, suggesting strong opportunities for post-holiday re-engagement.
Channel usage is also evolving. Email remains the primary channel for structured communication, SMS is increasingly used for real-time, high-intent outreach, and WhatsApp adoption began accelerating in late 2025 as retailers expanded into more conversational customer engagement.
Endear supports more than 2,000 stores across 19 countries, powering clienteling and relationship-driven selling for brands including Reformation, AG Jeans, and Boll & Branch.
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