Data released by Endear, the retail CRM for modern brands, reveals a structural shift in how retailers engage with their customers. After analyzing over 22,000 campaigns and billions of messages, the report finds that the era of the "marketing blast" is being replaced by an always-on layer of personalized conversation. Brands are increasingly focusing on the full customer lifecycle, using email, SMS, and WhatsApp to build long-term relationships rather than relying on one-off acquisitions.
Relationship Growth: Personalized messaging to existing customers is up over 50% year-over-year.
Peak Engagement: Surprisingly, the highest email open rates occur in February (56.1%), not during the traditional November peak.
Customer Focus: Outreach to repeat and one-time buyers is growing significantly faster than outreach to non-purchasers.
Channel Trends: SMS is favored for high-intent outreach, while WhatsApp adoption accelerated in late 2025 for conversational engagement.
Seasonal Context: While Q4 represents about 25% of annual volume, retailers are seeing high ROI in post-holiday re-engagement.
The shift toward "always-on" messaging suggests that retail communication is becoming an operational function rather than a periodic tactic. By treating messaging as a relationship-driven channel, brands are fostering deeper loyalty among their existing customer base. The data indicates that the most successful retailers are moving away from acquisition-only strategies in favor of sustained interactions across multiple digital touchpoints.
"Retailers that treat messaging as a relationship channel, not a broadcast tool, are seeing the strongest results," said Leigh Sevin, co-founder and CEO of Endear. "Every message is part of building lasting relationships and brand loyalists."
As the retail landscape becomes more digital-first, the choice of channel is becoming more strategic. While email remains the backbone of structured communication, SMS and WhatsApp are providing new avenues for real-time and conversational selling.
Email: Dominant for structured updates; shows high effectiveness for re-engagement early in the year.
SMS: Used primarily for time-sensitive, high-intent communication.
WhatsApp: Emerging as a critical tool for global brands seeking more fluid, back-and-forth customer engagement.
Endear currently powers these relationship-driven strategies for over 2,000 stores globally, including major brands like Reformation, AG Jeans, and Boll & Branch.
About Endear
Endear is a retail CRM designed to help modern brands build meaningful, data-backed customer relationships. By providing store teams with unified customer profiles and AI-powered outreach tools, Endear makes clienteling scalable across text, email, and WhatsApp. The platform focuses on turning every interaction into a trackable opportunity for growth, redefining retail ROI for mid-sized and enterprise brands.
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