// retention-lifecycle

Retention & Lifecycle

Onboarding, activation, lifecycle email, churn, and expansion.

10 skills

Execute

community-and-dark-social

engine

Community & Dark Social

Use when the user wants to market in the places analytics cannot see - Slack and WhatsApp groups, private communities, podcasts, forwarded emails, AI assistants - or asks whether to start a community of their own. Also use when the user mentions dark social, word of mouth, "direct" traffic that makes no sense, community-led growth, community marketing, or how to measure something that has no referrer. Maps where buyers already talk from what they say, checks whether a community should open at all, and reads the dark side of the funnel by trend rather than attribution.

Growth, Retention & RevOps·Intermediate#dark-social#community
$ npx skills add community-and-dark-social

Execute

creator-partnerships

engine

Creator Partnerships

Use when the user wants to work with creators or influencers - choosing who to pay, agreeing terms, or judging whether a sponsorship worked - on YouTube, LinkedIn, podcasts, newsletters, TikTok or Instagram. Also use when the user mentions influencer marketing, creator marketing, sponsorships, paid posts, B2B creators, podcast ads, newsletter sponsorships, or "is this creator worth it". Compares creators on the buyers they actually reach rather than follower counts, writes the terms both sides sign - including disclosure - and reads the result on what it sold, tracked and self-reported.

Growth, Retention & RevOps·Intermediate#creator-marketing#influencer-marketing
$ npx skills add creator-partnerships

Execute

email-lifecycle-sequence

engine

Email Lifecycle Sequence

Use when the user wants to build or fix lifecycle email — welcome sequences, onboarding emails, nurture, win-back, expansion, or re-engagement. Also use when the user mentions email sequences, drip campaigns, automated emails, lifecycle marketing, email flows, or "what emails should we be sending". Maps which sequences exist, checks the combined send load for fatigue, and writes the sequences that are missing.

Retention & Lifecycle·Starter#email-marketing#lifecycle
$ npx skills add email-lifecycle-sequence

Design

lifecycle-and-retention

engine

Lifecycle & Retention

Use when the user wants to reduce churn, improve retention, or grow net revenue retention (NRR) through onboarding, lifecycle communication, and account expansion. Also use when the user mentions churn, retention, NRR/GRR, net dollar retention, activation, onboarding, customer lifecycle, upsell/expansion, or "why are customers leaving / how do we keep them." Produces churn, NRR, GRR, quick-ratio and lifetime math plus a diagnosis and a prioritized retention plan across onboarding, churn drivers, and expansion.

Retention & Lifecycle·Intermediate#retention#churn
$ npx skills add lifecycle-and-retention

Diagnose

marketing-leadership-model

engine

Marketing Leadership Model

Use when the user is deciding how to staff marketing leadership - hire a head of marketing or CMO, bring in a fractional CMO, or retain an agency - and wants the comparison on their own numbers rather than a vendor's. Also use when the user mentions fractional CMO, in-house vs agency, first marketing hire, marketing team structure, cost of a marketing hire, ramp time, or "should we hire or outsource marketing". Prices all three options over a horizon including ramp, search time, recruiting and the founder's own hours, finds the month the lines cross, prices the exit, and checks which shape of help fits the work that actually exists.

Growth, Retention & RevOps·Starter#fractional-cmo#marketing-hire
$ npx skills add marketing-leadership-model

Design

marketing-loops

engine

Marketing Loops

Use when the user wants to build or diagnose a compounding growth loop — referral, viral, content, or paid-recycling — rather than optimize a linear funnel. Also use when the user mentions growth loops, viral loop, viral coefficient, k-factor, referral loop, content loop, network effects, compounding growth, flywheel, "how do we grow without spending more", or "why doesn't our growth compound". Computes the loop factor, shows what it buys in amplification and effective CAC, finds the throttling stage, and projects users over time.

Growth, Retention & RevOps·Intermediate#growth-loops#viral-coefficient
$ npx skills add marketing-loops

Execute

onboarding-activation

Onboarding & Activation

Use when the user wants to improve product onboarding, activation rate, or time-to-first-value — getting new signups to the moment the product actually works for them. Also use when the user mentions activation, aha moment, time-to-value, first-run experience, product onboarding, user adoption, or "people sign up and never come back". Defines the activation moment from data, finds where new users stall, and specifies the fix.

Retention & Lifecycle·Intermediate#onboarding#activation
$ npx skills add onboarding-activation

Execute

partnerships-and-co-marketing

engine

Partnerships & Co-Marketing

Use when the user is choosing a co-marketing partner, has been asked to "do some co-marketing", or is planning a joint webinar, guide, integration launch or customer introduction. Also use when the user mentions partnerships, co-marketing, partner marketing, joint webinar, integration launch, channel partners, lead sharing, or "a company wants to partner with us". Scores partners on overlap rather than fame, writes the terms both sides sign before work starts, and reads the result out on pipeline rather than sign-ups.

Growth, Retention & RevOps·Intermediate#partnerships#co-marketing
$ npx skills add partnerships-and-co-marketing

Execute

product-launch

engine

Product Launch

Use when the user is planning a launch - a new product, a new market, a major feature, a pricing change - or is unsure how big a launch something deserves. Also use when the user mentions a launch plan, launch date, go-to-market for a release, launch tiers, go/no-go, launch checklist, "should we announce this", or a launch that is slipping. Tiers the launch first, scores readiness on the same twelve-item gate as the AAJ Launch Readiness Planner, and builds the dated work-back plan and launch-day go/no-go.

Growth, Retention & RevOps·Starter
$ npx skills add product-launch

Execute

webinar-and-event-programs

engine

Webinar & Event Programs

Use when the user is planning a webinar, virtual event, roundtable, workshop or conference presence and wants it to create pipeline, or is looking back at one and asking whether it was worth it. Also use when the user mentions webinar ROI, cost per attendee, show rate, event follow-up, run of show, field events, or "how many registrations do we need". Plans the event backwards from a pipeline target using the user's own conversion rates, checks the run-of-show before invitations go out, and reads the result on meetings and pipeline against cost, never on registrations.

Growth, Retention & RevOps·Intermediate#webinars#events
$ npx skills add webinar-and-event-programs

// go deeper

The Retention & Lifecycle playbook on aajconsult.com

Interactive tools, methodology, and case studies behind these skills.

// human in the loop

Need a human in the loop?

AAJ builds the strategies, tools, and playbooks these skills are made of — with engagements for growth-stage and enterprise teams.