Tendon — Sport Marketing Retention Consultancy

The Problem

Brilliant at acquisition.
Terrible at retention.

Sport brands spend heavily to acquire customers. Most of them never come back.

The infrastructure that keeps them — lifecycle, CRM, post-purchase — is either missing or underused.

Acquisition is working. Customers don't come back.
Nothing happens after the first purchase.
You have the data. You're not using it.
Churn shows up in the numbers, but nothing changes.

This is what it looks like in practice:

A customer buys a protein supplement. They get a shipping email. Then nothing.

No follow-up. No reason to come back.

A week later, they see another brand. They buy again — somewhere else.

You paid to acquire that customer. You lose them anyway.

55%

In one programme, 55% of acquired customers never made a second purchase. The acquisition was working. The post-purchase system wasn't. This wasn't a sport brand. The gap is identical.

The number looks fine.
The business is bleeding.

Start Here

Find where you're losing customers — and how to fix it

The Retention Audit

Most brands don't know exactly where customers are dropping off.

They see the numbers and guess what to fix.

The Retention Audit shows you what's broken across your lifecycle, and what to fix first.

At the end, you have a focused, prioritised plan. Not a generic strategy deck. Something you can act on immediately.

Fixed fee · 2–3 weeks · Report + walkthrough

Get your retention audit

What's included

See where customers drop off after the first purchase
Understand what your CRM and email are actually doing — and where they fail
Map your lifecycle from first purchase to repeat behaviour
Benchmark your experience against leading sport and performance brands
Identify missed opportunities across your customer journey
Get a prioritised roadmap with clear next steps and expected impact
Walk through everything together in a focused review session

Who This Is For

Built for sport brands that want repeat revenue

Different models. Same problem. Customers don't come back.

Sport Nutrition Brands

Challenger supplement brands spending heavily on acquisition with little or no retention system. High first orders. Low repeat rate.

£500k–£10M revenue · DTC-first

Sport Tech Scale-Ups

Apps, platforms, and wearables growing fast — with no structured lifecycle or CRM behind them. Users come in. They don't stay.

Seed to Series B · Founder-led

Performance & Fitness DTC

Subscription or repeat-purchase brands with built-in churn. Customers try once, then disappear.

£250k–£5M revenue · Subscription model

If your model relies on repeat customers, this applies.

What I Usually Find

The same gaps.
Across every brand.

Nothing happens after the first purchase

The first 14 days are your highest-leverage window. Most brands do nothing with it.

Emails don't build a relationship

Order confirmations and shipping updates keep things running. They don't bring customers back.

The second purchase isn't engineered

The gap between first and second order is where customers are lost. Most brands leave it to chance.

You have the data. You're not using it

The signals to segment, personalise, and trigger action are already there. They're sitting unused.

These gaps are fixable. When they are, the impact is immediate.

Services

THREE WAYS TO FIX YOUR RETENTION

Start with the audit. Scale from there if needed.

Entry Product

Retention Audit

Fixed fee · 2–3 weeks

Find what's broken. Fix it first.

A structured diagnostic of your post-purchase experience. Clear visibility on where customers drop off, what's missing, and what to prioritise.

A clear view of where customers are lost
What your current lifecycle is — and isn't — doing
A prioritised roadmap to improve retention
A report you can act on immediately

Retained Engagement

Retention Retainer

Monthly retainer · Min. 3 months

Fix the gaps. Build the system.

Hands-on execution across CRM, lifecycle, and content. Everything built around your specific retention gaps — not a template.

Lifecycle and CRM systems that drive repeat behaviour
Email and messaging that actually brings customers back
Ongoing optimisation based on real performance
Monthly reporting tied to retention and revenue

Senior Leadership

Retention Lead

Monthly retainer · Min. 3–6 months

Own retention at a strategic level

Senior marketing leadership for brands that need direction, structure, and accountability — without a full-time hire.

Clear retention strategy and roadmap
Team and execution oversight
Alignment across marketing, product, and growth
Reporting that connects activity to business impact

How It Works

From first call to
measurable results

Simple. Structured. No wasted time.

Discovery Call

30 minutes. We go through your customer lifecycle, CRM, and what you actually know about churn. No pitch.

Retention Audit

2–3 weeks. I map your post-purchase lifecycle and identify where customers are lost — and what to fix first.

Plan & Priorities

Based on the audit, we define what to build next — whether that's a retained engagement, a defined project, or leadership support.

Execution

We build, test, and optimise your retention system — with monthly reporting tied to what actually matters: repeat purchase, churn, and LTV.

About

RETENTION SYSTEMS BUILT AT SCALE. APPLIED TO SPORT.

I build retention systems that turn first-time buyers into repeat customers.

Over the past decade, I've worked across fintech, sport entertainment, and tech — designing lifecycle, CRM, and onboarding programmes used by millions of customers.

What that looks like in practice:
— Onboarding flows that reduced time to activation by 15 days
— Retention programmes run across 10+ markets
— Campaigns delivering seven-figure revenue impact
— Lifecycle systems built and operated at scale

I've been in sport my entire life — training, competing, and understanding the mindset behind performance.
I don't see this audience as a segment. I understand how they think, buy, and come back.

I work with a small number of brands at a time.
Deep, specific work. No templates. No agency layers. Just systems that actually get used.

What I've worked on

Retention and lifecycle programmes at scale — across sport entertainment, media, and B2B data platforms.
CRM strategy, onboarding design, behavioural segmentation, and revenue-driven campaigns.
Always measured against real outcomes.

How I operate

Solo operator, using AI as leverage.
Senior thinking without agency overhead.
You get focused, high-quality work — not a team of juniors executing a template.

Start the Conversation

STOP LOSING CUSTOMERS YOU ALREADY PAID FOR

Book a 30-minute call. We'll look at where your retention is breaking and what to fix first.

No pitch. No deck. Just a clear next step.

BOOK YOUR 30-MIN CALL → EMAIL ME INSTEAD

Typically working with a small number of brands at a time.

You've paid toacquire them.Now keep them.

Brilliant at acquisition.Terrible at retention.

Find where you're losing customers — and how to fix it

Built for sport brands that want repeat revenue

The same gaps.Across every brand.

THREE WAYS TO FIX YOUR RETENTION

From first call tomeasurable results

RETENTION SYSTEMS BUILT AT SCALE. APPLIED TO SPORT.

TURN RESEARCH INTO RETENTION THAT WORKS

STOP LOSING CUSTOMERS YOU ALREADY PAID FOR

You've paid to
acquire them.
Now keep them.

Brilliant at acquisition.
Terrible at retention.

The same gaps.
Across every brand.

From first call to
measurable results