CRM Specialist
A CRM specialist plans and tests communications with players or users, including emails, push notifications, SMS, and trigger-based journeys, to retain the base and increase its value.
What a CRM Specialist does
A CRM specialist manages the existing customer base: people who have already registered, made a deposit, or made a purchase. The goal is to bring users back, increase how often they act and their average order value, and avoid overloading the base and driving unsubscribes. In high-risk verticals, where traffic acquisition is expensive and limited by platform rules, retention often becomes the main source of profit, which is why the CRM specialist role matters so much here.
Within the company, a CRM specialist usually reports to the head of CRM or the retention department, or to the product or marketing lead in smaller teams. They work closely with an analyst, email designer, trigger developer, support, and bonus manager. A CRM specialist typically does not manage people but may oversee contractors or assistants.
Responsibilities
- Plan and maintain a calendar of email, push, SMS, and messenger campaigns a week and a month ahead
- Collect and segment the base by behavior: activity, deposits, purchases, interests, and funnel stage
- Set up trigger journeys: reactivation, abandoned cart, and reminders about unfinished actions
- Write or approve copy and offers together with the copywriter and designer, and check links and personalization for accuracy
- Run A/B tests on subject lines, offers, send times, and channels, record the results, and draw conclusions
- Monitor contact frequency, unsubscribes, and complaints to avoid burning out the base and breaching platform or regulatory requirements
- Agree promotions and bonuses with the finance and bonus teams, and track their budget and terms
- Prepare a monthly report on retention, repeat actions, and each campaign's contribution to revenue
- Work with development on tracking, event, and CRM platform integration changes
- Maintain a knowledge base of segments, templates, and rules so that communications stay consistent and predictable
Skills
- Understanding of the funnel and user lifecycle in high-risk products
- Audience segmentation based on behavioral signals
- Writing short, persuasive copy for different channels
- Designing A/B tests and interpreting statistical significance
- Working with data in spreadsheets and writing basic database queries
- Knowledge of communication requirements in the vertical: permitted wording, frequency, and opt-out rules
- Managing several campaigns in parallel without losing quality or deadlines
- Communicating with development, design, and support in terms they understand
- Attention to detail: personalization, links, and test sends before launch
Tools
- CRM platform for campaigns (for example, Customer.io, Braze, Mailchimp, or an in-house system)
- Email marketing tools and push notification providers
- SMS gateways and messenger bots
- Google Analytics, internal BI dashboards, or Looker Studio
- SQL or exports from the data warehouse
- Jira or Trello for task planning and approvals
- Google Sheets or Excel for calendars and calculations
How performance is measured
- Conversion to a repeat action (deposit, purchase, order) by campaign
- Share of the reactivated base over a period
- Revenue and margin directly attributed to campaigns
- Unsubscribe and complaint rate per campaign
- Open and click rates by channel, accounting for deliverability
- Lift in A/B test results versus the control group
By vertical
Betting
In betting, the CRM specialist works with players who place bets and top up their accounts. The sports calendar matters: match announcements, free bets, accumulator offers, and league cashback. Communications focus on responsible gambling and limits, and copy is approved by compliance.
Dating
In dating, the main metric is in-app activity: likes, messages, matches, and subscription payments. The CRM specialist works mostly with push and in-app messages, reactivates users who have not logged in for a long time, and carefully manages frequency to avoid annoyance and complaints.
E-Commerce
In e-commerce, the CRM specialist runs abandoned cart flows, post-purchase sequences, loyalty programs, and seasonal promotions. This work is closely tied to the product catalog and stock levels, so campaigns rely on real data about orders and returns.
Levels
Specialist
The specialist runs individual channels or segments under the guidance of a lead, assembles campaigns from ready-made templates, tests hypotheses, and reports results. Strategy and budget decisions are made by the manager, while the specialist is responsible for correct launches, copy quality, and an honest analysis of outcomes.
How to get there
CRM specialists often come from marketing, analytics, support, email marketing, or sales, where they worked with customer databases and feedback. Experience in copywriting, working with spreadsheets, and understanding the funnel is valuable. For high-risk verticals, it is important to know communication restrictions and to understand how bonuses and retention mechanics work.
To prepare, learn the core concepts: segmentation, triggers, A/B testing, LTV, unsubscribe, and deliverability. It helps to build a simple journey yourself, such as a post-registration sequence, and identify which metrics show whether it works. A portfolio of campaign descriptions that include a hypothesis, variants, and results is more persuasive than diplomas.
Growth comes from moving beyond running existing campaigns to designing the whole communication model: segments, the lifecycle, bonus logic, and measuring incrementality. Further progress depends on explaining results to leadership and influencing the retention budget.
Next steps: Senior CRM Specialist, CRM Manager, Retention Manager, Lifecycle Marketing Manager, Head of CRM
FAQ
How is a CRM specialist different from a marketer?
A marketer is primarily responsible for acquiring new users and building awareness. A CRM specialist works with the existing base: bringing users back, retaining them, and increasing their value. The tasks partly overlap, especially around offers and copy, but their focus differs.
Do I need to know programming for CRM?
Direct programming is usually not required, but the ability to work with SQL queries, filters, and conditional logic makes the job much easier. Development is typically needed for complex events and integrations, and the specialist describes the requirements in clear terms.
What determines a CRM specialist's income?
Income depends on company size, vertical, the maturity of the department, and how much CRM influences revenue. In companies where retention is a key channel, the role is usually paid more. Experience in analytics and the ability to defend results in front of leadership also matter.
How does a CRM specialist handle the restrictions of high-risk verticals?
They agree copy and offers with compliance in advance, follow requirements for wording, frequency, and opt-out, and account for the rules of messaging platforms. Mistakes can lead to channel blocks, so checking before launch is mandatory.
Which tools should I learn first?
Start with a basic CRM platform or email service, spreadsheets, and Google Analytics. Then it helps to learn SQL and BI dashboards. Specific products vary by company, so understanding the logic of segments, events, and reporting matters more than knowing one service's interface.
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