Head of CRM & Retention
The Head of CRM & Retention builds the system for working with a base of players or users: communications, reactivation, and LTV growth. This role is accountable for revenue from the audience the company has already acquired.
What a Head of CRM & Retention does
The Head of CRM & Retention owns everything that happens with a customer after the first deposit or registration: how often they are contacted, with which offers, through which channel, and with what goal. In high-risk verticals, user acquisition is expensive and limited by regulation, so revenue depends heavily on how well the company retains and reactivates existing customers. The role exists to make this process manageable and measurable, and to keep it within the limits set for advertising, bonuses, and player protection.
In the org structure, this role usually reports to the Chief Marketing Officer, the Head of Growth, or a commercial director. It leads a team of CRM managers, segmentation analysts, email and push content specialists, and sometimes template designers. It works closely with product (triggers and in-app events), the data team (segments and churn models), the risk department (bonus limits and responsible gambling), and lawyers who review message copy.
The core goal of the role is to increase customer lifetime value without eroding margins or breaking communication rules. The head is therefore responsible at the same time for revenue, the bonus budget, and each campaign's compliance with vertical rules.
Responsibilities
- Sets the database strategy: customer lifecycles, segments, and communication scenarios at each stage.
- Plans and approves the campaign calendar and the bonus and promo budget for the quarter and month.
- Manages communication channels: push, email, SMS, messengers, and in-product notifications.
- Launches and oversees reactivation of dormant customers and retention programs for active ones.
- Owns the loyalty program, VIP mechanics, and personalized offers.
- Assigns tasks to analysts on segmentation, churn models, and A/B tests, and reviews their conclusions.
- Coordinates message copy and offers with lawyers and the risk team to comply with regulatory requirements and responsible gambling rules.
- Builds the performance evaluation process: control groups, incrementality, and campaign unit economics.
- Leads the team, distributes areas of responsibility, and runs regular reviews of results.
- Agrees with finance and product on bonus limits and timelines for launching new triggers.
Skills
- Understanding of the customer lifecycle in gambling, betting, dating, or nutra, and how these differ.
- Audience segmentation and building hypotheses from behavioral data.
- Working with A/B tests and control groups, and applying statistical significance in practice.
- Calculating the unit economics of bonuses, LTV, and communication payback.
- Knowledge of advertising and communication restrictions in the vertical, and the ability to work with lawyers and compliance.
- Team management and prioritization when many campaigns run at once.
- Negotiating with product and development on triggers, events, and integrations.
- Presenting results to leadership in terms of money, not the number of sends.
- Understanding of customer behavior psychology and principles of responsible communication.
Tools
- CRM platforms for communication automation (Optimove, Braze, and similar)
- Push, email, and SMS delivery services
- Google Analytics, Amplitude, or Mixpanel for behavioral analytics
- Google BigQuery or a similar warehouse for data exports and segmentation
- Looker, Tableau, or Power BI for dashboards
- SQL for querying the customer database
- Jira or Asana for task planning and the campaign calendar
- Google Sheets and Excel for quick calculations
How performance is measured
- Retention by day (D1, D7, D30) and cohort trends
- Customer LTV and its growth by segment
- Share of revenue generated through CRM channels
- Effectiveness of reactivating the dormant base
- Incremental effect of campaigns versus the control group
- Ratio of bonus costs to revenue uplift
- Churn by segment and the speed of its reduction
By vertical
Betting
In betting, most of the work revolves around bets, parlays, and the event calendar: mailings are tied to matches, tournaments, and betting lines. Contact frequency and player risk are important, so campaigns are built around sporting events rather than constant pressure to deposit.
Dating
In dating, CRM works with in-app activity: matches, messages, subscriptions, and premium features. Engagement and conversion to a paid plan are usually the key metrics, and copy must comply with platform rules and avoid creating false expectations.
Nutra
In nutra, communications are strictly limited in terms of effect promises and medical wording, so the focus shifts to repeat orders, subscription programs, and service. The head works especially closely with lawyers, since individual wording can lead to channel bans.
Levels
Head of / Director
The Head is responsible for the entire database work system: strategy, bonus budget, revenue results, and the team. They decide on priorities between channels and segments, align them with leadership, and are accountable for all communications complying with vertical rules.
How to get there
People usually come into this role from CRM management, performance marketing, or product analytics, where they already worked with segmentation, mailings, and retention metrics. Experience with a large user base is valuable, because scale and data requirements differ greatly from smaller projects. A common path is moving from CRM specialist or CRM manager to team lead, and then to head.
To enter the industry, it is important to understand the unit economics of the chosen vertical: how LTV works, which bonuses are permitted, and how communication payback is calculated. It is worth learning the regulatory limits on advertising and communications, responsible gambling rules, or copy requirements in nutra. Practical skills are built through SQL, A/B testing, and dashboards.
Growth in the role comes from moving from running individual campaigns to managing strategy and budget, then to leading a team and building a metrics system for the whole product. A head who can explain CRM's impact on revenue and margin in financial terms advances faster and gets a wider scope of responsibility.
Next steps: CRM Director, Head of Growth, Head of Retention, VP Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
FAQ
How is a Head of CRM different from a CRM manager?
A CRM manager launches and runs individual campaigns and segments, while the head is responsible for strategy, the bonus budget, and the overall result from the database. The head sets priorities for the team, coordinates work with product and finance, and is accountable for CRM's overall contribution to revenue.
Is experience in a specific vertical required?
Experience in a high-risk vertical is usually important for this role, because restrictions on bonuses, copy, and channels vary greatly. Experience in an adjacent field, such as e-commerce or subscription products, can also work if the candidate quickly learns the rules and unit economics.
What determines income in this position?
Income depends on the size and type of product, the scale of the user base, the company's maturity, and the vertical. Work geography, bonus accountability, and the complexity of regulatory requirements also affect pay.
Which skills matter most in an interview?
Employers most often check the ability to build segments and tests, calculate LTV and bonus payback, and understand vertical restrictions. It is important to explain how you built a communication system and what you did when a campaign's results turned negative.
What does a Head of CRM do during a typical week?
Typically this means planning the campaign calendar, reviewing last week's results, meeting with analysts and product, and agreeing on copy with lawyers and the risk team. A significant part of the time goes to testing hypotheses and making decisions about the bonus budget.
Can someone move into this role without management experience?
Yes, if the candidate has experience running large CRM areas and independently owning results from the database. Companies often expect experience with key metrics and a proven contribution to revenue first, and only then experience managing a team.
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