Product Owner

Description

The Product Owner – Retention & Loyalty is responsible for designing and executing strategies that increase customer retention, engagement, and lifetime value (CLV). This role owns retention-focused product initiatives across CRM, loyalty programs, personalization engines, incentives, customer lifecycle journeys, and repeat-booking funnels.

The PO collaborates closely with data, marketing, engineering, UX, payments, customer support, and commercial teams to build a retention engine that drives long-term customer loyalty and sustainable revenue.

Key responsibilities

1. Retention strategy & customer lifecycle
Develop a clear retention strategy aligned with business goals.
Build end-to-end lifecycle journeys: onboarding, activation, engagement, conversion, and re-activation.
Segment customer cohorts and define tailored retention tactics for each segment.
Identify high-churn risk segments and create interventions to prevent drop-off.

2. Product roadmap & backlog ownership
Own the roadmap for retention, loyalty features, CRM, and personalization tools.
Create user stories, acceptance criteria, and prioritize initiatives based on expected retention uplift.
Drive continuous delivery through agile ceremonies (grooming, planning, reviews).

3. Loyalty program ownership
Design and enhance loyalty programs (points, tiers, rewards, perks, vouchers).
Manage the earn & burn engine, redemption rules, and partner integrations.
Benchmark loyalty programs from global players (airlines, hotels, e-commerce).
Improve loyalty enrollment rate, engagement frequency, and redemption experience.

4. CRM, personalization & engagement tools
Own CRM journeys across email, SMS, push notifications, in-app messages, and remarketing tools.
Create personalized promotions and dynamic content based on user behavior, booking history, and preferences.
Manage triggers such as abandoned search, abandoned booking, destination reminders, price drop alerts, etc.
Optimize communication frequency to avoid fatigue and unsubscribe spikes.

5. Data-driven optimization
Use cohort analysis, funnel performance, RFM segmentation, churn prediction models, and CLV analytics to guide decisions.
Monitor customer engagement dashboards and identify areas of leakage.
Run A/B tests on journeys, messaging, incentives, and recommendation algorithms.
Use insights to continuously refine retention strategies.

6. Incentives, offers & pricing levers
Design incentive mechanics that improve repeat bookings (promo codes, cashback, credits, bundles).
Work with finance and revenue teams to align incentive budget with ROI.
Ensure fraud-free and abuse-controlled incentive systems.

7. Cross-functional collaboration
Partner with marketing on CRM campaigns, promotions, and audience segmentation.
Collaborate with engineering and data teams to build recommendation systems and personalization engines.
Work with customer care to identify root causes affecting retention (refund delays, UX issues, pricing complaints).
Align with UX to improve repeat booking flows and increase session frequency.

Requirements

4–7 years of experience in product, growth, CRM, or retention roles in OTA / e-commerce.
Strong knowledge of customer lifecycle marketing, loyalty programs, and segmentation.
Experience with CRM platforms (Braze, WebEngage, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Clevertap, Iterable).
Strong analytical mindset with experience in A/B testing and cohort analysis.
Familiarity with personalization engines and recommendation systems.
Ability to translate data insights into product features.
Excellent planning, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
Experience working in agile environments.

Key success metrics (KPIs)

• Retention rate (D30 / D60 / D90)
• Repeat booking rate
• Customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Churn reduction percentage
• Loyalty enrollment and redemption rates
• Open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate for CRM channels
• Activation-to-repeat funnel improvements
• Reduced cost per retained customer