Retention Lessons From U Beauty’s AJ Patel And Sticky Digital’s Nikki Tooman You Need to Steal
This week on Above the Fold, I sat down at ChargeX in LA with two absolute retention ringleaders, AJ Patel, SVP of Global Growth at U Beauty (and formerly at Unilever Prestige and Murad), and Nikki Tooman, Co-Founder of Sticky Digital, a retention agency that gets it.
We talked about what it actually takes to build brand love in skincare — but honestly, everything we covered applies across any DTC category. Here's what you'll learn in this one:
The U Beauty Playbook: Low-friction, High-loyalty
U Beauty isn’t just making fancy moisturizers. They’re leveraging something called SIREN capsule tech to deliver high-potency skincare with lower irritation. But tech aside, what makes them stick is smart CX. They test everything—from model imagery vs. product close-ups to skin-as-makeup tutorials and cross-sells on PDPs. Their subscription model is built around flexibility, letting customers pause, skip, or swap with ease. And they actually read their cancellation feedback (and do something about it).
Lifecycle Marketing Isn’t Just Email — It’s Experience
Nikki broke down how her team gets brands to think beyond “popups and flows.” One standout strategy? Building separate journeys based on cancel reasons, rather than dumping everyone into winback purgatory. They connect tech stacks so email, SMS, and web all talk to each other—something most brands still don’t do. And they use RFM modeling (recency, frequency, monetary value) to flag who’s drifting before they churn.
Scaling Without Selling Out
U Beauty keeps their brand tight by avoiding constant promos and leaning into subscriptions and loyalty. They offer discounts only through subscription to maintain a premium feel. Their biannual subscription sale is something customers actually plan for. And they’re not afraid to test outside their core skincare lineup, like with their latest fragrance drop and SPF launch.
Skincare’s A Long Game — And So Is Retention
This convo hit on something I care about deeply: your customer experience can’t stop after the sale. AJ and Nikki emphasized the power of segmenting by education level—because not everyone wants a skincare thesis in their inbox. They also make sure they’re serving visual, written, and audio learners across all touchpoints, and updating retention flows often, since behavior shifts faster than your team does.
One quote I can’t stop thinking about:
“If someone cancels with ‘other,’ dig into what that really means.”
That kind of care? That’s the difference between being a brand and being the brand.
Also, big shoutout to Recharge for letting us run wild at ChargeX for this episode!
—Jess
