Retention Over Acquisition.
Profit Over Vanity.
The Loyalty Studio exists because too many great brands are bleeding profit—and nobody's telling them where the leaks are.
THE FOUNDER STORY
Why I Started The Loyalty Studio
I spent 15 years in performance marketing.
Built campaigns for hundreds of brands across Australia. Scaled budgets into the millions. Optimised CTRs, CPMs, ROAS—all the acronyms that make marketers feel important.
And I was good at it.
But somewhere around year 10, I started noticing a pattern that nobody wanted to talk about.
Clients would spend $100,000 acquiring 2,000 new customers, throw a launch party to celebrate the "growth," then watch 80% of those customers disappear forever.
When I'd bring up retention—suggest building post-purchase flows, win-back sequences, loyalty programs—the response was always the same:
"We'll do that later."
Later never came.
Because acquisition is exciting. It's new. It's measurable. It feeds the ego.
You can post about your Meta ROAS on LinkedIn. You can show hockey-stick growth charts to investors. You can feel like you're "scaling."
Retention is boring. It's maintenance. It's operational. It doesn't make for sexy case studies.
But here's what I realised:
A brand doing $2M annually with a 40% repeat purchase rate is healthier—and more valuable—than a brand doing $5M with a 12% repeat rate.
Why?
Because when acquisition costs spike (and they always do), the first brand keeps growing. The second brand dies.
I watched it happen over and over.
Brands that ignored retention would hit a ceiling. They'd keep spending more on ads to maintain revenue, but profit would shrink. Eventually, they'd either restructure the business or get acquired.
Meanwhile, the brands that built retention systems—even if they were smaller—kept compounding. Their customers came back. Referred friends. Increased order values over time.
They weren't dependent on Zuckerberg's algorithm or Google's auction dynamics.
They owned the relationship.
So in 2025, I decided to stop helping brands waste money on acquisition and start helping them recover the profit they were already leaving on the table.
That's The Loyalty Studio.
We're not here to get you more customers.
We're here to get you more from your customers.
— Toby Dames
Founder, The Loyalty Studio
OUR MISSION
What We Stand For
Retention Over Acquisition
Most agencies optimise for new customers because that's where the big budgets are. We optimise for repeat customers because that's where the profit is.
Profit Over Vanity
We don't care about clicks, impressions, or engagement rates. We care about dollars recovered, customer lifetime value, and ROI. If it doesn't impact your bottom line, we don't measure it.
Truth Over Politeness
We'll tell you what's broken, not what you want to hear. If you're looking for validation, hire a cheerleader. If you want results, hire us.
WHO WE WORK WITH
Who This Is For
Our Ideal Clients:
We work best with premium eCommerce brands doing $300k-$5M annually who are:
Tired of rising acquisition costs
Sitting on a customer database, they're underutilising
Ready to build retention systems that compound
Comfortable with data-driven decision making
Looking for a strategic partner, not just a vendor
We specialise in:
Fashion & apparel
Homewares & lifestyle
Wine & specialty food
Beauty & wellness
Premium goods with repeat purchase potential
Where we're based: Melbourne, Australia. But we work with brands across the country (and occasionally beyond).
HOW WE’RE DIFFERENT
Why Choose The Loyalty Studio?
We Only Do Retention
We're not a full-service agency trying to do everything. Retention is all we do—which means we're exceptionally good at it.
We Quantify Everything
You'll never hear us say "build brand loyalty" without showing you what that's worth in dollars. Every recommendation comes with projected ROI.
Performance-Aligned Pricing
We offer revenue-share partnerships because we believe in our work. If we don't recover revenue, we don't earn.
No Long-Term Contracts
Month-to-month after the initial 90 days. If we're not delivering value, fire us. We earn your business every month.
Full Transparency
Live dashboards. Open reporting. No black boxes. You can check your recovered revenue anytime.
Built for Premium Brands
We understand luxury positioning. Our retention strategies feel high-end, not spammy. No "10% off" blasts to your entire list.
VALUES
What We Believe
Honesty > Hype
We'd rather lose a client by telling the truth than keep one by telling them what they want to hear.
Profit > Vanity Metrics
Engagement rates don't pay the bills. Revenue does.
Systems > Tactics
We build retention engines, not one-off campaigns.
Clients > Revenue
We'll turn down work that isn't a good fit. We'd rather have 10 great clients than 50 mediocre ones.