The skills, career paths, and practical next steps that help email marketers grow into lifecycle, CRM, and retention roles.
My career in email and lifecycle has been anything but linear. I didn't set out to become a fractional customer relationship management (CRM) specialist; I just kept following the work that felt interesting, useful, and close to the customer.
If your title today is something like "ecommerce assistant" or "marketing exec who also does the emails", this is for you. There isn't one neat ladder for email and lifecycle marketers, and that's actually a good thing.
How I found my way into lifecycle
I started out as a jewellery designer, then moved into managing an independent jewellery shop, which (very naturally, to me) turned into an ecommerce role. I was lucky enough to work with a founder who listened to a very enthusiastic younger me and gave me room to test and learn. This was the early 2000s, I still remember convincing them they needed a website, setting up their account on a brand-new platform called Twitter, and figuring it out as we went
From there, I stayed in digital and ecommerce, managing bigger teams but always working in-house with brands who were up for trying new things. I loved the customer connection pieces, the lifecycle journeys, the "what happens after someone clicks buy?" questions. I just didn't see email/CRM as a standalone career path for myself at the time. Ironically, I was the one hiring people into those roles.
After over 8 years as a marketing director, and then two years as a fractional marketing director, I decided to be more intentional. I looked at all the things I was doing and asked: what do I actually enjoy, and where do I add the most value? That's when I chose to focus on customer lifecycle, and shifted into the fractional CRM specialist role I'm in now, working with growing brands and agencies.
Along the way, working with lots of brands in different sectors, I've seen the same pattern on repeat: no real focus on email and lifecycle, and email tucked into a much bigger role. Hello ecommerce assistants and social media managers, I see you doing "the emails" on top of everything else. The people who thrive in that situation are the ones who understand that email is not "just email". It's one channel in a wider symphony, and when one part underperforms (or overperforms), it can throw everything else out of balance.
The skills that really move you forward
To build a career in lifecycle, you need to keep stacking skills that make you more useful and more adaptable.
A few that have made the biggest difference for me:
Curiosity about customers
Wanting to know what happens before, during, and after someone buys. Asking: why did this work, why didn't that, what would make this experience feel better?
Problem-solving and journey mapping
Enjoying the puzzle of "if they do X, what happens next?" and turning that into flows, automations, and campaigns that actually serve the customer and the business.
Storytelling
Knowing what story someone needs at each point in their journey, not just pressing send on a newsletter.
Technical comfort (not perfection)
Understanding how the tech stack fits together — ecommerce platform, data, ESP, on-site tools, paid channels, support — so your ideas are realistic and you can speak the same language as other teams.
Collaboration
Being willing to talk to merch, product, CX, paid media, dev… and then use what you learn to build better journeys. Lifecycle marketers often sit in the middle; communicating well really matters.
You're not supposed to be brilliant at everything on day one. But consciously building these muscles will give you options later: strategy roles, leadership, deep technical specialisms, or staying hands-on in the tools.
How to figure out what's next (practical exercise)
When I hit a crossroads, someone gave me an exercise that genuinely helped. You can do this whether you're an assistant with "email" tagged onto your job, or already in a lifecycle role and wondering what's next.
- Take a big piece of paper (or a doc) and write down everything you do in your day-to-day job. Don't edit; just list.
- Circle what you're good at (or what people tell you you're good at) in red.
- Circle what you genuinely enjoy doing in green.
- Look for the overlap. That overlap is a clue. For me, it was problem-solving, journey mapping, and storytelling. That helped me see that lifecycle — and specifically CRM strategy and execution — was where I wanted my next path to branch off.
- Once you've got your overlap, ask:
- How can I do more of this in my current role?
- What projects could I volunteer for that lean into this?
- Which future roles mention these skills a lot in their descriptions?
You don't have to change jobs immediately. Often, you can start reshaping your role from the inside.
Growing inside your current role
Before you jump to "I need a new job", it's worth asking if you can grow where you are.
Ways to do that:
Own more of the lifecycle, not just "send the emails"
Volunteer to map journeys, improve triggered flows, or connect email with SMS, on-site, and paid. Show that you're thinking beyond one send at a time.
Get closer to the numbers
Don't wait for someone to hand you a report. Learn how to measure performance, segment audiences, and tie your work back to revenue and customer metrics.
Get out of the spreadsheets
But don't live only in spreadsheets. One of the most useful things I picked up early in my career came from a Chairman I worked with: a few times a year, everyone from head office (no matter their role) would spend time on the shop floor and in fulfilment. You very quickly see what customers actually care about, where the friction really is, and how decisions made behind a laptop show up in real life. That experience has stuck with me. Whenever I'm planning a journey or campaign, I try to ask: what does the customer want here, what's happening in their world, and how will they respond?
Learn how the stack fits together
Ask questions about how your ESP integrates, where data is coming from, and what other tools your team uses. You don't have to be the engineer, just know enough to have smart ideas.
Be the person who suggests tests
Bring ideas: subject line tests, new flow branches, different message angles, new ways to use segments. In a positive, supportive environment, there really are no "bad" ideas, only ideas to refine.
If you keep doing these things, you naturally drift from "person who presses send" to "person who shapes the lifecycle". That's where a lot of the interesting career moves come from.
Building your network (and why it matters)
Some of the best things I've done for my career were simply… showing up. Going to everything from tiny local meet-ups to bigger events like K:LDN has put me in front of people I'd never have found otherwise.
I've joined networks (I love Up World and DIFTK to connect with people in similar roles. I've talked openly with my peers about what's worked, what hasn't, and what I'm stuck on.
Other email and lifecycle marketers are not your competition. They're your peers, future colleagues, and the people who'll recommend you for roles or projects you haven't even thought of yet.
When I became a Klaviyo Champion, I was nervous that I didn't know "enough". Eventually I realised: no one knows everything. We're all still learning, sharing tips and tricks, and nerding out about different parts of the lifecycle puzzle. The sooner you get comfortable with that, the easier it is to ask for help and offer it back.
The role will keep changing, and that's a good thing
When I started in ecommerce, people were still debating whether anyone would ever buy high-value items online. Instagram didn't exist. Email marketing was very new and very basic. Personalisation basically meant "Hi {first_name}". Now we have SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, richer data, better tools, and customers who expect a lot more from the brands they interact with.
That pace of change can feel overwhelming, but it also means there isn't one "right" path you're supposed to follow. You can:
- Stay hands-on in the tools and become a real specialist.
- Move into strategy and own the customer lifecycle at a higher level.
- Go brand-side, agency-side, or freelance/consulting.
- Step into people management and build teams.
- Blend lifecycle with product, CX, or growth.
What you're doing now doesn't have to be forever. But if you stay curious, keep learning, and keep moving closer to the work you enjoy and are good at, you'll carve out a path that feels like yours, even if it doesn't look "traditional" on paper.
Other paths into email and lifecycle
This is just my route in. One of the best things about email and lifecycle is how many different doors people walk through to get here. If you ask others about their path, I can guarantee you will probably notice a theme across these stories: people followed their strengths, leaned into curiosity, and were willing to evolve as the channel evolved.
Questions to ask yourself next
If you're trying to figure out your own "what's next", start with these:
- What am I naturally good at, and what do people come to me for?
- What parts of my current role do I actually enjoy?
- Do I get more energy from managing people and building teams, or from being hands-on in the tools?
- Am I more excited by strategy, by execution, or by translating between the two?
- What's one small step I can take in the next month that moves me closer to the overlap of "good at" and "enjoy"?
You don't need a five-year plan. You just need the next step, and the confidence that your path doesn't have to look like anyone else's.
Additional resources:
Great resource to start upskilling today is the Klaviyo Academy courses and certifications.
Learn more from peers and others who have been in the spot you are in the Klaviyo Community.
Share your story
What's your path into email and lifecycle? Drop your story in the comments. I’d love to hear how you got here.
