Why festive flings don't last: The customer retention crisis

The festive season of 2025 delivered record-breaking numbers across India's retail landscape. Tata Motors clocked over one lakh vehicle deliveries between Navratri and Diwali, marking a 33% year-on-year growth, with the Nexon alone recording 38,000 units in September. Libas registered over 1,00,000 orders on the first day of its festive sales, with 50+ orders every minute. Bigbasket witnessed a 500% surge in electronics purchases, while its gold and silver coin sales grew by 1000% compared to the previous year. For consumers, these sales are incited by offers and discounts. 

Criteo's analysis reveals that 59% of Indian shoppers cite discounts as the main reason they try new online stores during Diwali, with 93% of Indian consumers shopping online during the festive season. Purchase decisions are seeded weeks in advance, and Consumr.ai's TwinSights Festive Report 2025 shows that festive intent emerges long before traditional search or sales data can capture it, with shoppers taking an average of 15 days between first product view and final purchase. Brands respond with aggressive promotions: fashion category sales spiked 71% on peak days, home and garden products saw 3x growth driven by lighting and candles, while health and beauty registered a 63% increase during the pre-Diwali period.

Brands pair these offers with innovation to gain consumer attention. For example, Coca-Cola partnered with Google Gemini to create personalised festive avatars through QR codes on Utsav Packs. JBL deployed interactive wrappers on Connected TV platforms, transforming screens into shopping destinations. Swiggy built an in-app experience where users could light virtual diyas and share them by tapping phones together, and one million diyas were lit within five hours. Ferrero Rocher embedded QR codes in chocolates, unlocking rewards from gold-plated champagne glasses to gold vouchers worth ₹9,999.

But none of this guarantees what would happen after the last diya is extinguished. According to WebEngage's State of Festive Marketing Report 2024, 70% of marketers struggle to retain customers once the celebrations end. The festive boom, it appears, is built on borrowed engagement, one fueled by discounts and urgency that evaporates as quickly as it arrives.

The ghosting season

You know that person who's all charm and attention when they want something, then vanishes the moment they get it? Turns out, most brands are exactly that person. They woo you with discounts during Diwali, shower you with attention, make you feel special, and then disappear without a trace once the sale ends. No texts, no calls, nothing. And just like in dating, this leaves customers wondering if they ever mattered at all.

The disconnect between festive acquisition and long-term value stems from how brands approach the season itself. Amitoj Singh Chandiok, Strategy Director, 22feet Tribal Worldwide, identifies the core issue. "A lack of structured post-festive communication means that consumers revert to routine choices after the festive momentum fades, and the emotional equity that a brand might have tried to build during this period is neither recalled nor reinforced in their minds."

The problem compounds when discount-driven engagement becomes the primary strategy. Chandiok points out that marketers rely heavily on discount-driven engagement, which trains customers to wait for offers rather than stay connected to the brand's story. Without post-purchase nurturing via CRM, community efforts, or loyalty programs, the momentum built during the festive period fizzles out.

Vikas Tiwari, VP - Key Accounts at Omnicom Production (India), observes that festive campaigns often prioritise short-term goals. “Once the discounts and offers expire, it causes consumers to become disengaged. Brands move to the acquisition of new customers, overshadowing their retention efforts, which makes their existing customers feel ignored.” 

It's the classic case of always chasing the next shiny thing while neglecting what you already have. Brands complain endlessly about how expensive it is to attract new customers, yet they treat existing ones like they're disposable. You wouldn't ghost someone after a great date and expect them to still be interested months later, would you? Yet that's exactly the playbook most brands follow.

While festive campaigns deliver remarkable short-term ROI in terms of sales and brand awareness, Tiwari notes that long-term customer value often remains underwhelming. Brands need to move beyond one-time conversions to meaningful, continuous interactions.

The metrics reveal the stakes. Venkat Thangi, Senior Director - Marketing (ASIA & ANZ) at MoEngage comments, "If the primary Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is immediate sales, then yes, the Return on Investment (ROI) is visibly high but dangerously short-lived. However, the true measure of success isn't just the festive sales spike; it's the uplift in Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) of the cohorts acquired during this period."

Without a post-festive retention strategy, Thangi explains, the high Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) of the season is never truly recovered. The real, long-term ROI comes from converting that first-time, discount-driven buyer into a second-time, full-price buyer, and eventually, a loyal brand advocate.

According to Vivek Bhargava, Co-Founder of Consumr.ai, consumers don't reset after Diwali, their motivations evolve. What brands need is to understand what feeling needs to be chased. “If a campaign celebrates generosity or joy, the question becomes: what's the next chapter of that feeling? Perhaps it's self-care, gratitude, or shared experiences.” 

Where festive money actually goes (spoiler: it's all first-date energy, zero relationship effort)

Think of it this way: brands spend a fortune on the grand gesture, the flashy proposal, the expensive first date. But when it comes to actually maintaining the relationship? It's all acquisition, no retention. They would rather keep swiping right than invest in the connection they already made.

The allocation of festive marketing budgets speaks of a preference for immediate impact over sustained engagement. WebEngage's report indicates that 98% of brands engage users on online channels, with 45% employing omnichannel marketing, yet most of this investment concentrates on acquisition rather than retention. While 54% of brands initiate pre-festive campaigns within 30 days of launch, the post-festive period sees budgets and attention evaporate.

Chandiok argues that marketers need to shift from media budgets centred around short-term high-impact moments to long-term brand-building efforts where loyalty becomes the KPI to focus on. According to him, “Owned channels such as WhatsApp, email, and loyalty platforms which yield the highest post-purchase ROI remain under-leveraged.”

Thangi identifies this as an industry-wide habit. 

"There's a disproportionate allocation of budgets towards top-of-funnel acquisition channels, such as performance marketing and large-scale media buys," he explains. However, the most successful brands are rebalancing this approach. They understand that it's 5-25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. A small shift in budget, even 10-15%, from acquisition to retention channels can have a significant impact on LTV. 

Let that sink in: it costs up to 25 times more to win someone new than to keep who you have got. Yet brands keep acting like their existing customers will just stick around out of loyalty, with zero effort on their part. That's not how relationships work.

The data brands collect during festive campaigns represents untapped potential. BigCity Promotions' Festive 2025 report shows that 56% of Indian shoppers now choose brands based on the rewards they offer, with 78% expecting offers beyond price cuts, including dining, entertainment, digital services, and personalised experiences that create emotional connections and lasting memories.

Tiwari outlines how this data can become a treasure trove for personalisation. “Brands can take advantage of it by segmentation. By identifying which customers are high-value customers, festive-only shoppers, and new buyers, they can then customise their follow-up actions. This allows brands to offer personalised experiences to their customers and utilise the data from purchases and browsing behavior to send relevant content, special offers or recommendations.” 

However, respecting customer privacy, offering opt-in choices, and maintaining transparency about data usage remain essential.

Bhargava introduces a privacy-conscious approach through AI-driven behavioural intelligence. Consumr.ai's AI Twins model behavioural archetypes based on aggregated actions, analysing what content was consumed, what values resonated, what moments led to conversion, without tracking individuals. This allows brands to design hyper-personalised experiences that feel intuitive rather than invasive.

Craft a post-campaign narrative (or how to actually keep the spark alive)

Here's where the 30% get it right: they understand that the relationship doesn't end when you close the deal. In fact, that's when it really begins. These brands don't disappear after Diwali. They check in. They stay relevant. They remember what you bought and help you make the most of it. They are there for the small moments, not just the big celebrations.

Translating festive engagement to sustained loyalty requires what Chandiok describes as an "epilogue"; a post-campaign narrative that extends emotional connection beyond the season. The epilogue begins with a simple principle, according to experts: move from celebration to gratitude, and other relevant themes in a consumer's life that the brand can own or participate in.

Zoher Kapuswala, Marketing Head at Ferrero India, shares that this includes participating in micro-festivals. Ferrero Rocher maintains year-round relevance by leveraging retail media and social media during micro-festivals like Mother's Day, Father's Day, New Year, Onam, Pongal, Eid, and Ganesh Chaturthi. 

“We deploy the right content and activations at the point of purchase — through traditional POSM, e-commerce media, or retail media — to maintain relevance and engagement. While we prioritise investments based on scale, this approach allows us to sustain consumer connection beyond major festivals.” 

Ferrero Rocher's campaign starts with Durga Puja, continues through Dussehra, Dhanteras, Bhai Dooj, the wedding season, and then New Year. By aligning with these local occasions, the brand maintains top-of-mind presence and ongoing conversation with consumers.

Thangi emphasises that the epilogue must be personal and value-driven, not just promotional. "It begins the moment a purchase is made. Instead of a generic 'Thank You' email, use the purchase data to add immediate value," he explains. Did someone buy a premium smartphone? The epilogue is a series of emails or push notifications with tips on camera tricks or battery optimisation. Did a customer buy a designer saree? Send them a lookbook on different ways to style it for the upcoming wedding season. 

Brands like GIVA build on the emotional moment of gifting jewellery by engaging customers with content on styling and care. The epilogue shifts the narrative from 'buy from us' to 'we're here to help you enjoy what you bought,' deepening the emotional connection established during the festival.

Several brands have executed this. Tiwari cites Amazon India as an example. The brand maintained momentum after its Great Indian Festival through special promotions, personalised recommendations, and exclusive Prime benefits, keeping customers engaged into Q1. Coca-Cola's holiday campaigns extend festive spirit globally by incorporating broader themes of family and community. 

Bhargava points to Aditya Birla Capital as an example of insight-driven continuity. Using AI Twins, the brand uncovered that women were key influencers in insurance purchase decisions, even when they weren't the final buyers. That insight led to a women-first campaign with over 90% female-led conversions and an enduring message of financial empowerment. 

Thangi offers Tanishq as a detailed case study. He shares that Tanishq extends festive momentum through deep, behaviour-based personalisation. For example, during Akshaya Tritiya, it used MoEngage to personalise website banners for visitors who showed affinity for specific product categories with a one-to-one nudge based on the customer's unique journey, leading to conversion rates higher than any previous web campaign. 

By using insights-led customer journeys across email, push notifications, and WhatsApp, they don't stop the conversation after the festival. They establish a continuous dialogue, resulting in a 25% increase in app retention. This helps growth long after the festive season has passed.

The festive season will always generate impressive numbers. But as 70% of brands lose customers in the aftermath, the advantage belongs to those who recognise that the real campaign begins when the celebrations end. Because in the end, any relationship worth having is the one you nurture long after the initial excitement fades. The brands that get this don't just make sales during Diwali. They build loyalty that lasts all year.