• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 7, 2014

Retention Science will announce Friday that it has secured $7 million in Series A financing, bringing total funding to $9 million. Upfront Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors Baroda Ventures, Forerunner Ventures and Mohr Davidow Ventures.

Joining the round are angel investors Brian Lee, founder of The Honest Company, Michael Dubin, founder of Dollar Shave Club, Tamim Mourad, founder of PriceGrabber.com, and eSalon.com and Andy Dunn, founder of Bonobos.

The funds will help the company accelerate growth and develop services that retain and determine customer lifetime values. "It is extremely difficult and costly to build an enterprise sales and marketing force, and we feel a strong financial backing enables our team to focus on scaling the business and hiring talent,"  said Retention Science CEO Jerry Jao.

Forrester Research suggests that enterprise technologies need to focus on winning, serving and retaining customers through all phases of the customer lifecycle. This will give companies a long-term competitive advantage. Having the correct data improves the customer experience. Apparently, this has become the job of chief information officers, as well as CMOs.

Forrester analysts advise CIOs to focus on winning, serving and retaining customers. Analysts at the research firm, per the report, believe CIOs must work to understand the six phases of the customer lifecycle, from discovering the brand to keeping consumers satisfied long after purchase, which in turn will support CMOs in their quest to satisfy more consumers. It's done, in part, by having access to the correct data.

About 70% of the Retention Science team is composed of engineers and data scientists. Growth should come from developing ways to retain customers and determine the lifetime value of each. Data is data, but having the correct data makes the difference. Ultimately, the data helps consumers make buying decisions, but only when messages are served at the perfect time in the buying process. The correct data helps to determine that time.

"It often costs five to seven times more to acquire a new customer than to retain one, marketers must start paying attention to retaining their customers more effectively," Jao said. "Nurture their interests, and provide the most relevant and timely communication."

The company says that clients have seen up to a 133% increase in customer spending as a result of their personalized campaigns.