Relationship marketing: what it is, examples and how to apply it

Relationship marketing is the set of strategies a company uses to build a close, trusting relationship with its customers, aiming to keep them around over time and not just to close a sale. It is not limited to a loyalty program or a promotion: it involves customer service, communication, after-sales and continuous delivery of value.

The old saying “out of sight, out of mind” gets an updated version here: whoever is seen but does not create value for other people is not remembered either.

Consumers are open to this kind of relationship. According to CX Trends 2026, a study by Opinion Box and Octadesk with more than 2,000 Brazilian consumers, 88% take part in some loyalty initiative, and 60% prefer brands that offer good experiences.

Below, we explain the concept, the pillars and the levels, show you how to apply it step by step and how to measure results, and share examples.

What is relationship marketing?

In practice, relationship marketing changes the question that guides the business: instead of “how do I sell to more people?”, it becomes “how do I get people who already bought to come back and recommend us?”. The sale stops being the end of the relationship and becomes the beginning.

New consumption habits put the customer at the center. With the internet and the growth of the digital market, comparing options became easy, and consumers look for the solution they need on their own. Amid so many alternatives and growing competition, the relationship is what helps a brand be remembered and chosen again.

By creating value for potential customers and for people who already bought, you not only attract customers, you also manage to retain them. Every relationship strategy starts from the characteristics of your audience, whether you are a large company or a digital entrepreneur just getting started, and that is the common thread of this guide.

How did relationship marketing originate?

The term “relationship marketing” was first used by Leonard Berry, a services marketing professor, in 1983, at an American Marketing Association conference. Berry defined it as attracting, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships, as he himself revisited in an article published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

The idea emerged in service companies, such as banks and insurers, where customers stay with a brand for a long time. With digital, it spread to practically every type of business.

What is the difference between relationship marketing and traditional marketing?

Traditional marketing, also called transactional, focuses on closing one-off sales and winning new customers; relationship marketing focuses on keeping the customers you already have and increasing the value of the relationship over time. The two complement each other: there is no point in retaining well if nobody new arrives through customer acquisition and prospecting, or in attracting lots of people who never return.

Relationship marketing, customer experience and loyalty

Relationship marketing is the strategy; customer experience is the perception the customer forms in each interaction; and loyalty is the result you are after. A good experience supports the relationship, and a consistent relationship leads to loyalty.

What are the pillars of relationship marketing?

The pillars of relationship marketing are trust, two-way communication, personalization, continuous delivery of value and after-sales follow-up. There is no official list. Trust and commitment as the foundation of any lasting relationship come from the theory by Robert Morgan and Shelby Hunt, published in the Journal of Marketing in 1994, and the other pillars are the practices that sustain that foundation day to day.

Trust

Without trust, there is no relationship. It is built when the brand keeps its promises, is transparent about prices and deadlines and solves problems well.

Two-way communication

A relationship is a conversation, not an ad. The brand speaks, but it also listens: it answers comments, asks for opinions and uses what it learns to improve.

Personalization

Treating each customer according to their history and interests shows that the brand knows them. According to CX Trends 2026, 74% of consumers say personalization influences their purchase decision.

Continuous delivery of value

Customers need to perceive value even when they are not buying, through useful content, usage tips, news and exclusive benefits.

After-sales follow-up

The relationship gets stronger after the purchase. Good after-sales care confirms the customer is satisfied, answers questions and opens the door to the next purchase.

What are the levels of relationship marketing?

The five levels of relationship marketing are basic, reactive, accountable, proactive and partnership, and they vary according to how closely the company follows the customer after the sale. The classification comes from Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, in Principles of Marketing, and is still used in courses and academic papers in the field.

Basic

The company sells the product and does no follow-up afterward. It is the minimum level of relationship.

Reactive

The company sells and encourages the customer to get in touch if they have questions or problems. The relationship exists, but it depends on the customer’s initiative.

Accountable

Shortly after the sale, the company reaches out to the customer to find out whether the product met expectations and to ask for suggestions. It is the first level at which the brand takes the initiative.

Proactive

The company contacts the customer from time to time with usage suggestions, news or products that complement the purchase. The relationship becomes continuous.

Partnership

The company works with the customer, on an ongoing basis, to find ways to deliver more value. It is the deepest level, common in B2B relationships and high-value services.

The ideal level depends on the business: the higher the margin per customer and the smaller the number of customers, the more it makes sense to invest in proactive or partnership levels. Businesses with many customers and smaller margins usually combine the reactive and accountable levels with automation.

What are the advantages of relationship marketing?

The main advantages of relationship marketing are retaining more customers, increasing revenue through repeat purchases and referrals, improving the product with feedback and standing out from the competition. Retention weighs on the result: depending on the industry, winning a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than keeping an existing one, according to the Harvard Business Review.

The same article cites Bain & Company research in which increasing retention by 5% raised profits by 25% to 95%. The ranges are wide because they vary by industry, so treat them as direction, not as a promise of results. See the advantages in detail.

1. Stand out from the competition

Many businesses still have not understood the importance of creating value for the customer after the sale. Building relationship actions is a way to differentiate yourself, even in a crowded niche. A good start is to identify customers’ dissatisfactions with competitors and offer solutions to those problems.

2. Create value for customers

The closer the relationship, the more value you create for the customer, who starts to see the brand as a partner, not just someone who wants to sell. For that, you need to know who your audience is and how your business affects their daily life.

3. Become a reference

The relationship helps build authority in your field. When you deliver content that helps customers solve everyday problems, people come to you whenever they need a solution on that topic.

4. Retain more customers

Actions that improve the relationship with people tend to increase retention. Someone who already bought and saw value in your business does not need to be won over from scratch again, which reduces the cost of each sale.

5. Increase revenue

A satisfied customer tends to buy more than once and to try other products from the brand. Combined with referrals, repeat purchases help increase sales without depending only on new customers.

6. Improve the product or service

Frequent interaction makes it easier to receive genuine feedback from people who know your business. With those reviews, you apply improvements faster and in line with what your audience needs.

7. Have brand ambassadors

Customers who had good experiences start to recommend the brand to other people, spontaneously. The opposite also happens: according to CX Trends 2026, 63% of consumers publicly criticize a brand after a bad experience. Those who sell digital products can amplify this effect with affiliates who know the product and trust it.

How to do relationship marketing: step by step

To do relationship marketing, follow eight steps:

1. Get to know your customer;
2. Map the journey and touchpoints;
3. Provide quality service;
4. Personalize your communication;
5. Interact on social media;
6. Send emails that deliver value;
7. Create a loyalty program;
8. Measure the results.

The steps add up: knowing the customer guides all the others, and measuring shows what to adjust. Below, we explain each one in detail.

1. Get to know your customer

If the goal is to build a relationship, you need to understand who buys from you before thinking about any action. Research and outline the profile of your ideal consumer.

2. Map the journey and touchpoints

Draw the path the customer takes, from discovery to after-sales, and mark the moments when they interact with your brand. The customer journey shows where the relationship can be strengthened and where there is friction to solve.

3. Provide quality service

Whether the customer is recurring or a first-time buyer, service needs to be fast and careful. Even in an online business, that means choosing a reliable platform, offering good payment options and answering questions and complaints quickly.

4. Personalize your communication

Use purchase history and customer interests to send messages and offers that make sense to them. Splitting your base into groups, for example new, recurring and inactive customers, already allows more relevant communication. To go further, learn how lead scoring helps you classify your contacts.

5. Interact on social media

Interacting on social media goes beyond answering comments: it means delivering quality content on the channels where your customer is. Knowing your audience helps you choose among platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or X (formerly Twitter), and focus your efforts where they make a difference. See how to sell organically on social media.

6. Send emails that deliver value

Email remains one of the most direct channels with people who have already shown interest in your brand. Avoid sending only advertising: send content, exclusive bonuses for customers, birthday messages and offers on special dates, such as Customer Day.

Automation helps: in RD Station data, emails from automation flows had a click-to-open rate of 12%, versus 8% for one-off campaigns, according to the RD Station Panoramas 2026. See how to structure your email marketing.

7. Create a loyalty program

If it makes sense for your business, reward people who buy more than once, with points that turn into discounts, gifts or early access to news.

8. Measure the results

Track indicators such as retention, repurchase and satisfaction to know which actions work. Test, compare and keep what works with your audience. The main metrics are right below.

Relationship marketing channels and tools

The main relationship marketing channels are email, WhatsApp, social media, communities, content and CRM. The best mix depends on where your customer is and how much you can sustain consistently.

Email marketing

Email allows direct, segmented and automated communication with your contact base. It is the preferred channel of 53% of consumers for receiving personalized offers, according to CX Trends 2026.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp became a central relationship channel in Brazil. It appears as a post-purchase contact method for 59% of consumers, according to CX Trends 2026, and is part of the routine of 7 out of 10 marketing teams, according to the RD Station Panoramas 2026.

Social media

Social media lets you talk with your audience every day, answer questions and show the brand’s behind the scenes. According to the RD Station Panoramas 2026, it is the marketing channel Brazilian companies use most often.

Communities

A community brings customers together around a shared interest and creates a bond among them and with the brand. See how communities in Hotmart Club connect your audience.

Content

Useful content keeps the brand present and educates the customer even between purchases.

CRM

CRM (customer relationship management) brings each customer’s history together in one place, which makes it easier to personalize communication and not miss opportunities.

How to measure relationship marketing results

Relationship marketing results are measured with indicators of retention, repurchase, customer value and satisfaction. Track a few numbers regularly, instead of many once in a while.

Relationship marketing examples

Loyalty programs with tiered benefits and personalized communications based on usage data are among the best-known examples of relationship marketing. Here are two cases from global brands and one example applied to those who sell courses.

Starbucks Rewards

Starbucks’ loyalty program is one of the best known in the world and was relaunched in 2026 with three benefit tiers (Green, Gold and Reserve). In the first fiscal quarter of 2026, the program reached 35.5 million active members in the United States, according to the company’s official release.

Members accounted for almost 60% of revenue at the chain’s company-operated stores in the United States in fiscal year 2025, according to Starbucks. The logic is clear: the more a customer buys, the more personalized benefits they receive.

Spotify Wrapped

Spotify turns each person’s usage data into a personalized year-end recap, made to be shared. In the 2025 edition, more than 200 million users engaged with the recap in the first 24 hours, 19% more than the previous year, with more than 500 million shares, according to figures released by the company and published by TechCrunch.

Example applied to those who sell an online course

A creator who sells a course can apply the same principles on a smaller scale. That could be a welcome email sequence, a community for students to share experiences, a quick survey at the end of each module and a special offer for those who finished the course.

These actions cover different levels of relationship: the survey at the end of each module matches the accountable level, and the emails and the offer for those who finished match the proactive one.

Relationship marketing for those who sell digital products

For those who sell digital products, relationship marketing happens in the email list, in the student community, in support and in offers to people who already bought. At Hotmart, the all-in-one platform for creators who want to create, sell and scale digital products, these fronts can be handled in the same place.

Email marketing with Hotmart Send

Hotmart Send is Hotmart’s email marketing tool, with a free plan and paid plans. It lets you organize contacts, create forms, send campaigns and build automations, with AI support to write the messages, in addition to communicating with people in your members area. See how Hotmart can be part of your email marketing strategy.

Community in the members area

In Hotmart Members Areas, you can create open, exclusive or paid communities so students can exchange experiences with each other and with you. Learn how to create a members area.

Student support

Hotmart offers support to buyers, at no extra cost to sellers, for access and payment questions. For questions about the content, the Tutor, the AI assistant of Members Areas, answers students at any time based on the course lessons.

Offers to people who already bought

Someone who is already your student knows your work and tends to be more open to the next offer. The members area works as a showcase for your products, and communications by email and community help present news at the right time. Learn more about upselling.

How to win over your customers with relationship marketing

Winning customers who come back to buy is the result of consistency: knowing your audience well, taking care of every touchpoint and delivering value before, during and after the sale. Test the actions that make the most sense for your business, measure the results and keep what works.

Beyond the relationship, it is worth investing in educating your audience with content. At Hotmart, you create your free account and get email marketing, community and a members area to engage with your students, such as Hotmart Club. Create my free account

Frequently asked questions about relationship marketing