Stuti Bhandari, Lifecycle Marketing Consultant

My Philosophy

Most products don't have a signup problem.
They have a second-session problem.

Teams spend months getting users through the door, then leave the rest of the journey to a welcome email and a few generic push notifications. Users sign up, poke around, and quietly never come back.

That's rarely a product-quality problem. It's a journey problem. Nobody has mapped what a user should do next, what nudges them there, and on which channel.

Lifecycle marketing is that map, turned into workflows: the right onboarding, the right trigger at the right moment, the right reason to return, and a way back for users who drift.

Activation goes up. Churn drops. Retained users compound. Your acquisition spend starts working harder.

Every journey has one moment that matters most. The action that predicts whether a user sticks. I find it first, then design everything before it to get users there faster.

Triggers beat broadcasts. A message sent because of what a user just did (or didn't do) outperforms a calendar blast every time. I build behaviour-based flows, not campaign calendars.

Data tells you where people drop off. Talking to them tells you why. I use cohort analysis and funnel data to find the leak, then I talk to users. The fix is almost never what the dashboard suggests first.

How I Work

What a user journey looks like on paper.

An illustrative map for a consumer app. In a consult, I build this for your product from your own funnel data, then turn each stage into live workflows.

Stage 01

Signup

User moment

Creates an account, hasn't done anything yet

Trigger

Signed up, no key action in 24 hours

Channel

In-app checklist + email with one clear next step

Metric

% completing first key action

Stage 02

Activation

User moment

Tries the core feature for the first time

Trigger

First key action completed

Channel

Push + in-app nudge toward the "aha" moment

Metric

Day-7 activation rate

Stage 03

Habit

User moment

Comes back on their own, a few times a week

Trigger

Usage frequency crosses a threshold

Channel

Personalised content, progress emails, community

Metric

Weekly active users, session frequency

Stage 04

Retention

User moment

Gets ongoing value, ready for more

Trigger

Hits a milestone or a usage limit

Channel

Upgrade, referral or repeat-purchase flows

Metric

Day-30 retention, repeat rate, LTV

Stage 05

Win-back

User moment

Starts to drift or goes quiet

Trigger

No activity for 14+ days

Channel

WhatsApp, push notifications, email

Metric

% of dormant users reactivated

Step 01

30-min call

You walk me through your product, your funnel and where you think users are dropping off.

Step 02

Journey teardown

I map your current journey stage by stage and find the three biggest drop-offs worth fixing first.

Step 03

Build the workflows

I design the triggers, copy and flows on your stack, then track what moves activation and retention.

What I Bring

The full lifecycle,
from first session to win-back.

Scroll to explore →

🗺️

User Journey Mapping

I map every stage from signup to repeat use, find the moment that predicts retention, and decide what should happen at each step.

Journey mapsAha-moment analysisFunnel teardownAARRR framework

🚀

Onboarding & Activation

Behaviour-triggered flows that get new users to their first win faster, across email, push, WhatsApp and in-app.

Welcome flowsIn-app nudgesPush notificationsTrigger design

🔁

Retention & Win-back

Systems that bring users back for a real reason: progress, peers, timely content, and re-engagement flows for users who drift.

Churn mappingRe-engagement flowsRepeat-purchase loopsLoyalty triggers

📊

Cohort Analysis

I pull the data myself to see where cohorts drop, who the power users are, and which flow is actually moving the number.

SQLGoogle AnalyticsMixpanelCohort tablesReporting dashboards

⚙️

CRM & Automation

I've set up lifecycle tools in production and built a CRM from scratch, so workflows run without manual effort.

WebEngageKlaviyoWATIHubSpotMailchimpZapierShopify Automations

💬

Community as a Retention Channel

When peers are the reason to return, community becomes your cheapest retention lever. I design programming, prompts and UGC loops that keep it running.

Community programmingAMAs & eventsUGC pipelinesNewsletters

The Numbers

Results that speak.

Every number tied to a real brief, a real product, and a real system built from scratch.

Yocket Community Manager · Jun 2026 – Present

5.8x

Monthly user engagement in just three months

2.5–4%

Push notification click rate on notifications written to bring students back into the feed

Blink Digital Sr. Business Development & Community Executive · Nov 2024 – 2026

Engaged audience growth from a broadcast-only WhatsApp and Telegram community

18%

Uplift in upselling, community became a conversion engine, not a vanity layer

D2C Brand (US) Community & Retention Strategy

38%

Monthly returning users driven by retention-first approach

20%

Of total brand revenue driven through email, community as a commercial channel

+10%

Monthly engagement growth, consistent every month through community programming

Oracle University Community Manager · Dec 2022 – Nov 2024

996K

Community members scaled from 23,000, by rebuilding engagement around the actual user

60%+

Reduction in support ticket volume, community became the first point of contact

Kool Kanya (Welspun Group) Community Engagement Consultant · Jun 2020 – Jun 2022

14x

Community growth in 2 years through structured programming, cohorts and job fairs

DAU growth in a single quarter through daily prompts, weekly challenges and structured expert sessions

50%

Engagement spike during GetHired Bootcamp, Job Fair funnel with 30+ companies, 150+ roles

LikeMinds Content & Community · Aug 2022 – Jul 2023

1.5x

Website visits in 6 months through blogs, newsletters and LinkedIn content

23–30%

Newsletter open rate, click rate 2.5–5%, from content engine built from zero

+10%

LinkedIn page growth in 1 year through consistent content strategy

Lokaal Co-Founder · 2019

Community members built in 8 months, zero paid acquisition

The Work

Every brand was different.

From edtech to enterprise learning to D2C, I've walked into journeys that weren't working and built the systems that fixed them. The gap was always the same: no reason for users to take the next step.

YocketJun 2026, Present

Monthly user engagement up 5.8x in just three months.

Community Manager · Edtech, study abroad

The Gap

A community feed inside a study-abroad app where students browsed but rarely joined the conversation.

→Grew monthly user engagement 5.8x in three months
→Write the push notifications that bring students back into the community feed, with a 2.5–4% click rate
→Treat the feed as a retention channel inside the product, not a separate community

5.8x engagement in 3 months2.5–4% push CTRIn-product community

Oracle UniversityDec 2022, Nov 2024

One in-product change cut support tickets by 60%+.

Community Manager

The Gap

Learners got stuck mid-course and went straight to support. The support team was overwhelmed by repeated questions peers could have answered.

→Embedded an Ask Question CTA inside course modules, right at the moment learners got stuck, making the community the first point of contact for queries and reducing support ticket volume by 60%+
→Scaled a B2B learning community from 23K to 996K members by rebuilding engagement around the actual user, corporate employees mid-certification
→Helped launch Ask the Experts sessions, SME-led deep dives, and a Community Champions Programme that built a peer-to-peer knowledge loop
→Coordinated individual SME-to-learner matching for complex certification projects where group sessions weren't sufficient

60%+ ticket drop23K → 996K membersPeer-to-peer loop built

D2C Brand (US)

A repeat-purchase loop: email drove 20% of revenue, 38% returning purchases in April.

Lifecycle & Retention Strategy

The Brief

An Indian brand entering the US market, with no retention system to turn first-time buyers into repeat customers.

→Built cohort-based email campaigns; open rates went from 35% to 42%, click rates 2–7%
→Email contributed 20% of total brand revenue
→38% monthly returning users through a retention-first approach
→200 community members built in 8 months, zero ads, with engagement growing 10% every month

20% revenue via email38% returning usersOpen rate 42%200 members, zero ads

Blink DigitalNov 2024, 2026

Built the CRM from scratch and automated the journey from first touch to conversion.

Sr. Business Development & Community Executive

The Gap

No CRM. No discovery call system. A 500+ founder community running entirely on broadcast notifications.

→Activated 500+ founder WhatsApp + Telegram community, grew engaged audience 3x
→Built CRM from scratch on HubSpot and Mailchimp; automated onboarding with Zapier
→Structured full pipeline from first touch to conversion, applied to AI tool Hustle's launch
→Community loops drove 18% uplift in upselling

Audience 3x18% upsell upliftCRM built from zero

Kool Kanya (Welspun Group)Jun 2020, Jun 2022

14x community growth in 2 years.

Community Engagement Consultant · Started as intern, earned full-time role

The Brief

A high-energy community that needed someone to keep the rhythm going: sessions, prompts, cohorts, job fairs and make it all run without dropping the ball.

→DAU grew 3x in a single quarter through daily prompts, weekly challenges and bi-monthly expert sessions
→Built cohort sub-groups by inclination, Career, Growth, Content, Digital Marketing, so conversations could go deep
→Ran weekly sessions and AMAs on Career Transitions, Investing, Content Strategy and more
→Initiated GetHired Bootcamp → Job Fair funnel: 30+ companies, 150+ roles, 50% engagement spike
→Turned member responses into reusable UGC across community and social

14x growth in 2 yearsDAU 3x in 1 quarter+20% monthly engagement50% event spike

Lokaal

Built a globally-local community of 7K members from scratch.

Co-Founder

What I Built

Lokaal is a media channel that drives community building and networking in the city, focusing on inspiring people and encouraging local talent, covering every story that deserves to be heard.

→Created a globally-local community of 7K members, built around local stories, talent and networking
→Bagged the title of 'Student Entrepreneur of the Year' by CII Innovex Bhubaneswar
→Built an intercollege networking platform where students showcase achievements and events at their institutes
→Grew to 4K monthly readers with 5 min average time spent on site and 70+ articles across channels

7K communityCII Student Entrepreneur of the Year4K monthly readers

LikeMinds

1.5x website visits in 6 months through content and community.

Content & Community

The Brief

A community platform with deep expertise and needed help with content engine to grow organic reach and educate their market.

→Wrote blogs on In-App Communities, Community Marketing, Community Metrics, 1.5x website visits in 6 months
→Newsletter open rate 23–30%, click rate 2.5–5%
→Moderated and managed content for weekly CommunityHood sessions, Deep Dives, Roundtables, AMAs
→Grew LinkedIn page by 10% in 1 year

1.5x website visits30% email open rateLinkedIn +10%

Tape a Tale

Intern. My first community role.

Content & Community Intern

The Brief

Supported content creation and helped host a few community events during my internship.

→Helped host and support community events end-to-end

Stuti Bhandari.

Most products don't have a signup problem.
They have a second-session problem.

What a user journey looks like on paper.

30-min call

Journey teardown

Build the workflows

The full lifecycle,
from first session to win-back.

User Journey Mapping

Onboarding & Activation

Retention & Win-back

Cohort Analysis

CRM & Automation

Community as a Retention Channel

Results that speak.

Every brand was different.

Monthly user engagement up 5.8x in just three months.

One in-product change cut support tickets by 60%+.

A repeat-purchase loop: email drove 20% of revenue, 38% returning purchases in April.

Built the CRM from scratch and automated the journey from first touch to conversion.

14x community growth in 2 years.

Built a globally-local community of 7K members from scratch.

1.5x website visits in 6 months through content and community.

Intern. My first community role.

Numbers with receipts.

Three ways to fix
your user journey.

Journey Teardown

Onboarding & Activation Flows

Retention & Win-back Systems

Let's mapyour user journey.

Stuti Bhandari.

Most products don't have a signup problem.They have a second-session problem.

What a user journey looks like on paper.

30-min call

Journey teardown

Build the workflows

The full lifecycle,from first session to win-back.

User Journey Mapping

Onboarding & Activation

Retention & Win-back

Cohort Analysis

CRM & Automation

Community as a Retention Channel

Results that speak.

Every brand was different.

Monthly user engagement up 5.8x in just three months.

One in-product change cut support tickets by 60%+.

A repeat-purchase loop: email drove 20% of revenue, 38% returning purchases in April.

Built the CRM from scratch and automated the journey from first touch to conversion.

14x community growth in 2 years.

Built a globally-local community of 7K members from scratch.

1.5x website visits in 6 months through content and community.

Intern. My first community role.

Numbers with receipts.

Three ways to fixyour user journey.

Journey Teardown

Onboarding & Activation Flows

Retention & Win-back Systems

Let's mapyour user journey.

Most products don't have a signup problem.
They have a second-session problem.

The full lifecycle,
from first session to win-back.

Three ways to fix
your user journey.