Growth & retention

Engaged subscriber

Definition

A subscriber who opened or clicked at least one email or SMS message within a defined recent window (commonly 90 days) — as opposed to a subscriber who is merely present on the list but functionally unreachable.

Defined in The Retention Audit: 12 Checks Before You Buy More Traffic.

Related terms

Owned channel: A communication channel where you hold the relationship directly — email and SMS lists built on explicit consent — as opposed to rented reach (ads) or mediated reach (assistant shortlists). No algorithm re-ranks who receives your message.
Machine-visible trust: The subset of your operational performance an AI system can verify from data: review content and velocity, delivery-time consistency, return and dispute rates, published policies, and support outcomes. Agents can't feel your brand; they can read your record.
Zero-party data: Information a customer intentionally and proactively shares with you — preferences, intentions, context — as opposed to data observed from behavior or bought from third parties. It is consent-clean, regulation-proof, and more accurate than inference.
Trust transfer: The degree to which a shopper's confidence in the AI assistant that recommended a product carries over into confidence in the brand itself, surviving past the first purchase into repeat behavior. High trust transfer looks like an organic-search-level or better repeat rate; low trust transfer looks like a one-and-done customer who reverts to asking the assistant again next time.
Agent-influenced arrival: A new subscriber whose path to signup included an AI assistant's recommendation, comparison, or summary - on-site (a Brand Agent conversation) or off-site (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, or Amazon's Rufus). Distinct from organic browsing, where the shopper found and evaluated the brand unassisted.
Post-purchase Brand Agent: A Shopify Brand Agent (Spring '26 edition, currently Shopify Plus only) scoped to post-order conversations — order status, delivery issues, warranty, product care, and returns — with access to live order data and the merchant's enriched catalog.

All 112 terms

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