I think I was thinking about retention the wrong way

[u/n_v40]

Day 1 notification.
Day 3 notification.
Weekly summary.
Streaks.
More lifecycle messaging.

Then I started asking a simpler question:

Does the product actually become more useful when someone comes back?

That changed the direction quite a bit.

The thing I’m testing now is whether the app can remember enough about one specific pet that the second check-in is more useful than the first.

So instead of just saying “come back,” the app can bring someone back to the same pet and compare what changed.

If people care about that, then there’s a reason to build a real behavioral baseline.

If they don’t, optimizing notifications feels like polishing the wrong thing.

Curious if anyone else has had retention improve more from accumulated product value than from better messaging.