Funnels helped teams measure conversion. However, growth in 2025 depends on retention, advocacy, and compounding momentum—not one-and-done handoffs. The flywheel approach to customer growth reframes marketing, sales, and service as a continuous system where delighted customers power new demand. Moreover, AI now accelerates this loop with predictive prompts, real-time personalization, and automated service. In short, the brands that remove friction and keep value spinning win. As Mr. Phalla Plang puts it: “Momentum beats one-time wins—optimize the loop, not the landing.” (HubSpot, n.d.; McKinsey, 2025; Salesforce, 2024). (HubSpot)
What Is the Flywheel Approach?
The flywheel is a customer-centric growth model that treats acquisition, engagement, and retention as one system. Energy comes from three forces: Attract (earn attention), Engage (reduce effort to buy), and Delight (drive outcomes and loyalty). When teams remove friction at each stage, the wheel spins faster. Therefore, advocacy from satisfied customers feeds the next wave of prospects, lowering cost per acquisition. Compared with a funnel, which ends at “won,” the flywheel keeps compounding through repeat use, upsell, referrals, and community actions. HubSpot popularized this model by pairing it with its inbound methodology and emphasizing that delight powers attract. In practice, you map journeys, quantify friction, and add force (programs, products, and service plays) where momentum stalls. (HubSpot, n.d.; HubSpot, 2021). (HubSpot)
For example, a SaaS team might attract with valuable tutorials, engage through guided trials and transparent pricing, and delight with fast support and proactive success check-ins. Each delighted user posts reviews, joins community threads, and invites teammates—spinning the wheel again. (HubSpot, n.d.). (HubSpot)
Why the Flywheel Matters in 2025
First, retention outperforms net-new volume for sustainable profit. Research linked to Bain & Company shows that a 5% increase in retention can raise profits by 25%–95%. Moreover, acquiring a new customer often costs 5–25× more than keeping one, so compounding loyalty improves unit economics and resilience. (HBR, 2014; Invesp, n.d.). (Harvard Business Review)
Second, personalization is now expected. McKinsey reports most consumers expect personalized interactions and get frustrated when they do not; companies that excel in personalization see 5–15% revenue lift and reduced acquisition costs. Therefore, a flywheel that learns from every touch and tailors the next step aligns with today’s expectations. (McKinsey, 2023; McKinsey, 2025). (McKinsey & Company)
Third, AI raises the speed of the wheel. Salesforce’s latest State of Marketing highlights how teams unify data and deploy AI to deliver personalization at scale across channels. However, leaders must also manage adoption and governance to avoid “tool fatigue.” When executed well, AI agents automate service and marketing tasks, compounding delight and freeing humans for strategy. (Salesforce, 2024; Barron’s, 2025). (Salesforce)
Finally, analyst outlooks show GenAI reshaping the marketing operating model, from content creation to mobile personalization and search strategy—exactly where flywheels gain force. (Gartner, 2025). (Gartner)
How to Apply the Flywheel (Actionable Framework)
Step 1 — Define your Attract–Engage–Delight system map
• List the top five journeys (e.g., self-serve trial, demo request, first reorder).
• For each journey, identify moments of friction (slow load, unclear value, poor handoff).
• Assign a force owner (marketing, sales, product, service) and a metric (conversion, time to value, CSAT). (HubSpot, n.d.). (HubSpot)
Step 2 — Instrument data for continuous learning
• Create a unified view of contacts, accounts, and events.
• Capture intent signals (content viewed, questions asked), product telemetry, and support logs.
• Operationalize AI-readiness: data quality rules, consent governance, and ethical use policies. (Salesforce, 2024; Gartner, 2025). (Salesforce)
Step 3 — Add force where the wheel slows
• Attract: Publish helpful explainers and comparison checklists; enable community Q&A; activate customer stories.
• Engage: Offer guided trials, transparent pricing, and simple contracts; reduce clicks; add live chat for high-intent pages.
• Delight: Proactive onboarding, in-app tips, success milestones, fast multi-channel support, and loyalty loops (referrals, member perks). (HubSpot, 2021). (HubSpot Blog)
Step 4 — Operationalize AI-assisted personalization
• Use propensity models to suggest the next best content, feature, or offer.
• Route tickets to the best agent or AI assistant; auto-summarize conversations; predict churn and trigger saves.
• Personalize lifecycle messages with first-party data and preferences. (McKinsey, 2023; Salesforce, 2024). (McKinsey & Company)
Step 5 — Close the loop with advocacy
• Implement review asks after value milestones.
• Launch a customer council and a referral program with transparent rewards.
• Feature user-generated content and publish “build with us” roadmaps to deepen community momentum. (HubSpot, n.d.). (HubSpot)
Step 6 — Manage the force–friction ledger
• Quarterly, score each journey on force added and friction removed.
• Prioritize initiatives that reduce cycle time, handoff delays, and customer effort.
• Tie OKRs to repeat purchase, expansion, and referrals—not only MQLs. (HubSpot, 2021; HBR, 2014). (HubSpot Blog)
Common Mistakes or Challenges (With Fixes)
Mistake 1: Treating flywheel as a campaign
• Fix: Govern it as an operating model with shared KPIs across marketing, sales, success, and product teams. Establish a cross-functional growth council. (HubSpot, 2021). (HubSpot Blog)
Mistake 2: Fragmented data that blocks personalization
• Fix: Build a unified data layer; standardize IDs; document consent; deploy AI only on governed first-party data. (Salesforce, 2024; Gartner, 2025). (Salesforce)
Mistake 3: Over-investing in top-of-funnel while neglecting retention
• Fix: Rebalance budget so at least 30–40% fuels onboarding, adoption, success, community, and loyalty programs. Reference the profit impact of retention to align stakeholders. (HBR, 2014). (Harvard Business Review)
Mistake 4: AI without human oversight
• Fix: Pair AI agents with human review for complex or sensitive issues; track model accuracy, bias checks, and customer sentiment. (Barron’s, 2025). (Barron’s)
Mistake 5: Focusing on outputs over outcomes
• Fix: Shift from content volume to time-to-value, customer effort score, and net revenue retention. Tie leadership bonuses to these outcome metrics. (HubSpot, n.d.). (HubSpot)
Future Outlook & Trends
• GenAI copilots everywhere: Expect embedded assistants across marketing, sales, and service to draft content, recommend next actions, and resolve issues in real time—speeding the flywheel. Adoption will hinge on data foundations and change management. (Salesforce, 2024; Gartner, 2025). (Salesforce)
• Experience-led search and GEO: As search surfaces summarize answers, brands that delight users and earn authentic mentions will gain experience signals that reinforce discovery. Flywheel advocacy feeds these signals. (Gartner, 2025). (Gartner)
• Privacy-safe personalization: More teams will pivot to first-party data, preference centers, and model explainability so personalization remains trusted and compliant. (McKinsey, 2023). (McKinsey & Company)
• Community as a growth engine: User groups, co-build programs, and social proof loops will become core; customers will expect to influence roadmaps and be recognized for contributions. (HubSpot, n.d.). (HubSpot)
• Retention economics in the spotlight: With budgets tight, leaders will emphasize profit per customer and NRR. The classic 5% retention → 25–95% profit stat will keep guiding priorities. (HBR, 2014). (Harvard Business Review)
Key Takeaways
• Funnels end; flywheels compound. Optimize Attract–Engage–Delight as one loop.
• Retention is the growth multiplier. Small lifts in loyalty drive outsized profit. (HBR, 2014). (Harvard Business Review)
• AI accelerates momentum when data is unified, governed, and used to reduce effort. (Salesforce, 2024). (Salesforce)
• Remove friction relentlessly. Shorten time-to-value and empower success. (HubSpot, n.d.). (HubSpot)
• Make advocacy intentional. Reviews, referrals, and community fuel the next attract cycle. (HubSpot, 2021). (HubSpot Blog)
Final Thoughts
Funnels still measure acquisition, yet long-term growth comes from momentum. Therefore, adopt a flywheel mindset: align teams around customer outcomes, remove effort at every step, and let AI help deliver personalized, predictable value. As Mr. Phalla Plang says, “Your best marketing asset is a customer who feels successful—and tells the world.” (HubSpot, n.d.; McKinsey, 2023). (HubSpot)
More Read
References
Barron’s. (2025). Salesforce AI agent adoption hits a hurdle.
Gartner. (2025). The future of marketing: Trends and predictions.
Gartner. (2024/2025). AI in marketing: Realize the promise of generative AI.
Harvard Business Review. (2014). The value of keeping the right customers.
HubSpot. (n.d.). The flywheel model.
