94% yearly revenue growth through
email marketing
Increase revenue from the email channel
In early 2020, we partnered with KEY Apparel, a retail apparel company, to launch their DTC presence. The brand was 110 years old, so it had a lot of brand fans. But the product was historically only sold through retail chains and wholesale. This would be their first strategic venture into ecommerce. Based on the volume of brand fans we could see in social media, we knew activating this DTC buyer path had the potential to be impactful to the client’s bottom line. The goal was to change buyer behavior to purchase direct which drove higher margins and additional customer accessibility for the brand.
Maximize the value of the list while minimizing attrition
We launched email initiatives via Mailchimp in May 2020. Outside of transactional emails, this was the first marketing email initiative undertaken by the brand. We started with a list size of about 15,000 – customers who had purchased directly over the last several years. We had no indicator of how the existing list would react to digital marketing. The list rapidly adapted to digital purchase behavior, driven by the email strategy. The client experienced a growth in baseline revenue from email of 0% to 20% of total digital revenue, which was 100% growth in revenue directly attributed to email marketing. Yes, you’re reading that correct – total ecommerce revenue jumped 20% over the course of a month by activating a strategic email plan.
Using historical data points for this client, we calculated that each email contact drives $1 revenue per month. The objective became clear: strategically increase list size through opt-in conversions to create a snowball effect on revenue.
Activate Klaviyo’s suite of flows, SMS and ramp up send volume
As the list size grew, so did the sophistication of the email channel. Audience acquisition efforts were paying dividends in revenue attributed to email marketing. In October 2021, we made the recommendation to switch to Klaviyo for enhanced support, options and capabilities that are needed with rapid list growth. We saw an opportunity to begin segmenting in addition to expanding flows.
Immediately, we initiated list segmentation of the following:
- Product category
- Purchase history
- Engagement history
In addition, we expanded ecommerce flows and used segmentation to deliver personalized email experiences.
Scale emails using SMART goals
We balanced list growth with audience behavior of KEY emails. Over time, we increased monthly send volume from 6-7 to 10-12 monthly marketing emails per month while keeping unsubscribe and spam at acceptable industry standards.
- Expanded SMS marketing from 3-4 non-revenue contributing campaigns
- Built SMS-specific flows for improved customer experience and engagement
