Some Background on the Client

A Northwest-based athletic brand approached us with a challenge and a vision. They were known for their hometown appeal and high-margin products with excellent upsell potential. They had built a loyal customer base through organic social media and partnerships and were ready to scale big. Now, we were the first agency they trusted to help them achieve that goal.

When they started working with us, they were making ~$1.5m per year in online sales.

Our Assessment of Their Challenges Before Getting Started

When we first started working with this client, they faced a common set of obstacles:

1. No Retention Marketing in Place:
   • Lack of Email & SMS Marketing Automations: Basic abandoned cart flows were their only attempt at retention.
   • Missed Upsell & Cross-Sell Opportunities: They didn’t engage repeat customers or upsell high-margin products.
2. They Were Beginning To Rely Too Heavily on Ads:
   • Their paid social campaigns brought traffic and great ROAS, but often left revenue on the table as visitors only purchased once after being retargeted.
3. Seasonal Sales Slumps:
   • Revenue spiked during the holidays and New Year but lagged during quieter months of the year.
4. No Systematic Approach:
   • The team was stretched very thin, focusing on other areas of the business and neglecting retention marketing. This put pressure on ads and emails to convert sales at a high level and prove ROI

The Retention Marketing System We Built For The Client

1. We Started with High-Impact Segments

We identified the highest-value groups in the client’s email/sms lists and targeted them with tailored promotions and messaging:

• Abandoned Carts: High-intent shoppers who left items behind.
• New Subscribers: Customers just discovering the brand.
• Past Buyers: Existing customers primed for upsells and cross-sells.

Key Email Marketing Automations (Flows) We Implemented:

• Redesigned Welcome Flow: Introduced the brand and offered incentives for first purchases.We redesigned this in Figma with eye-catching, compelling visuals and copywriting.
• Abandoned Cart Flow: Followed up quickly with personalized product reminders. We implemented A/B testing on timing, subject lines, and content to figure out what converted the most carts into sales.
• Browse Abandonment Flow: Re-engaged visitors who showed interest but didn’t add anything to their cart. We followed up with multiple touchpoints to bring the customer back to shop and drive an add to cart (which would then trigger the abandoned cart flow)

2. We Redesigned Their Campaign Templates

We elevated the brand’s email design with polished visual that were on brand and interactive.

• We Built Clear, Mobile-Optimized Designs: The emails we designed were visually appealing and easy to navigate.
• Custom Designs in Figma: Professional visuals ensured the brand stood out in inboxes.
• Easy Viewing in Dark Mode: We used our in-house email development process to make sure the emails looked just as great in dark mode on mobile phones.

3. We Integrated More of Their Existing Content

The brand had an untapped gold mine worth of content, so we decided to put it to use:

• UGC (User-Generated Content): We showed real customers using the client’s products.
• Use of High-Quality Photos and Testimonials: We built trust with the audience and showcased product value with high quality demonstrations.
• Seasonal Promotions: We leveraged their busy holiday periods (BFCM in particular) to drive revenue for the client. Eventually, with us at the helm on paid ads, email, sms, and landing pages, the client broke their BFCM sales record – two years in a row.

We transformed these assets into high-performing campaigns, driving engagement and sales.

4. We Streamlined Their Entire Email & SMS Marketing Operation

We built the systems that ensured efficiency and alignment across the client’s entire organization. We used:

• Notion: For planning, approvals, meeting notes, internal updates, etc. (Notion was like our second brain)
• Slack & Figma: To enable rapid feedback loops and day-to-day communication.
• Klaviyo & Postscript: To manage email and SMS programs. Klaviyo has best-in-class email, and Postscript was the client’s choice for SMS due to its innovative features.

In Just 17 Months, We Had Built Email and SMS Into a $74k Per Month Revenue Channel By Itself

The Client Now Had a Profitable Retention Marketing Program In Place:

Email and SMS became the top ROI marketing channels for the client.

• Email and SMS drove $74,000 per Month: Retention channels alone contributed this in sales every single month for the brand – a revenue stream that didn’t exist before.
• Returns on Marketing Spend Rose Drastically: Email and SMS helped increase repeat purchases, making ad traffic significantly more profitable.

Improved Ad Performance:

Retention marketing supported paid ads by converting more traffic into loyal customers that made 2-3 purchases over their first 90 days.

• Advanced attribution via Triple Whale showed email and SMS were the top-performing channels for ROI for the client

Revenue Growth:

With retention marketing in place, the brand scaled rapidly on paid ad spend, and grew its topline revenue at breakneck speed:

• From $1.5M to $5M: Revenue tripled in just 17 months.

Here’s What the Client Said About Working With Us

"Our biggest pain point was that we didn’t have anything. We had a basic abandoned cart flow but no reliable pop-up, no SMS, and campaigns that didn’t move the needle. When Syren Digital stepped in, it was like flipping a switch. Everything—from the flows to the campaigns—was handled so intelligently. On Black Friday, we sent an SMS campaign, and it felt like printing money. Orders started rolling in immediately, far beyond what we expected."

Key Takeaways

1. Retention Marketing is Essential: Email and SMS are no longer optional for brands. Customers are getting to expensive to acquire, and the only answer is to improve their lifetime value to keep profits high.
2. There’s Cash In Your List: High-margin products with upsell potential thrive in a retention-focused marketing system. Even still, retention is important for all businesses and models – as it provides the cheapest and most direct way to reach your customer base. Not to mention, you own your email list, but you’ll never fully own your Facebook Ads account or Instagram page.
3. (Translation: invest in email and SMS)

Outsourcing to Experts for Best Time-Efficiency:

Managing growth internally can overwhelm your team. Hiring an email & SMS freelancer or team can help expedite results and bring ROI faster.

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