Case study · Food & drink subscriptions
The right email on the day the coffee runs out
A coffee subscription brand sent the same weekly newsletter to everyone, from a first-time visitor to a customer of three years. This is how we built automated email around what each customer has actually done, and proved its effect with holdout groups.
Project overview
Lifecycle email on the brand's own data.
- Industry
- Food & drink subscriptions
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Email automation
- Platform
- Klaviyo + Shopify
- Timeline
- 8–12 weeks
- Team
- 4 people
- Flows
- Welcome to win-back
- Data
- Orders, subscriptions and preferences
- Measurement
- Holdout groups
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
Each flow was measured against customers who did not receive it.
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25–40%
Of email revenue from automated flows
Flows send the relevant message without a campaign being built.
Target share; measured in the email platform
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10–20%
Lower subscription churn
Pause, skip and swap offers reach customers before they cancel.
Target range; measured against a holdout group
-
15–30%
More first-time buyers converting to a subscription
A welcome series that explains how the subscription works.
Target range over three months
Business challenges
Where the client started
A good list, treated as one audience.
Newsletter
One weekly email to the whole list.
Data
Order and subscription data not connected to the email platform.
Welcome
New subscribers received a discount code and nothing else.
Cancellations
The first contact after a cancellation was a generic offer weeks later.
Deliverability
Open rates were falling, and nobody knew why.
Proposed solution
What the email programme covered
Data first, then the flows that matter most, then proof.
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Customer data
Orders, subscription status and preferences synced to the email platform.
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Welcome series
How the subscription works, how to choose, and what to expect.
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Replenishment and pause
Reminders timed to usage, with pause and skip offered first.
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Win-back
Different messages for different reasons for leaving.
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Deliverability
Authentication, list hygiene and sending rules.
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Holdout testing
A control group for each flow, so its effect is measured.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was more revenue from email. The quickest route was not more campaigns but fewer cancellations, because a customer who pauses usually comes back.
Every flow was launched with a holdout group. It is the only honest way to know whether an email caused a sale or just arrived before it.
What the project had to deliver
- 01Emails based on what customers did
- 02Fewer cancellations
- 03More first orders becoming subscriptions
- 04Proof of what each flow adds
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
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Subscription data held in a separate app
What we did
Subscription events were synced to the email platform, so flows could react to pauses, skips and renewals.
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Consent records of mixed quality
What we did
Consent records were cleaned, and contacts without clear consent were removed from marketing.
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A falling sender reputation
What we did
Authentication was fixed and inactive contacts were removed, then sending volume was rebuilt gradually.
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A small team writing every email
What we did
Reusable blocks and templates meant each new email took minutes rather than hours.
What we watched for
- Connect the data before designing emails
- Offer pause before cancel
- Fix deliverability first
- Keep a holdout group for every flow
Development process
Connect the data, then automate what matters
Flows were launched in order of their effect on retention.
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Data and consent
Order and subscription data connected, and consent records cleaned.
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Deliverability
Authentication fixed and inactive contacts removed.
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Welcome series
Built and tested against a holdout group.
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Replenishment and pause
Timed to each customer's usage.
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Win-back
Messages by reason for leaving.
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Review
Monthly review of each flow's measured effect.
Technology stack
The email platform, fed with real data
Everything depends on the events flowing in.
- Klaviyo
- HubSpot
- Mailchimp
Data
- Store and CRM events
- Customer segments
- Consent records
Deliverability
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC
- List hygiene
- Inbox placement checks
Measurement
- Revenue per recipient
- Holdout groups
- Looker Studio
Quality assurance & deployment
Checked before it went live, measured after
Marketing work is only as good as its measurement. Tracking was verified before anything launched, technical changes were tested on staging, and every result was reconciled with the client's own sales or booking data.
- Conversion tracking tested end to end before launch
- Technical changes checked on staging with a full crawl
- Redirects, links and structured data validated
- Copy and claims reviewed by the client's experts
- Reported figures reconciled with the client's own system
Deployment
- 01Win-backMessages by reason for leaving.
- 02ReviewMonthly review of each flow's measured effect.
- 03Staged releasesChanges went live in small batches, each one watched in the first days.
- 04Reporting and handoverA monthly review against the agreed targets, and documentation the client's team can work from.
Final deliverables
Emails that know where the customer is
A new subscriber now gets a series that explains the subscription, and a customer about to run out gets a reminder with an easy way to pause.
The brand's team can see what each flow adds, measured against customers who did not receive it.
- Automated flows on real customer data
- Pause offered before cancel
- A healthy sender reputation
- Each flow measured with a holdout
Handed over to the client
- 01Audit and roadmapFindings ranked by their effect
- 02Implemented changesIn the client's own site, accounts and tools
- 03Tracking and dashboardResults in the client's own figures
- 04Content and campaign assetsTemplates, pages and creative
- 05Documentation and trainingSo the client's team can carry on
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Of email revenue from automated flows | 25–40% | Target share; measured in the email platform |
| Lower subscription churn | 10–20% | Target range; measured against a holdout group |
| More first-time buyers converting to a subscription | 15–30% | Target range over three months |
Verified reviews
What clients say about working with us
Verified reviews from our clients, published on Clutch.
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